During consideration of a bill to impose sanctions on China over their treatment of the minority Uighur population (S. 178), Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) introduced an amendment to “amend the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA] to prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions.” As its title suggests, Tillis’ amendment would prohibit medical insurance issuers in group or individual marketplaces from denying coverage based on preexisting health conditions.
The Senate failed to table (kill) Tillis’ amendment on September 30, 2020 by a vote of 47 to 47 (Roll Call 199). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the U.S. government should not be attempting to regulate healthcare or health insurance in any way, shape, or form. The Constitution clearly does not allow the federal government to involve itself in healthcare. Decisions about health insurance coverage should be left up to insurance companies. Federal regulations and/or subsidies in the healthcare sector tend to distort the market and have in large part caused the current out-of-control insurance prices we see today.
