Bay State facing premium problems
The Bay State’s massive chronic disease population, along with its status as one of three states with universal abortion coverage, could lead to astronomical cost increases for consumers if the House Obamacare replacement bill passes Congress.
“There would be tremendous challenges for folks on Beacon Hill,” said Wendy Parmet, director of Northeastern University’s Center for Health Policy and Law. “There’ll be some very hard decisions for lawmakers in Massachusetts if this bill becomes law.”
Under the American Health Care Act — which passed the House yesterday with support from 217 out of 237 Republicans — individual states would have the ability to opt out of an Obamacare requirement that forced insurers to charge the same for people with and without pre-existing conditions.
Before Obamacare took effect, preexisting conditions that caused skyrocketing premiums included heart disease, cancer, mental health conditions and pregnancy.
An additional $8 billion over five years was tacked on to the bill at the last minute to help those consumers with conditions in waiver states.
But with Massachusetts being a mecca for specialty care, that amounts to peanuts in the grand scheme of hefty medical costs, said Sara Bleich, professor of Public Health Policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
“The whole point is that people with pre-existing conditions are more expensive,” Bleich said. “It’s probably the case that Massachusetts has a higher concentration of sick patients, because of the health care in the state.”
Not to mention the long-held commitment to providing health care for all.
The bill will also withhold federal assistance from consumers who are buying plans that include abortion coverage — which, in Massachusetts, is all of the plans.
While the state does not mandate that insurers cover all abortion, like in California or New York, Massachusetts indicates that “medically necessary” abortions should be covered, along with cases of rape or incest.
But for those who support the reduction of Medicaid, this bill is a step in the right direction.
Ed Haislmaier, senior research fellow at conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, said Massachusetts was an “undeserved winner” in the expansion under Obamacare.
For those who enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program MassHealth under the expansion, about 85 percent is covered by the federal government and he said “there is no reason to expect that windfall to continue.”