Written by: Charles Elmore, Palm Beach Post

House Speaker Paul Ryan on Monday promoted “choice and competition” he said will be strengthened by the GOP House overhaul of Obamacare, but a West Palm Beach congresswoman warned of deadly consequences for people needing help from opioid addiction, mental illness and pre-existing health conditions.

“The problem is the states are not going to have enough money to fund a better system,” said U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach. “This bill is going to kill a lot of people.”

Just last week, Florida Gov. Rick Scott recognized a statewide emergency with the opioid epidemic, she noted.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said the American Health Care Act does not permit health insurers to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, though it can charge them 30 percent more if they do not maintain continuous coverage.

On NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday, Price responded to critics: “What I believe they are not recognizing is this is a different and we believe better way” to cover individuals with pre-existing conditions.

The bill provides about $138 billion over 10 years to help states if they choose an option such as “high-risk pools” to cover people with pre-existing conditions, but many analysts say that likely will not be enough.

The issue is not just being able to get a policy but at what cost, said Brent Schillinger, a medical consultant on the board of Florida CHAIN (Community Health Action Information Network).

It does little good “if the premium, or the copays and deductibles, are so high you cannot afford it,” Schillinger said.

The bill, which awaits consideration by the Senate, is really designed to fund a roughly $1 trillion tax cut for companies and wealthy people, Democrats in Congress say. The original March version of the bill would push 24 million people out of insurance coverage, the Congressional Budget Office found. A score on the revised bill is expected as early as this week.

Local representatives from groups including the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the American Heart Association and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society attended Monday’s gathering near St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach.

They warned of potential effects on families, including those already strained for resources to care for children, young adults or aging relatives with conditions ranging from muscular dystrophy to mental illness and substance abuse.

The bill has drawn strong opposition from AARP for allowing insurers to charge older consumers five times what they charge younger ones, up from three times now.

Concerns also involve provisions in the House bill that would give states an option to permit insurers to exclude from plans “essential benefits” required under the Affordable Care Act. These include maternity and preventive services, emergency care and prescription drug plans.

Potentially, that could save money for consumers who do not need those services or hope they won’t, but it could also drive up costs for those who do, like expectant mothers, by segregating them in the market.

Younger, healthier and higher-income people could save money under the House bill, which eliminates Obamacare taxes and subsidies, replaces them with tax credits from $2,000 to $4,000 available to a broader range of income levels, and allows states to let insurers offer less comprehensive plans.

“Obamacare is collapsing,” Ryan tweeted Monday. “This bill brings back choice and competition in our health care system.”