The U.S. Senate is still in a hold up over repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
While the U.S. House has passed a bill, the Senate is still mulling over the bill, which could come up for a vote again after the August recess.
One of the concerns involved with the new healthcare plan is whether or not there will be a resurgence of insurers refusing coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.
“Really, before the Affordable Healthcare Act, HIPAA actually somewhat took care of that,” said Joel Jasper, with Morgan White Group.
Jasper said after the ACA went into effect, people were buying coverage, getting a procedure or treatment, and then cancelling it, much like people do with car insurance.
“I’ve had one of the major insurers tell me that the average time that people were staying on the plan was four months,” said Jasper.
“That tells you that they’re getting on it, they’re going to get their healthcare, then they’re dropping it and buying it again when something else comes up,” said Jasper. “That’s not insurance, and that’s not how that works.”
Jasper said the House version of the bill, which passed to the Senate for consideration, imposed a fine for that action.
“They were saying ‘okay, if you drop coverage, we’re going to add a 30 percent surcharge when you come to get coverage again,” said Jasper.
The Senate made changes to that portion.
“They changed that,” said Jasper. “They went to a six month waiting period.”
Still, the Affordable Care Act is law of the land, and there’s still time before the Senate vote.
“Right now, everything is the same,” said Jasper. “Nothing is changing until something passes and goes into law.”
