As the House Votes This Week to Ban the Sale Of Junk Plans, a New Report From the American Cancer Society Makes Clear Just How Devastating Junk Plans Are For Millions of Americans With Pre-Existing Conditions

Washington, DC — In advance of House action this week to ban junk health plans, the American Cancer Society released a new report that highlights how “devastatingly inadequate” these ‘junk’ insurance plans are for Americans with serious illnesses like cancer. The report says that these plans “fail to provide the kind of comprehensive coverage an individual would need if they were diagnosed with a serious and unplanned disease such as cancer.” In addition, the report, which examined the impact of these plans in Florida, Illinois, Maine, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin, found that those enrolled in short-term plans would have astronomically higher out-of-pocket costs if diagnosed with a serious condition than those enrolled in a plan purchased through the marketplace – sometimes paying more than ten times more out-of-pocket.

This week, the House will vote on H.R. 987, the “Strengthening Health Care and Lowering Prescription Drug Costs Act” introduced by Democrats, that includes provisions to stop the sale of junk plans championed by the Trump administration and its allies in Congress. Last week, nearly every House Republian voted against a companion bill, H.R. 986 the “Protecting Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions Act” that overturns President Trump’s efforts to encourage more states to allow insurance companies to sell junk plans.

In response to this report, and the House’s upcoming vote to ban junk plans, Protect Our Care chair Leslie Dach released the following statement:

“This report shows that President Trump and Congressional Republicans’ support for junk plans could have devastating impacts on people with cancer and other pre-existing conditions. Millions of Americans with cancer face unaffordable and devastating health care bills under the Republican health care agenda that puts insurance companies first and patients last. If Republicans actually cared about Americans’ health, they would stop their relentless war on America’s health care and join Democrats in restricting the sale of junk plans that line insurance company pockets while letting them gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions.”

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