Rep. Courtney Joined By Chairman George Miller In Unveiling Of Legislation To Protect Americans With Chronic, Preexisting Medical Conditions

Press Release

Rep. Courtney Joined by Chairman George Miller in Unveiling of Legislation to Protect Americans with Chronic, Preexisting Medical Conditions

Congressman Joe Courtney unveiled H.R. 2833, Preexisting Condition Exclusion Patient Protection Act of 2007 during a press conference call today. The Congressman was joined by House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) and Nancy Davenport-Ennis, CEO and President of the National Patient Advocate Foundation.

"Connecticut's residents and all Americans deserve access to affordable health care coverage without discrimination as a result of any chronic or pre-existing condition," stated Congressman Joe Courtney. "My legislation will protect individuals suffering from chronic illnesses from further abuse by the health care industry. I thank Chairman George Miller for joining me in this important effort and for his foresight to protect America's families and children who are burdened by the high cost or unavailability of health coverage."

"No American worker should worry about whether he or she will continue to receive coverage for chronic medical conditions when switching employers," said Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and a co-sponsor of the legislation. "A key part of our goal of strengthening the nation's middle class is making sure that all workers are treated fairly by their employers and are able to get the care they need to lead healthy, productive lives. This legislation would take us a big step in the right direction by increasing increase access to comprehensive health care for the 94 million Americans who suffer from a chronic illness."

"On behalf of patients, National Patient Advocate Foundation thanks Representative Courtney for his leadership and dedication to patient access to healthcare with the introduction of HR 2833. As more employers drop health coverage for their employees, patients with pre-existing conditions are facing a variety of obstacles in obtaining and maintaining their healthcare coverage. Representative Courtney's legislation addresses many of the barriers individuals with pre-existing conditions struggle with when they move from one health plan to another and will help improve access to care for all patients while reducing the number of uninsured," stated Nancy Davenport-Ennis, CEO and President, National Patient Advocate Foundation.

Ten years ago, the "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act" (HIPAA) was signed into law in order to allow individuals to retain seamless coverage when changing health plans without being penalized for prior medical treatment or diagnosis. While this legislation offers some critical protections, it has become increasingly clear that HIPAA did not go far enough to protect those seeking to change or initiate new individual insurance policies. Too often, health insurance companies would deny coverage for individuals with even the slightest mark on their medical history with the explanation that the preexisting or chronic condition excluded them from coverage.

Congressman Courtney formerly served as the Chairman of the Health Committee in the Connecticut General Assembly. As Chairman of the committee, Courtney helped draft the state portability law, which mirrored HIPAA. Over time, it has become clear that the private insurance market still discriminates against individuals with chronic or pre-existing conditions, making the promise of seamless coverage illusory. This bill will tighten the loopholes that a decade of experience has revealed.

HIPAA provides some protections for individuals enrolled in group coverage. This legislation goes further to extend HIPAA protections to the estimated 158 million individuals who are insured through employer-based private plans and non-group, individual plans. If a person changes his or her health plan due to employment status or for any other reason, they will only be subject to a three month pre-existing condition waiting period (as opposed to a 12 month period under current law) and the "look-back" period (how plans determine whether an individual has a preexisting condition) would only look-back 30 days as opposed to six months.

Source