Half of Americans Have Pre-Existing Health Conditions

Jan. 18, 2011— -- As many as 129 million non-elderly Americans have a pre-existing health condition that puts them at risk of being denied affordable coverage without health care overhaul, according to a government report.

The estimate represents nearly half of Americans younger than 65, and 86 percent of people 55 to 64.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius released the report hours before the House of Representatives was set to begin debate today on a Republican-spearheaded health care repeal bill.

"The timing of the report may be political but that does nothing to diminish its accuracy," said Robert Field, professor of law at the Earle Mack School of Law and professor of health management and policy at the Drexel University School of Public Health in Philadelphia.

What constitutes a pre-existing condition -- one that exists before someone applies for a health insurance policy -- is generally defined by insurers. But ones considered to fall in "high-risk pools" were also counted in the report. So pre-existing conditions ranged from having cancer to having high cholesterol.

"The administration is obviously making the case for the Affordable Care Act to the American people," said Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Va. "The pre-existing condition exclusion ban is popular, but most Americans do not understand how widespread pre-existing conditions are."

Under the Affordable Care Act -- part of the health care legislation passed by the last Congress and signed into law by President Obama March 23, 2010 -- insurers can no longer base eligibility, benefits or premiums on a person's health status, starting in 2014.

The act already prohibits insurers from limiting lifetime coverage to a fixed dollar amount or denying coverage to a child younger than 19 because of a pre-existing condition. As many as 17 million children younger than 18 have a pre-existing condition, according to the report.