Ways & Means Republicans Reject Doggett Amendment to Protect Health Care Access for People with Pre-Existing Conditions
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Tax Policy Subcommittee, today offered an amendment to ensure that health care plans could not take away protections for people with pre-existing conditions. The Trump Administration is determined to take away such protections. Republicans in committee rejected his amendment on a party-line vote. Rep. Doggett said:
"All that my amendment does is make it very clear that the plans purchased through this expansion will not take away in the fine print what they promise in the bold print: that they protect Americans with pre-existing conditions.
I think my concern is that with the sustained attacks, the sustained sabotage of the Affordable Care Act, more Americans—almost half of the people in the State of Texas, were found to have a pre-existing condition, defined very broadly in the past before the Affordable Care Act, to include everything from domestic violence to diabetes—that those people not find that they suddenly face limitations or that they're barred from coverage altogether.
I think the problem that we have with this whole package of legislation is that there's more than a little amnesia about where we were before the Affordable Care Act. And how many of them were being denied or limited in their coverage. We don't get better health for individuals and we certainly don't get better health for our economy.
If you could afford your coverage, it usually meant it did not cover you when you needed it."
Watch his initial remarks here. And watch his concluding remarks here.
