Fact check: Could insurance drop you after you became sick before obama care

1. Summary of the results

1. Summary of the results

Yes, before the Affordable Care Act (ACA), insurance companies could and did drop coverage for people who became sick. This practice was legal and widespread, affecting an estimated 54 million Americans with pre-existing conditions. Insurance companies could deny coverage entirely, charge significantly higher premiums, or exclude coverage for specific conditions.

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original question omits several crucial details about pre-ACA insurance practices:

• Insurance companies could create "high-risk pools" with prohibitively expensive coverage
• They could impose lifetime limits on medical care
• Pre-existing conditions could be excluded from coverage for the first year of insurance
• The ACA fundamentally transformed these practices by making it illegal to:

Deny coverage based on health status

Charge more for pre-existing conditions

• Drop coverage when someone becomes sick

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The question oversimplifies a complex issue by suggesting this was just about dropping coverage after illness. In reality, insurance companies had multiple tools to discriminate against sick individuals:

• Extensive health history questionnaires
• Variable pricing based on health status
• Limited policy offerings

It's worth noting that some parties, particularly private insurance companies, benefited financially from the pre-ACA system by minimizing their risk and maximizing profits by selecting healthier customers. The current political debate includes efforts by some groups to return to these pre-ACA insurance practices, which would again benefit insurance companies financially.