Wisconsin Democrats Propose Health Care Package In Response To Obamacare Replacement Bill

Wisconsin Democrats are proposing a series of health care bills they say will protect patients with pre-existing conditions.

The proposal comes after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill earlier this month designed to repeal portions of the Affordable Care Act.

The legislation proposed by state Democrats would prevent insurance companies from putting annual and lifetime limits on benefits, and bar them from refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions.

It would also require insurance companies to cover the 10 essential health benefits outlined in the Affordable Care Act, allow for family planning coverage for Medicaid recipient’s at clinics such as Planned Parenthood and require preventative care coverage that is not subject to deductibles or co-payments.

State Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, is one of the authors of the bill package. He said the bills give protection for a basic right.

“Nobody chooses cancer, cancer chooses the individual,” Erpenbach told WPR on Tuesday. “And just because somebody gets cancer doesn’t mean we should turn our back on them as a society because we have evolved. We are past that.”

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, state Assembly Democrats attempted to force a vote on the bill that would require insurance companies to cover patients with pre-existing conditions, which led Republicans to quickly end the session.

The package is unlikely to receive a hearing in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Erpenbach said he’s optimistic about the bills’ chance for passage. He added that the success of the package would come down to people in the state calling their legislator or writing to the governor.

The U.S. House bill would allow states to opt out of some of the requirements under the Affordable Care Act. Gov. Scott Walker has said he’d consider opting out of some of those requirements.

Walker later added it was “a given” Wisconsin would ensure “pre-existing conditions are going to be covered here in the state of Wisconsin.”

It is a given that WI will ensure coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.

— Governor Walker (@GovWalker) May 5, 2017