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Will
final
health
care
deal
match
Trump's
campaign
pitch?
By
CATHERINE
LUCEY
ap.org
WASHINGTON
- With
time
running
out to
get
votes
for the
Republican
plan to
repeal
and
replace
"Obamacare,"
President
Donald
Trump
has
shown
he's
willing
to make
a deal.
But
could he
wind up
with a
plan
that
doesn't
line up
with
some
other
campaign
promises?
As the
tumultuous
talks
dragged
on
Thursday,
one
demand
from
lawmakers
in the
conservative
Freedom
Caucus
was
removing
the
federal
mandate
under
Obamacare
that
insurers
cover
such
basic
services
as
prescription
drugs,
maternity
care and
substance
abuse
treatment.
Looking
to win
support,
the
White
House
offered
to make
the
change,
but the
proposal
irked
some
more
moderate
members
and the
future
of the
provisions
remained
fluid
late
Thursday
night.
The
prospect
of
changing
those
Affordable
Care Act
requirements
drew
criticism
from
Democrats
and
patient
groups,
particularly
women's
health
organizations,
who said
such a
move
could
impact
people's
ability
to get
health
care
plans
that
cover
their
needs.
White
House
spokesman
Sean
Spicer
said
that
currently
"people
are
paying
for
benefits
that
neither
they,
their
spouse,
their
family
needs."
Of
course,
people
often
don't
know
what
they'll
need an
insurance
plan to
cover.
To that,
Spicer
said: "I
think if
you're
an older
man, you
probably
won't
need
maternity
coverage."
Trump
himself
has
repeatedly
promised
to
improve
health
care,
including
making
some
specific
pledges,
like
better
treatment
for
opioid
addiction.
Could
changing
the
"essential
health
benefits,"
make it
harder
for him
to
deliver?
A look
at some
of
Trump's
health
care
promises:
OPIOIDS
During
his
campaign,
Trump
unveiled
a plan
to "to
end the
opioid
epidemic"
in the
United
States.
Addiction
to
heroin
and
opioids
is at a
nationwide
peak,
with 91
Americans
dying
from an
opioid
overdose
every
day,
according
to the
Centers
for
Disease
Control
and
Prevention.
During
the
campaign,
candidates
stressed
the
issue,
particularly
on stops
in
states
such as
Ohio and
New
Hampshire,
where
overdoses
have
soared.
Under
Obamacare,
treatment
for
substance
abuse
and
mental
health
must be
included
in plans
that
health
insurers
offer to
individual
consumers.
Karen
Pollitz,
a senior
fellow
at the
nonpartisan
Kaiser
Family
Foundation,
said
that
before
the
health
care
law, one
"of the
categories
that was
routinely
excluded
was
treatment
for
mental
health
addiction
and
substance
abuse."
She said
that
without
the
requirement,
"that
would
probably
be the
end of
that
coverage."
PRESCRIPTION
DRUGS
Trump
has been
vocal
about
his
desire
to deal
with the
costs of
prescription
drugs.
He
promised
to
tackle
it
throughout
the
campaign.
On
Wednesday,
he said
he would
work on
it
either
in the
health
care
bill or
separately,
but
"we're
going to
bid down
drug
prices,
and
we're
going to
try to
have the
lowest
prices
anywhere
in the
world
from
really
the
highest."
If
essential
health
benefits
requirements
were
eliminated,
people
could
end up
with
health
plans
that
don't
cover
the
prescriptions
that
they
need.
QUALITY
CONTROL
The
president
has long
held
that he
will
replace
the
Affordable
Care Act
with
something
better.
"I am
going to
take
care of
everybody.
I don't
care if
it costs
me votes
or not,"
he said
during
an
interview
on CBS
in
September.
"Everybody's
going to
be taken
care of
much
better
than
they're
taken
care of
now."
But
critics
said
cutting
the
requirement
to cover
maternity
care,
emergency
care and
pediatric
services
don't
match
that
promise.
Organizations
representing
nearly
400,000
doctors
sent a
letter
to
congressional
leaders
early
this
year,
saying
any new
health
care
legislation
must
ensure
that
"all
health
insurance
products
should
be
required
to cover
evidence-based
essential
benefits."
"We all
have
different
health
care
needs
and we
have
them at
different
times,"
Pollitz
said,
adding
that
without
set
benefits,
plans
will be
like "an
air bag
that
only
covers
half the
car."
Spicer
held
that
removing
the
requirements
would
benefit
people,
by
putting
"choice
back in
the
marketplace."
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