Consumer Law

HHS Study Finds Up to Half of U.S. Has Pre-Existing Health Conditions

By Brian Wolfman

The Department of Health and Human Services will release a study today showing that tens of millions of Americans have pre-existing conditions, according to this article in the Washington Post. Republicans in Congress and the health care industy say the numbers are bloated to underscore the need for the 2010 health care legislation, which most Republican legislators want to repeal. Here's an excerpt:

As many as 129 million Americans under age 65 have medical problems that are red flags for health insurers, according to an analysis that marks the government's first attempt to quantify the number of people at risk of being rejected by insurance companies or paying more for coverage. * * * Republicans immediately disparaged the analysis as "public relations." An insurance industry spokesman acknowledged that sick people can have trouble buying insurance on their own but said the analysis overstates the problem. The study found that one-fifth to one-half of non-elderly people in the United States have ailments that trigger rejection or higher prices in the individual insurance market. They range from cancer to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, asthma and high blood pressure.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on January 18, 2011 (boomark / email).