The revised Affordable Healthcare Act ( AHCA ) has been decried as "terrible for women, LGBTQ people and our families" by advocacy coalitions promoting access to affordable healthcare.
According to an April 20 statement from Lois Uttley, who is both director of MergerWatch Project and a co-founder of Raising Womens' Voices, the revised ACHA duplicates many shortcomings of the original version of the legislation and adds several others that would negatively affect the health coverage of many Americans.
Uttley noted that the revised ACHA would allow states to apply for waivers exempting them from requirements that plans cover essential health benefits, giving way for insurers to either stop covering for maternity care altogether or significantly hiking rates for plans that did cover it.
Uttley also said that the waivers would further embolden insurers to find shortcuts around requirements around Affordable Care Act ( ACA ) requirements to cover pre-exisiting conditions.
"Women and LGBTQ people who have what insurers often define as pre-existing conditions ( such as HIV or AIDS, or having once been a victim of sexual assault or domestic violence ) would be unable to find plans that cover the services they need or would face extremely high monthly premiums for plans with needed coverage. As a result, they could not find affordable insurance that covers their needs," she added.
High-risk pools, which lawmakers hope would take up the slack from those priced-out or otherwise excluded from the market, have proven to expensive and ineffective in the past, according to Uttley.
Commentators expect that President Donald Trump will make an aggressive push for passage of the ACHA by the end of the week of April 24, in order that he might laud a significant achievement upon completing 100 days in office.
