American Heart Association, top patient groups slam GOP health bill

Ten patient-advocacy groups on Monday panned the latest version of the House GOP health care bill, saying it would still lead to coverage losses and that “high-risk pools” are not an adequate alternative to Obamacare’s rules on insurers.

Republicans are increasingly optimistic they can schedule and win a vote in the House this week to repeal and replace Obamacare, after conservatives bought into changes that let states waive Obamacare’s slate of “essential” health benefits and allow insurers to charge healthy people less than sicker ones, so long as they set up a separate pool to subsidize people with preexisting conditions or tap into federal risk-sharing funding.

Yet the American Heart Association and political-action arm of the American Cancer Society say patients battling chronic conditions will suffer.

“Weakening these rules would enable insurers to charge higher prices to people with pre-existing conditions, possibly making insurance unaffordable for those who need it most,” it said.

President Trump pushed back at suggestions his bill would hurt people with pre-existing conditions, saying insurers cannot deny them and that Republicans are ponying up $115 billion in stability funding and $15 billion for a risk-sharing mechanism to backstop sicker consumers who could be priced out of the market.

Patient groups said those options have a poor track record.

“Offering these risk sharing mechanisms as an alternative to affordable health insurance is not a viable option, particularly high-risk pools,” the groups wrote. “Previous state high risk pools resulted in higher premiums, long waiting lists and inadequate coverage.”

“The individuals and families we represent cannot go back to a time when people with pre-existing conditions could be denied coverage or forced to choose between purchasing basic necessities and affording their health care coverage,” they added.

Last week, a series of health care groups — including the American Hospital Association and American Medical Association — also criticized the GOP bill, saying recent changes only calcified their opposition to the underlying bill.