National Association of Health Underwriters CEO Janet Trautwein says “people with pre-existing conditions use more health care.” She says in order for the health insurance industry to balance the costs of coverage, both healthy and sick people should be in the pool. (0:36)
By Courtney Costello-Talk Radio News Service
At a hearing Tuesday morning, Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) discussed their desire to provide affordable health care for Americans with pre-existing medical conditions.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is currently marking up The Affordable Health Choices Act, in which measures would be put in place to prevent insurance companies from denying people coverage, regardless of whether or not they have pre-existing health conditions.
“The present situation is unacceptable [and] it is unsustainable economically. We’ve got to move forward to get this legislation done, or we are going to bankrupt families,” said Dodd.
Title III of the bill, Improving The Health Of The American People, would include the preventive measures that would also help to drive down the costs of health care.
The bill would insure that Americans are not discriminated against by private insurance companies, said Harkin.
“Affordable quality health care is going to put a stop to a gross injustice in our current system, the denial of coverage to persons who have pre-existing conditions,” said the Senator from Iowa.
Senator Dodd hopes to have the amendment process for the bill finished by the end of this week.
