Pre-Existing Conditions in Future US Healthcare Act

During election campaign, US President-elect Donald J Trump promised that he would repeal and replace Obamacare. After winning election, he has iterated his promise. He is scheduled to take office as the 45th President on January 20, 2017. So, it is for sure he would take prompt steps to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly called the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and nicknamed Obamacare.

Republican dominated Congress has already started the process. U.S. House Republicans on Friday (Jan 13,2017) won passage of a measure starting the process of dismantling Obamacare. The House of Representatives voted 227-198 to instruct committees to draft legislation by a target date of Jan, 27 that would repeal the 2010 Affordable Health Care Act. Ten members didn't vote.

US patients await Obamacare's fate "By taking the first step toward repealing Obamacare, we are closer to giving  Americans relief from the problems this law has caused," House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement following the vote. "This resolution gives us the tools we need for a step-by-step approach to fix these problems and put Americans back in control of their health care."

The Senate approved the same measure by 51-48 on Thursday(Jan 12,2017).

A group of nine moderate and conservative House Republicans voted against the bill with concerns that Republicans would end up repealing the law without clearly laying out and presenting their replacement.

"The only thing I've ever asked for is that the replacement plan be fully developed before we take on the repeal issue," Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pennsylvania, a leading moderate who voted against the measure, said in an interview.

“I want to make [sure] people who have pre-existing conditions don’t get frozen out of the market,” Tom MacArthur, R-New Jersey, said after voting against the resolution. “I am getting a lot of calls. People are concerned about fixing health care. They are much more concerned about the substance of the fix than the timing of the fix.”

If ACA is repealed, 20 million Americans will be affected. But it is extremely unlikely that they will lose coverage this year. If those who get their health insurance through work or Medicare, the repeal legislation alone will have minimal effects on their coverage, even in the long run.

Democrats may make the argument that Republicans cannot realistically “repeal” parts of the law without excluding popular provisions like protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

“Here is the problem that they have,” Congresswomen Jan Schakowsky, D-Illinois, said during a press conference  with Democratic House members. “All of the parts are like a puzzle that was carefully crafted and put together and you take a piece out and it no longer works. And that is what they are coming to realize. They have had six years to come up with something and they have come up with exactly nothing."

Whatever happens,  let them happen. I request the visitors of this site to tell something about the major pillar of ACA , that is , repealing of Pre-Existing Conditions. Let us urge all whatever be the future US Healthcare Law, it should have this pillar of Obamacare. President-elect Donald Trump also likes this provision of Obamacare.