Posted on 05/07/2017 4:17:56 PM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
Nothing in the new Republican health care bill specifically addresses sexual assault or domestic violence whatsoever. What it does say is that states can apply for waivers that will allow insurance companies, under certain limited circumstances, to charge higher premiums to people based on their personal medical histories—that's it. (States that are granted the waivers must also set up special high-risk insurance pools to try and help defray costs for these people.) Under Obamacare, no such price variances based on preexisting conditions are permitted.
Historically, conditions that could trigger higher premiums or coverage denials have been mostly chronic diseases and syndromes. Some insurance plans also included pregnancy as a preexisting condition, which—contra the current pop narrative—did not mean that any woman who was or had been pregnant would be denied insurance coverage altogether, simply that those applying for new health insurance while currently pregnant might not be eligible for immediate maternity/prenatal care. And for a while, in the 1980s, it was apparently not unheard of for health insurance companies to deny coverage to domestic abuse victims.
By 2009, however, all but eight U.S. states had passed laws directly prohibiting the practice, and as of July 2014, all but (two) states had. Even if Obamacare is replaced by the AHCA tomorrow, insurers in (48) states will still be barred by law from considering domestic and sexual abuse a preexisting condition.
A Politifact investigation in 2009 could turn up no evidence that such practices were happening in the then-eight states that would allow it.
A spokesperson for American's Health Insurance Plans, the health insurer trade association, told CNN this week that "of course survivors of domestic abuse and rape should be covered," and it wasn't simply a federal law stopping insurers from saying otherwise.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
How dare the individual states deny the Democrats a talking point against the Republican anti-Obamacare plan! (sarcasm)
The Clickbait journalism of Fascistbook told me this was so.
How could it be fake news with their handpicked leftist fact checkers checking out checker speeches for dog whistles?
The change in pre-existing conditions does not apply to those on Medicaid, Medicare, employer insurance, individual insurance, or Obamacare.
It does not apply to people in states that do not seek this waiver, which will be all the populous states, all the blue states and many red states.
In the few states that do seek this waiver, the only change in pre-existing conditions is for that extremely small number who were previously covered by Obamacare; then dropped Obamacare for over 63 days; and then try to re-apply with a newly acquired pre-existing condition.
In other words, it is targeted at an extremely small number of people who intentionally seek to game the system and whom a few states that don’t want to be gamed.
Rape is a crime, not an illness.
Rape is a prerequisite for getting health care ?
The conservative websites I read, and conservative talking heads on both Newsmax TV and mainstream TV often make a distinction between
Pre-existing conditions due to use of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, promiscuous sex and gluttony of adults as one type of pre-existing condition.
In contrast birth defects, genetic disorders, are a totally different matter. Even though many of them are due to the lifestyle of the parents, the child is not held responsible and should not be penalized. This aspect is often discussed in the pro-life context of not aborting babies who will have pre-existing conditions.
Two grey areas exist which being arbitrary, political decisions.
Teenagers often make bad lifestyle choices. At what age should a person be responsible for his lifestyle choices?
Many medical diagnoses have contributing factors. A person might have a genetic pre-disposition to alcoholism. Many people with that pre-disposition are in religious communities where alcohol is never touched. So these people with a pre-disposition never become alcoholics due to their lifestyle choices based on their religion.
But others are raised in a more worldly religious environment where alcohol is accepted. People in this lifestyle with a pre-disposition do become alcoholics. Indeed, changing religions and associating just with people who share a religious belief against all alcohol is one of the most effective ways for an alcoholic to stay sober.
I mention alcohol because it is flat out the biggest lifestyle health problem in our culture, by far. Alcohol has the highest correlation with the following
-gateway to other drugs
-auto crash injuries and death
-birth defects and (illness of newborns tied with tobacco)
-injuries in the home, domestic violence injuries
-recreational injuries due to swimming, boating, skiing, snomobiling, etc.
-Liver, kidney and other internal organ disease
-rape and unintended sex, including unintended babies
-etc Results of alcohol in our culture are the biggest avoidable cost. Healthcare premium should surcharge any and all alcohol use more than anything else in out society.
Tobacco also places a high cost on health care. But tobacco only impacts newborn babies and people at the end of their lives, knocking a couple years off the end. Alcohol creates healthcare costs for teens, for those in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s long before they reach a normal end of their life.
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