Trump's Obamacare replacement not bargain it seems
During his presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump promised to replace Obamacare with “something terrific.”
For a long time, that “something terrific” was left unspecified. Now, more than a year and a half into Trump’s presidency, we have finally learned his grand plan for reducing Americans’ health-care costs.
It is: Don’t get sick. Ever.
That, at least, was the message of the administration’s new rule expanding the availability of junk insurance plans, finalized last week.
The rule deals with “short-term” health plans. Short-term plans were initially designed to do exactly what they sound like: provide stopgap coverage to tide consumers over until, say, school starts in the fall or that new job begins.
Under the Trump administration’s new regulation, however, these plans will soon be allowed to last up to 364 days and to be renewed for up to 36 months. So, not so short after all.
There’s a reason Trump wants short-term plans to last such a long time. That way, they’ll look like an attractive alternative to insurance for sale on the Obamacare exchanges, with one key difference: Unlike Obamacare plans, short-term insurance doesn’t actually have to insure anything.
Seriously. Unless states step in, these not-so-short-term “short-term” plans are not subject to any of the protections required by the Affordable Care Act.
Short-term plans can turn away people with pre-existing conditions, including asthma and acne. They can charge older or sicker people prohibitively expensive premiums.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/rampell-trumps-obamacare-replacement-not-bargain-it-seems/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=dc695742e8-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-dc695742e8-228635337
= new reply since forum marked as read
