What works and what doesn’t on Trump and Clinton’s ACA stances

Many women were concerned about Mike Pence and the Republican vice presidential candidate’s stance on abortion and his desire to repeal Roe vs. Wade. However, last night, Donald Trump suggested repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as ObamaCare, which is also a significant cause for concern.

Trump described the ACA as disastrous and a failure, yet Trump provided no alternative, citing only that he would allow current plans to be purchased across state lines. According to his website, in addition to repealing the ACA, he calls for Medicaid to be transformed into a state block grant program and for the tax exemption on employer-based health insurance plans to be extended to individuals who purchase coverage on their own.

{mosads}He would also allow prescription drugs to be imported and calls for full transparency of healthcare pricing. There are no details on his website on how he would accomplish the above plans and how this would help the Americans who would lose insurance after the repeal of the ACA. There is mention of increasing the healthcare savings plan, and that would help for tax purposes, but suggest more out of pocket cost for insurance.

While there are much needed revisions to ObamaCare, repealing it would mean that nearly 20 million Americans would lose their health insurance. In fact, almost 90 percent of Americans now have health insurance because of the ACA.  Hillary Clinton agreed that there were some issues with the current plan, such as high premiums, increasing cost to small businesses and rising prescription drug plans. Yet Clinton, if elected, intends to stick with the ACA and said we need to keep what works and fix the rest.

In last night’s debate, here’s what Clinton said that would work:

No lifetime limits.

Patients will no longer be subject to lifetime dollar limits on their coverage. This is beneficial to patients with chronic as well as rare conditions. Cancer treatments can be thousands of dollars, transplants can cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and lifetime limits previously prevented continuous treatment of patients who needed insurance the most.

Women cannot be charged more than men.

Women were being charged higher premiums and pregnancy was considered a preexisting condition that raised premiums or even resulted in denial of coverage during a time when women need coverage the most.  With the ACA, women are no longer being charged more than men and pregnancy is not considered a preexisting condition.

People with chronic conditions cannot be denied coverage because of their pre-existing conditions.

The ACA offers benefits for people regardless of income, health condition, age and gender. In the past, insurance companies could charge outrageous prices or even deny coverage to Americans based on particular medical conditions, age, or gender. Just because you are ill or born with a disability doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have access to affordable coverage.

Children can stay on their parents’ plans up to age 26.

This benefit is particularly helpful for college and graduate students. Many times, young adults are just beginning their careers or may be working part time for experience and do not have health insurance.

What Clinton didn’t mention was that new health plans may be eligible for some preventative services, including mammograms and new baby care without having to provide co-pay or incur out-of-pocket expenses. Routine physicals are also covered. Preventive medicine is not only good for the patients and quality of care; it also helps prevent disease and ultimately decreases the cost of healthcare.

Additionally, because Obamacare requires all citizens to have health coverage, we will dramatically reduce the instances of uninsured health events and hospitalization costs that taxpayers in the past had covered.

 Dr. Lisa Ashe serves as the Medical Director of Be Well Medical Group — a leading concierge medicine and wellness group currently serving the Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia metro areas.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.