ACS CAN: Executive order on pre-existing condition protections unlikely to help cancer patients and survivors

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As part of a broader health care package, the Trump administration Sept. 24 issued an executive order to preserve health coverage protections for people with pre-existing conditions should the Supreme Court invalidate the Affordable Care Act.

A statement from Lisa Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network follows:

“The executive order on pre-existing conditions falls far short of the protections already in place under the Affordable Care Act. The ACA’s rules against insurance denials or sky-high premiums based on someone’s health history have, for the last decade, been an essential lifeline to millions of American cancer patients and survivors.

“These patients cannot go back to a world wherein their ability to access lifesaving treatment is tied to an insurance market that is again allowed to restrict, rescind or reject their care. Should the administration succeed in its case to throw out the law, the executive order will offer no guaranteed patient protections in its place.”

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