"Passage of the Affordable Care Act was one of the most significant changes in federal law in decades. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, over 20 million Americans gained health insurance coverage that they will lose if the law is repealed. Federal premium subsidies to help families that otherwise could not afford to buy health insurance coverage and the Medicaid expansion are essential to the expansion of coverage to over 20 million Americans. With President-Elect Trump and the Republican Congressional Leadership's "repeal and replace," those federal subsidies are eliminated as well as the other market reforms in the Affordable Care Act, which protect ordinary consumers.
Health insurance coverage saves lives. Repeal of the Affordable Care Act would result in the denial of health insurance for people with pre-existing health conditions. Americans with employer-based and individual market coverage would lose access to preventative health care without cost sharing, which has helped so many people stay healthy. Access to preventative care would be undermined by the imposition of significant deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs.
Without the Affordable Care Act, insurers can increase profits and administrative costs, reducing the premium dollars spent on actual medical care. Children would no longer be able to stay on their parents' insurance policies until the age of 26, and like everyone else, anyone could be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions. Americans don't want to go back to a time when health insurance could be denied based on pre-existing conditions, policies were rescinded when people fell ill, benefit packages failed to cover many essential health benefits and there were annual and lifetime limits on coverage. Before the Affordable Care Act, health insurers could often prevent people from having coverage when they needed it most.
With "repeal and replace" there is no soft landing. States do not have the financial capacity to backfill the proposed federal cuts to health insurance subsidies. Over 20 Million Americans will lose their health insurance coverage.
In California, the Affordable Care Act has enabled us to provide health insurance to 5.5 million additional Californians through the Medicaid expansion and another 1.4 million Californians have health insurance through our exchange, Covered California, of which 90 percent receive a reduced premium thanks to the Affordable Care Act subsidies.
"Repeal and replace" will undo the tremendous progress we have made in reducing the number of uninsured by half, both nationally and in California. For the more than 20 Million Americans who gained health insurance coverage thanks to the Affordable Care Act, repeal and replace means death and despair."
Dave Jones, Insurance Commissioner
Source: Dave Jones, Insurance Commissioner
