By: Team Sherrod

Back in early 2017, when Republican leaders began their (many) attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, President Trump said, “Nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated.”

In fact, the Affordable Care Act is complicated: Many of the pieces of the law are contingent on others. That’s why the Trump administration’s most recent challenge to the law is so devastating. It could have major consequences for those with pre-existing conditions, and make it harder for any individual to get covered on the open market.

Read more below, and then show your support for Sherrod, who fights to expand access to healthcare—not take it away.

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The New York Times: The New Obamacare Lawsuit Could Undo Far More Than Protections for Pre-existing Conditions

Margot Sanger-Katz – June 12, 2018

Key points:

• The Trump administration’s court challenge is explicitly aiming to remove a central promise of the Affordable Care Act: its protections for people with pre-existing health conditions. But it could also make it much harder for any individual to obtain health insurance on the open market.

• One provision under scrutiny is the community rating, which means that everyone who buys similar insurance should pay similar prices. Under the ACA, premiums can vary based only on the age of customers and the place they live, and, in some states, whether they smoke.

• Community rating is also critical in making sure lots of other parts of the law work. The subsidies to help middle-income Americans buy health insurance, for example, are calculated based on the assumption that there is a standard price for insurance that everyone is charged.

• And it’s important for Obamacare’s online insurance marketplaces. Now, people who want health insurance can go to one website and shop for plans, comparing benefits, deductibles and prices. But without guaranteed coverage and standard premiums, it would be impossible to know whether you could buy any particular plan, or at what price.

• If the court rules in the way the Justice Department has requested, the result will be a world in which it is much more difficult for individuals and small businesses to buy health insurance. The Affordable Care Act is complicated, with interlocking parts. It will be hard to remove just two rules from the individual market without disrupting many others.

Read more here.