Ryan
wants to end Obamacare cost protections for sick
consumers
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[April 28, 2016]
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of
Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan called on Wednesday for an end to
Obamacare's financial protections for people with serious medical
conditions, saying these consumers should be placed in state high-risk
pools.
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In election-year remarks that could shed light on an expected
Republican healthcare alternative, Ryan said existing federal policy
that prevents insurers from charging sick people higher rates for
health coverage has raised costs for healthy consumers while
undermining choice and competition.
The rule, a cornerstone of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care
Act, has been praised by patient advocates for providing access to
medical care for people who previously could not afford private
health insurance. The Affordable Care Act also bars insurers from
excluding coverage for pre-existing conditions.
"Less than 10 percent of people under 65 are what we call people
with pre-existing conditions, who are really kind of uninsurable,"
Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, told a student audience at Georgetown
University.

"Let's fund risk pools at the state level to subsidize their
coverage, so that they can get affordable coverage," he said. "You
dramatically lower the price for everybody else. You make health
insurance so much more affordable, so much more competitive and open
up competition."
Charging the same rates to individuals regardless of their medical
history is also a key part of group health plans in the private
sector.
House Republicans, after repeated votes to repeal Obamacare, have
promised to produce their own alternative to the Affordable Care Act
as part of a broader policy agenda intended to attract voters in the
Nov. 8 presidential election. The policy document is expected just
ahead of the Republican presidential nominating convention in July.
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High-risk pools, which existed before the healthcare law, are
state-level entities that guarantee coverage for people with health
problems. Analysts say they can be prohibitively expensive and offer
less than optimal health coverage.
Republicans have proposed state-based risk pools as an Obamacare
alternative in the past. Last week, the conservative Republican
Study Committee recommended risk pools as part of the House policy
agenda, saying premiums should be capped at 200 percent of a state's
average.
(Editing by Leslie Adler)
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