Kaiser Family Foundation releases update on pre-existing condition prevalence

An impending court decision may role back a key tenet of the Affordable Care Act (ACA): the provision prohibiting insurers from denying coverage to individuals with pre-existing health conditions or charging them more for insurance. Against this backdrop, the Kaiser Family Foundation updated its 2016 study looking at the percentage of nonelderly adults who would likely be denied health coverage on the individual insurance market if the pre-existing condition provision were not in place. The researchers found the percentage of nonelderly adults with conditions that could cause them to be declined by insurers remained steady at 27%. The prevalence of declinable conditions is greater for women than men, increases with age and varies by state. (Kaiser Family Foundation article, 10/4/19)