Weekly Standard
. . . "But Kimmel recently had a son born with a heart defect. It was an understandably traumatic and transformative event, and Kimmel got to thinking about the kids born with a heart defect whose parents were not as rich as he was. So he started using his show to lecture his audience on certain aspects of health reform. One Republican senator, Louisiana's Bill Cassidy, responded by saying Kimmel raised some valid points. “I ask, does it pass the Jimmy Kimmel test?" Cassidy said in May on CNN. "Would the child born with a congenital heart disease be able to get everything she or he would need in that first year of life ... even if they go over a certain amount?"
"So the new GOP health care bill, known as Graham-Cassidy, was written with this in mind. The bill grants a lot of flexibility and authority for health care spending to the states, provided that the states demonstrate that they are keeping insurance coverage affordable for those with pre-existing conditions, e.g. babies born with heart defects. However, Obamacare required a large number of health benefits be required by insurance companies, and Graham-Cassidy significantly reduces the number of essential health benefits that are required to be covered. Another waiver in Graham-Cassidy allows insurance plans more flexibility in introducing premium pricing.
"The bottom line? The GOP bill makes a good-faith effort at requiring pre-existing conditions be covered, but it's hard to say in practice whether or not doing away with essential health benefits and premium price controls will allow to insurers a backdoor to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions in certain circumstances." . . . Mark Hemingway
Both Jimmy Kimmel and Senator Cassidy mean well, but Kimmel is overstating the problems of the Graham-Cassidy legislation-and Cassidy should have known that he can't make promises involving the difficult tradeoffs of health care policy.
. . . "But Kimmel recently had a son born with a heart defect. It was an understandably traumatic and transformative event, and Kimmel got to thinking about the kids born with a heart defect whose parents were not as rich as he was. So he started using his show to lecture his audience on certain aspects of health reform. One Republican senator, Louisiana's Bill Cassidy, responded by saying Kimmel raised some valid points. “I ask, does it pass the Jimmy Kimmel test?" Cassidy said in May on CNN. "Would the child born with a congenital heart disease be able to get everything she or he would need in that first year of life ... even if they go over a certain amount?"
"So the new GOP health care bill, known as Graham-Cassidy, was written with this in mind. The bill grants a lot of flexibility and authority for health care spending to the states, provided that the states demonstrate that they are keeping insurance coverage affordable for those with pre-existing conditions, e.g. babies born with heart defects. However, Obamacare required a large number of health benefits be required by insurance companies, and Graham-Cassidy significantly reduces the number of essential health benefits that are required to be covered. Another waiver in Graham-Cassidy allows insurance plans more flexibility in introducing premium pricing.
"The bottom line? The GOP bill makes a good-faith effort at requiring pre-existing conditions be covered, but it's hard to say in practice whether or not doing away with essential health benefits and premium price controls will allow to insurers a backdoor to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions in certain circumstances." . . . Mark Hemingway