Think your employer-provided insurance will save you from Trumpcare? Think again

Rss@dailykos.com (joan Mccarter) · Thursday, May 04, 2017, 10:00 am

The Zombie Trumpcare provision that could end everyone's protection from going bankrupt because of medical expenses is getting more attention now. The Wall Street Journal picks up the story.

The provision, part of a last-minute amendment, lets states obtain waivers from certain Affordable Care Act insurance regulations. Insurers in states that obtain the waivers could be freed from a regulation mandating that they cover 10 particular types of health services, among them maternity care, prescription drugs, mental health treatment and hospitalization.
That could also affect plans offered by large employers, health analysts said. […]

Under the House bill, large employers could choose the benefit requirements from any state—including those that are allowed to lower their benchmarks under a waiver, health analysts said. By choosing a waiver state, employers looking to lower their costs could impose lifetime limits and eliminate the out-of-pocket cost cap from their plans under the GOP legislation.

Large employers will have incentive to lower their own costs by picking their benefits package from the states that have the lowest bar. Which means anyone could once again face the specter of losing coverage in the middle of, say, chemotherapy treatments, if they reach the cap on their policy's lifetime spending limits. Those limits are a thing of the past under Obamacare, and have had a tremendous effect in reducing personal bankruptcy.

Source
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/Vwbb-pfMl50/-Think-your-employer-provided-insurance-will-save-you-from-Trumpcare-Think-again