WASHINGTON – Congressman Rodney Davis (IL-13) focused on the issue of pre-existing conditions when responding to the passage of the American Health Care Act Thursday in the U.S. House:
“Americans deserve a health care system that provides a choice of insurance they can actually afford. Many want to pretend Obamacare is working – that it has covered 24 million people or lowered premiums by an average of $2,500 like was promised but neither of those are true.
"The facts are Obamacare covered less than half of those it promised to cover, premiums in Illinois went up by an average of 45 to 55 percent last year, and 29 million still don’t have insurance coverage even though it’s mandated by the government. People would rather face a penalty than have Obamacare because they’ve seen the 31 million people who pay costly, monthly premiums for plans with sky-high deductibles that drive up out of pocket costs. Seventy-five percent of people in Illinois only have the choice of one or two insurance providers on the exchanges. That is not success.
“President Obama and Democrats in Congress had seven years to fix Obamacare through regulatory reforms, which did not need congressional approval, but failed because the law is fundamentally flawed. Obamacare is collapsing and we have a duty to our constituents to pass a solution. It’s incredibly disappointing that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle – many of whom have acknowledged the law’s failures – refuse to be part of a solution for their constituents who will likely get another notice at the end of the year telling them their premiums have increased yet again or the plan they have no longer exists.
“It’s unfortunate that many of the same groups selling the broken promises of Obamacare seven years ago are now spreading misinformation about the American Health Care Act (AHCA), particularly misinformation about pre-existing conditions. This is insulting to me as someone whose wife is an 18-year survivor of colon cancer – a specific form of colon cancer that is genetic and one I pray my children do not have.
"This bill does not weaken pre-existing conditions. The same protections currently mandated under Obamacare to prevent insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions, remain. This bill goes a step further than Obamacare to help those with pre-existing conditions by including provisions that not just help people get insurance coverage, but insurance they can actually afford.
“We promised the American people we would do whatever necessary to fix our broken health care system and this bill is just the start. You will continue to see the House pass legislation that focuses on lowering costs and providing better options for all Americans.”
