Dear Editor,
When it comes to pre-existing health conditions, we
cannot afford to go back in time. Before the Affordable Care Act became law in
2010, insurers could charge sick people impossibly high rates. If you had
cancer, or diabetes or even a Caesarean section, insurance companies labeled it
a pre-existing condition and slapped you with an enormous insurance premium.
Rates were so high many people I knew had to go without
health insurance. They just couldn’t afford it.
Unfortunately, we are once again in this untenable
situation. The American Health Care Act (AHCA) that the U.S. House of
Representatives passed earlier this month gives the upper hand back to the
insurance companies. This is especially punishing for people age 50-64 that often
have chronic conditions. I hope our Senators recognize that right now, in
the state of Maine there are 123,155 individuals between the ages of 50 and 64
who live with pre-existing conditions.
The U.S. Senate plans to work on this flawed bill in the
coming weeks. I hope they agree that basing health insurance rates on an
individual’s pre-existing condition is unacceptable. The AHCA will make
health care unaffordable and inaccessible for over a hundred thousand Mainers
for this reason alone. In addition, the bill will discriminate against
older adults by allowing insurance companies to charge them five times more
what others pay for the same coverage just because of their age.
We cannot let this health care legislation pass. Please
contact Senators Collins and King and urge them to reject this inhumane bill.
Dr. Erica Magnus
Windham
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