Last week, the Administration argued in a brief filed in a federal lawsuit in Texas that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions protecting millions of people with pre-existing conditions should be struck down, but HHS has yet to provide the public with any information regarding how it will respond to such a serious disruption to health care in the United States 

Klobuchar: The people of Minnesota – and all Americans – deserve to know how the Administration plans to protect their access to health care if the Administration succeeds in invalidating these protections 

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) today called on U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar to release any and all materials the agency has prepared to prevent massive health insurance coverage losses and premium increases if the Administration succeeds in invalidating the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) prohibitions on discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions. Despite the critical importance of these protections for millions of Americans, the Administration argued in a brief filed in a federal lawsuit in Texas last week that these provisions should be struck down. Despite the grave threat to the health insurance coverage of millions of Americans posed by this argument, HHS has yet to provide the public with any information regarding how it will respond to such a serious disruption to health care in the United States.

“As many as 133 million people—about half of our country’s non-elderly population—have the types of preexisting conditions that jeopardized access to and affordability of health insurance before the implementation of the ACA’s protections. The people of Minnesota – and all Americans – deserve to know how the Administration plans to protect their access to health care if the Administration succeeds in invalidating the Affordable Care Act’s important prohibitions on discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions,” Klobuchar wrote.

The ACA prohibits insurance companies from raising rates or refusing to provide coverage to people due to their health status or pre-existing conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma and cancer. Klobuchar’s letter notes that before the ACA went into effect, approximately one-third of people in the individual health insurance market were denied coverage, charged more, or had exclusions placed on their policy due to pre-existing conditions, and that people who get health insurance through their employers could also be denied coverage for specific health issues like cancer or diabetes if the Administration’s argument succeeds. In Minnesota, 55 percent of people get their health coverage through their employers—the fourth-highest percentage of employer-sponsored coverage in the nation.

Read the full text of the letter here:

Dear Secretary Azar,

I am writing to request any and all materials the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has prepared to prevent massive health insurance coverage losses and premium increases if the Administration succeeds in invalidating the Affordable Care Act’s prohibitions on discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.

As you know, one of the most important elements of the Affordable Care Act is its strong protections for people with preexisting conditions. The law prohibits insurance companies from raising rates or refusing to provide coverage to people due to their health status or pre-existing conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma and cancer. As many as 133 million people—about half of our country’s non-elderly population—have the types of preexisting conditions that jeopardized access to and affordability of health insurance before the implementation of the ACA’s protections. Before the ACA went into effect, approximately one-third of people in the individual health insurance market “were denied coverage, charged more, or had exclusions placed on their policy due to pre-existing conditions.”

Despite the critical importance of these protections for millions of Americans, on June 7th, the Administration argued in a brief filed in a federal lawsuit in Texas that these provisions protecting people with pre-existing conditions should be struck down. According to some experts, if the Administration’s argument succeeds, “many more people would be turned down for insurance than in the pre-ACA days” and buying health insurance may become “unaffordable for many middle-income people.” Beyond the individual health insurance market, people who get health insurance through their employers could also be denied coverage for specific health issues like cancer or diabetes. This could have a particularly devastating impact in Minnesota, where 55 percent of people get their health coverage through their employers—the fourth-highest percentage of employer-sponsored coverage in the nation.

The Administration’s legal arguments to invalidate the ACA’s core protections for people with pre-existing conditions constitute a grave threat to the health insurance coverage of millions of Americans, but HHS has yet to provide the public with any information regarding how it will respond to such a massive disruption to health care in the United States.

The people of Minnesota – and all Americans – deserve to know how the Administration plans to protect their access to health care if the Administration succeeds in invalidating the Affordable Care Act’s important prohibitions on discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions. I respectfully request that HHS publicly release any and all such preparations and materials as soon as possible.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

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