Suspicious: Guaranteed Coverage for Pre-Existing Conditions

Tracy Davenport

Health

5th October 2020

Suspicious: Guaranteed Coverage for Pre-Existing Conditions

The executive order would overturn the ACA (Getty Images).

The Claim

U.S. President Donald Trump has guaranteed healthcare coverage for pre-existing conditions.

News posted on

Emerging story

In recent campaign speeches, President Trump has unveiled his version of a new health care plan called America-First. According to the New York Times, one of its core previsions is aimed at protecting people with pre-existing conditions. At the same time, President Trump is dismantling a previous national health care plan that already has provisions in place to protect those with pre-existing conditions. Reflections of both sides have taken to social media.

Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar has discovered that President Trump is promising a new health care plan if he is re-elected. According to Trump on Twitter: “Obamacare will be replaced with a MUCH better, and FAR cheaper, alternative if it is terminated in the Supreme Court. Would be a big WIN for the USA!”

In an executive order issued on September 24, 2020, Trump stated: “However, access to health insurance despite underlying health conditions should be maintained, even if the Supreme Court invalidates the unconstitutional, and largely harmful, ACA.” This could be interpreted as meaning that if the Affordable Care Act is overturned, Trump, through his newly signed executive order, is promising that one of the most popular aspects of the ACA, the protection of people with pre-existing conditions, would be maintained.

However, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Trump’s executive order has at least two deficiencies. First, it has no technical content and is mostly just symbolic. The executive order does not provide specific details on how pre-existing medical conditions will be covered in his new plan. Secondly, according to Indiana University health law professor David Gamage, if the Affordable Care Act was overturned, the executive order would do nothing, because it has no enforcement power.

Estimates from the Center for American Progress show that 135 million people under the age of 65, or about half of nonelderly people, have a pre-existing medical condition that an insurer could use to discriminate against them if they ever sought coverage through the individual market in the absence of insurance protections.

It is unclear whether people who have pre-existing conditions will be covered if the Affordable Care Act is overturned. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the Affordable Care Act one week after the Nov. 3 presidential election which will determine the fate of the Obama-era health care law.