American federation of type 2 Diabetics to campaign against various ACA reforms

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The American Federation of Type 2 Diabetics, an advocacy group with over 2 million type 2 Diabetics as members, has announced a rare foray into politics, pledging to spend money against members of congress who vote in favor of repealing 2 controversial aspects of the Affordable Care Act.

Policy makers have their eyes set on Obamacare’s community rating mandate and essential benefits mandate.

The community rating mandate bars insurers from charging individuals higher premiums if they have health conditions that require more medical care. Instead, premiums are determined by an average across all individuals in a region. Critics of community rating say it has resulted in higher costs for most Americans, while benefiting a smaller percentage of individuals with chronic conditions.

Critics of the essential benefits mandate argue it is a backdoor way of transferring funds from those who rarely use insurance to those who use it often. Individuals who would not use the new benefits would still be required to pay the higher premiums for the benefits. By collecting higher premiums without having to reimburse any providers a parallel amount, insurers can use the profits to lower premiums of high-usage individuals, such as type 2 Diabetics.



The Federation said in a statement that these 2 reforms have substantially reduced monthly premiums for Diabetics in America, and that repealing the mandates will result in higher costs for its members.


Proponents argue that these 2 aspects of the ACA raised monthly premiums for key groups such as young workers, healthy individuals, and those who prefer catastrophic health insurance.

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