--- title: AHCA: Bill Reduces Protection for Pre-Existing Conditions description: President Trump said the Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act would protect people with pre-existing medical conditions. canonical: https://time.com/4762385/ahca-health-care-preexisting-conditions-facts/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-02T17:12:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:41:37.888Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Says the Health Care Bill Covers Pre-Existing Conditions. That's Not Exactly True og:description: A number of nationwide patient organizations have spoken out. og:url: https://time.com/4762385/ahca-health-care-preexisting-conditions-facts/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c8a47b4b53bf047/6988c31acd1bba77ca704c00/paul-ryan-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3722 og:image:height: 2094 og:image:alt: TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP-SIGNING og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Says the Health Care Bill Covers Pre-Existing Conditions. That's Not Exactly True twitter:description: A number of nationwide patient organizations have spoken out. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c8a47b4b53bf047/6988c31acd1bba77ca704c00/paul-ryan-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says the Health Care Bill Covers Pre-Existing Conditions. That's Not Exactly True > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell May 2, 2017 5:12 PM UTC  US President Donald Trump speaks to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan after signing House Joint Resolution 41, which removes some Dodd-Frank regulations on oil and gas companies, during a bill signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 14, 2017. US President Donald Trump speaks to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan after signing House Joint Resolution 41, which removes some Dodd-Frank regulations on oil and gas companies, during a bill signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 14, 2017. SAUL LOEB, AFP/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell May 2, 2017 5:12 PM UTC President Trump said the Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act would protect people with pre-existing medical conditions. But the most recent version of the legislation would almost certainly leave them with higher costs and unpredictable coverage. “Pre-existing conditions are in the bill,” Trump [said on “Face the Nation”](http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/30/politics/trump-health-care-pre-existing-conditions/) Sunday. “And I just watched another network than yours, and they were saying, pre-existing is not covered. Pre-existing conditions are in the bill. And I mandate it. I said has to be.” The Republican-drafted law would keep in place a federal regulation barring insurers from setting their rates based on the health of an individual enrollee, but it [would allow states to opt out](http://time.com/4756991/ahca-obamacare-affordable-care-act-repeal-moderat/). A number of nationwide patient organizations have spoken out against the change, saying it would gut protections for people who have serious medical conditions such as heart disease and epilepsy. “Weakening these rules would enable insurers to charge higher prices to people with pre-existing conditions, possibly making insurance unaffordable for those who need it most,” said the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network, the American Diabetes Association, the American Lung Association and others in a rare joint statement. Republicans defending the bill point to new “high-risk pools” created by the law that would allocate federal grants to states to cover individuals with high premiums. House Speaker Paul Ryan even argued that people with pre-existing conditions would be “better off” under the GOP bill. But state-run high-risk pools have been tried before, and they didn’t work particularly well. Thirty-six states, including Florida and Texas, established high-risk pools before Obamacare came into effect in order to cover uninsurable individuals. Premiums in high-risk pools were often 150% or even 200% higher than in the rest of the market. States had to raise significant funds to support the high-risk pools; in 2011, net losses for 25 state high-risk pools were over $1.2 billion for just 225,000 nationwide enrollees. Many states had long wait lists for coverage and funds often ran out, leaving patients unserved. The bill’s supporters have also noted that it would leave in place a regulation requiring that insurers offer coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. But critics note that’s cold comfort if the plans they offer are unaffordable. Ultimately, if the Republican plan were passed, the health care market for people with pre-existing conditions in 2020 would have a lot in common with the health care market in 2010\. That’s good if you’re healthy and young. But if you’re older and have had health problems in the past, your care would likely be worse — despite what Trump and Ryan have said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4762385/ahca-health-care-preexisting-conditions-facts/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4762385/ahca-health-care-preexisting-conditions-facts/"},"headline":"President Trump Says the Health Care Bill Covers Pre-Existing Conditions. 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