The Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as "Obamacare") as it stands is still the law of the land, and Wisconsin is still part of the lawsuit seeking to overturn the ACA. That means things are still as they were before last November’s elections brought a new administration into office in Wisconsin.
"Since getting involved in the lawsuit, since the election in November, [there's been a lot of talk] about trying to enact legislation at the state level that would protect people with pre-existing conditions, sort of as a Band-Aid," says health policy contributor Barbara Zabawa. But even if such a Band-Aid would pass, she says there are still some federal hurdles — like the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
ERISA, passed in 1974, overrides state insurance laws for self-insured employers, essentially creating even more uncertainty in insurance coverage, according to Zabawa.
"If there's no federal law anymore protecting people with pre-existing conditions, then any state law that's passed won't affect people who get covered from their employer that's a self-insured plan," she explains. "That means that any law that Wisconsin passes ... will have no effect [on self-insured plans]."
Zabawa joins Lake Effect's Mitch Teich to discuss the odd state of limbo Wisconsin is facing as it remains in the ACA lawsuit, to the status of CBD oil regulation in health care:
