Keep Health Insurance Accessible for Americans Aged 50 and Higher
With our current system, insurance companies can charge more as patients get older. And while a slight increase makes sense to cover costs, these increases can be as much as ten times the amount charged for younger patients. Not only that, but if an older adult has a preexisting medical condition, some insurance companies can reject them altogether.
An AARP study found that 7.1 million people ages 50 to 64 are uninsured, a 36 percent increase since 2000. This is an unacceptable number, especially when this generation is in the most need of medical help.
The health care reform bill being debated in Congress has the ability to fix this problem. Under the House bill, insurers would be able to charge older people no more than twice as much as they charge younger customers. The Senate proposals set a higher limit of three to one. But both the House and Senate plans would prevent insurers from denying coverage for preexisting conditions and from charging higher premiums based on health or gender.
We cannot burden older Americans with the worst insurance premiums. Please tell Congress to maintain this limited age ratio of at least three to one, so we can all have access to affordable insurance and properly take care of our elders.
I am writing to express my support for a limited age ratio for health insurance premiums. With our current system, health insurance companies are allowed to charge up to ten times the amount they charge for younger people. This is an enormous discrepancy.
The House bill includes language that allows insurers to charge older people no more than twice as much as they charge younger customers, and the Senate proposes a higher limit of three to one. I understand that there needs to be a higher premium to cover costs, but I support the House's version of this bill in order to keep health insurance accessible to older Americans.
An AARP study found that 7.1 million people ages 50 to 64 are uninsured, a 36 percent increase since 2000. This is due to both the insurance costs and the ability of insurance companies to reject patients with preexisting conditions. Both of these issues should be high priorities for the final version of the health care reform bill.
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