I Was a Preexisting Condition

It was late 1985. My mom, a registered nurse, had given notice at her job to take a position at a hospital that offered her more opportunities for growth. But there was a small complication: me. In the intervening time between giving her notice and taking her new position, she discovered that she was pregnant with me, which meant that her pregnancy would not be covered by her new insurance.

I was her preexisting condition.

Panicked, she begged to keep her job, but her replacement had already been hired. She could either move to another company where her maternity care would not be covered, or stay at the old job in a part-time position and take a pay cut at the start of her pregnancy to remain covered. She chose the latter option.

She should have been celebrating. Lord knows there's enough stress associated with the beginning of a pregnancy without having to handle that kind of dilemma. But she did what she needed to do for her family.

Pregnancy continued to be classified as a preexisting condition in all but five states until the passage of the Affordable Care Act. It took a very specific set of circumstances for my mom to find herself in her position, but that exact set of circumstances would not be included under the "continuous coverage" provision in Speaker Paul Ryan's favored replacement plan. From Alicia Adamczyk at Time:

In effect, under a "continuous coverage" policy, a person with a preexisting condition would need to avoid having any gap in insurance coverage in order to avoid paying more for insurance or being denied outright. So if you lose your job and your health coverage, insurers would be able to deny you coverage. But if you never have a gap, then you can't be discriminated against.

With increased access to health insurance and birth control, it is no coincidence that abortion rates are at their lowest point since Roe V. Wade after eight years of Obama. My mom was in a fortunate enough place with the support of my father and grandparents that taking a short-term pay-cut was a better option than abortion, but not every woman has that benefit. If the Republicans succeed both in replacing Obamacare with a "continuous coverage" plan and reducing access to birth control, expecting mothers may have more difficult choices to make.

Another 52 million Americans suffer from medical conditions that last longer than nine months, and those people deserve an answer about what will happen to their healthcare. Instead, we've seen "repeal and delay" and a lot of vagary from President Trump. While Trump and others have said preexisting conditions would be covered by whatever nebulous form eventually replaces Obamacare, they have yet to specify how, and the loopholes provided by "continuous coverage" prove that the devil really is in the details.

In his first hours in office, Trump elected to sign an executive order declaring his intent to repeal the Affordable Care Act, so we no longer have to wait and see his intentions. With that in mind, I have to ask: President Trump, would my life be covered by your replacement?

#health #Obamacare #DonaldTrump #PaulRyan