Passage Of American Health Care Act Concerns Many

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Passage of the American Health Care Act has created concern among people, who may have "pre-existing conditions". The bill would allow states to waive protections for these patients, creating high risk pools instead, which could be significantly more expensive to join.

"I had the news on all day," said Sean Hubbard. His two year old, Navin, was born with a cleft palate and two heart defects.
His medical care that first year alone cost nearly $3,000,000.

One small comfort was having insurance. "To not have to worry about the bills on top of whether your kid will die," said Hubbard
He believes the current healthcare reform bill could put insurance coverage out of reach.

"You know, I think young healthy Americans will be assisted the most," said Dr. James Pinkney at Diamond Luxury Healthcare.
Pinkney says patients less likely to need medical care could pay lower premiums under the plan.

The American Medical Association "strongly opposed" the bill, though, due in part to how it handles "pre-existing conditions" like Navin's.

"States do have the option to say, if you have a pre-existing condition, your insurance premiums are going to be tremendously higher than someone without," said Pinkney.

Hubbard would also like to see overall the cost of insurance to go down, but not at the expense of his son. "You're basically saying people with pre-existing conditions should be punished in some way," he said.

Those most in need of insurance, he worries, may find themselves without it.

"I've actually had someone tell me I should just work more. Please tell me how I can work more and make three million dollars in a year," said Hubbard.