Can Democrats scare Republicans into giving up their plans to repeal ObamaCare? They\u2019re certainly trying: President Obama recently warned that if Congress junks the Affordable Care Act, \u201c133 million Americans with pre-existing conditions\u201d will be in jeopardy. That\u2019s a phony figure, for several reasons. The actual number is roughly 500,000.<\/p>\n

For starters, half of Americans get their insurance through an employer, according to<\/a> the Kaiser Family Foundation. Another 34% are on Medicaid or Medicare. For all these people, pre-existing conditions are no barrier to coverage.<\/p>\n

Pre-existing conditions mattered before ObamaCare only in the individual market, but even there few were affected. In 2010 Rep. Henry Waxman, then the Democratic chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, issued a report<\/a> on the individual market. It stated that the four largest insurers\u2014 Aetna<\/a>, Humana<\/a>, UnitedHealth<\/a> and WellPoint\u2014declined to issue policies to about 250,000 people a year because of their medical histories. A 2011 report from the Government Accountability Office found a similar number.<\/p>\n