GOP Fears Trump’s War On Pre-Existing Condition Protections Will Backfire Bigly

[Free Vulcan]

Republicans were already worried that the nation’s health care woes could sink them in 2018. Now they feel like the Trump administration just tossed them an anvil.

The Department of Justice’s announcement Thursday night that it will take aim at Obamacare’s most popular provisions — a ban on insurance companies discriminating against people based on pre-existing conditions, and limits on how much insurers can hike premiums for older Americans — will be ammunition Democrats can use this November.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gop-fears-trumps-war-on-pre-existing-condition-protections-will-backfire-bigly

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The problem is that pre-existing conditions have no place in insurance. Insurance is based on the probability that you will get sick. If you throw pre-existing conditions in, it becomes a welfare program.

The fact that our GOP reps in DC are all in a tizzy over it just shows how pathetic they have become.

[goodwithagun]

The way to fix the insurance problem is to remove any federally mandated laws requiring employers to insure their employees. Once the whole scheme unravels the problem will be fixed.

[Oceander]

The way to fix the insurance problem is to remove any federally mandated laws requiring employers to insure their employees. Once the whole scheme unravels the problem will be fixed.

[Free Vulcan]

The way to fix the insurance problem is to remove any federally mandated laws requiring employers to insure their employees. Once the whole scheme unravels the problem will be fixed.

Most people and particularly our represetatives, don't understand that mandates and insurance are two concepts that generally don't go together.

[goodwithagun]

Most people and particularly our represetatives, don't understand that mandates and insurance are two concepts that generally don't go together.

It only makes sense when when you have Big Pharma and the AMA lining your pockets.

[driftdiver]

It only makes sense when when you have Big Pharma and the AMA lining your pockets.

Both of those folks love it.  It means insurance has to pay for their services and products.  Whereas the consumer might not have enough money to pay their inflated prices.

[Restored]

When Obamacare came into being, medical insurance was much cheaper. Now you can pay $12k a year for a catastrophic policy. People who were getting the subsidies are now getting Medicaid. All Obama did was make medical care much more expensive.
It was all one big Virtue Signal.

[driftdiver]

When Obamacare came into being, medical insurance was much cheaper. Now you can pay $12k a year for a catastrophic policy. People who were getting the subsidies are now getting Medicaid. All Obama did was make medical care much more expensive.
It was all one big Virtue Signal.

@Restored
He made insurance more expensive.  Medical care is about the same.   Meanwhile many small hospitals have gone bankrupt and closed their doors because they can't make enough.

[endicom]

I love the phrasing, "War On Pre-Existing Condition Protections." Anything not big-government is a war on women or blacks or Dreamers or someone.

[driftdiver]

An acquaintance of mine was all up in a tizzy one day because her friends insurance company stopped paying for a drug.   The friend has cerebral palsy and requires a drug that costs over $30,000 a month. 

A terrible disease but 30k a month for the rest of your life is a lot to expect.

[goodwithagun]

Both of those folks love it.  It means insurance has to pay for their services and products.  Whereas the consumer might not have enough money to pay their inflated prices.

An oncologist told me I needed a year of chemo and radiation. Unbeknownst to him, my cousin is a pathologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering. I kept that detail in my back pocket and never told the oncologist until I walked out of his office for good. Anyway, I knew, but only because of my cousin, that my sarcoma does not respond to chemo and radiation, and my insurance would cover every red cent.

[driftdiver]

An oncologist told me I needed a year of chemo and radiation. Unbeknownst to him, my cousin is a pathologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering. I kept that detail in my back pocket and never told the oncologist until I walked out of his office for good. Anyway, I knew, but only because of my cousin, that my sarcoma does not respond to chemo and radiation, and my insurance would cover every red cent.

Doctors follow a standard of care.  Basically a decision tree which tells them how they can treat certain conditions.   The insurance companies largely drive these decisions by determining what they will pay for.

Its always good to get a second opinion on anything major.

[Sanguine]

.....

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The problem is that pre-existing conditions have no place in insurance. Insurance is based on the probability that you will get sick. If you throw pre-existing conditions in, it becomes a welfare program.

The fact that our GOP reps in DC are all in a tizzy over it just shows how pathetic they have become.

Good post.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

This sounds like an ad underwritten my the insurance industry.

[Chosen Daughter]

An acquaintance of mine was all up in a tizzy one day because her friends insurance company stopped paying for a drug.   The friend has cerebral palsy and requires a drug that costs over $30,000 a month. 

A terrible disease but 30k a month for the rest of your life is a lot to expect.

Wow, that's unbelievable!  Reading that explains how big pharma is so rich.  Can't believe that a drug costs that much to make.  Well I guess these people can just go away.  Maybe we can go the way of Europe and start euthanizing people.

All I can say is thank God I didn't go for the overpriced death sentence (for many) Chemo Therapy.  So far I am healthy following stage 3 cancer.  I need to stay that way so I don't need expensive medicine.  What amazes me is the natural things God provides on the earth that are healing.  Fruits, vegetables and plants, even some weeds.

[Chosen Daughter]

An oncologist told me I needed a year of chemo and radiation. Unbeknownst to him, my cousin is a pathologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering. I kept that detail in my back pocket and never told the oncologist until I walked out of his office for good. Anyway, I knew, but only because of my cousin, that my sarcoma does not respond to chemo and radiation, and my insurance would cover every red cent.

Money making business.  I need to walk out on my oncologist also.  The guy always expects me to be sick.  I guess that is how it usually works.

[driftdiver]

Wow, that's unbelievable!  Reading that explains how big pharma is so rich.  Can't believe that a drug costs that much to make.  Well I guess these people can just go away.  Maybe we can go the way of Europe and start euthanizing people.

All I can say is thank God I didn't go for the overpriced death sentence (for many) Chemo Therapy.  So far I am healthy following stage 3 cancer.  I need to stay that way so I don't need expensive medicine.  What amazes me is the natural things God provides on the earth that are healing.  Fruits, vegetables and plants, even some weeds.

@Chosen Daughter
The amount of money raked in by Pharma is staggering.  Billions of dollars each year.   There is a HUGE financial incentive to treat people as maintenance rather then as a cure. 

There are tough life or death decisions to be made when it comes to healthcare but I don't think the govt should be paying 30k a month for one persons drugs for the next 30 years.    If there was real competition on pharma then maybe prices would come down.

I know in one case a doctor prescribed a new medicine for my wife, $3k a month.  Insurance refused to pay and in researching it the medicine was simply two over the counter meds that had been combined.  So $20 later we had the same thing over the counter.  The pharmacist told me the $3k was due to govt regulations that force price controls on pharma.   They have a fancy algorithm and by making this seldom used drug really expensive it helped them with the other more commonly used drugs.

[Free Vulcan]

Part of the reason drugs are so expensive here is other countries limit their price. So guess where the pharmas have to make up their development costs?

[Chosen Daughter]

Part of the reason drugs are so expensive here is other countries limit their price. So guess where the pharmas have to make up their development costs?

Scam

[Free Vulcan]

Scam

Not really. Just another example of piss poor trade negotiations.

[driftdiver]

Part of the reason drugs are so expensive here is other countries limit their price. So guess where the pharmas have to make up their development costs?

@Free Vulcan
Its not really their development costs.   Most pharma companies spend more on marketing then on development.

The biggest spender, Johnson & Johnson, shelled out $17.5 billion on sales and marketing in 2013, compared with $8.2 billion for R&D. In the top 10, only Roche spent more on R&D than on sales and marketing. Most of this marketing money is directed at the physicians who do the prescribing, rather than consumers.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-28212223

[Free Vulcan]

@Free Vulcan
Its not really their development costs.   Most pharma companies spend more on marketing then on development.

The biggest spender, Johnson & Johnson, shelled out $17.5 billion on sales and marketing in 2013, compared with $8.2 billion for R&D. In the top 10, only Roche spent more on R&D than on sales and marketing. Most of this marketing money is directed at the physicians who do the prescribing, rather than consumers.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-28212223

Then I stand corrected. It did not used to be that way, nor were profit margins so big as the article states (assuming the left leaning BBC is honest on the numbers).

[Sanguine]

Part of the reason drugs are so expensive here is other countries limit their price. So guess where the pharmas have to make up their development costs?

Exactly!

[Bigun]

The GOPe fears their own shadow!

[driftdiver]

Then I stand corrected. It did not used to be that way, nor were profit margins so big as the article states (assuming the left leaning BBC is honest on the numbers).

@Free Vulcan
I think the perception originally came from pharma.   Part of their marketing and manipulation.   I'm not against profits but this sure seems like uncontrolled greed.   They control regulation to keep out competition and push through profitable drugs.  Its not about curing the sick for these people.  Its about finding a drug that covers up the symptoms so people have to take it every day.

I've found the research institutes to be much more honest.  I worked with a cancer one and found the people there to be extremely caring.  To the point they would attend funerals for children they had tried to help.