Romney lied. A shocker, I know.
Let's review what he has said and how he lied.
Mitt said in the debate he would cover pre-existing conditions. Well, hold up there! That might be what he said in the debate, but that is NOT what he has been saying for months now.
For background:
It is not a small population who would be cut from health care coverage under a proposal similar to what Romney has suggested. A Health and Human Services report published in January 2011 estimated that between 50 million and 129 million people currently have a pre-existing condition in the eyes of insurance companies. Twenty-five million of those do not have health insurance, according to the report. That number does not take into account those who have had gaps in coverage, suggesting a much larger number of people have pre-existing conditions but have not had continuous coverage. [source] [note: the link within the text is mine and goes to the press release for report cited. also note the source link goes to a fact check on this very issue.]
The Health and Human Services press release byline is instructive:
Without Affordable Care Act protections, in 2014, 1 in 2 non-elderly Americans could be denied coverage or charged more due to a pre-existing condition [bolding mine]
Here is the link to the report.
Ezra Klein, in writing the topic, points out that Romney's plan for covering pre-existing conditions includes only those with continuous coverage, leaving a huge portion of the generally pre-retirement population [36%] uncovered:
That works out to 36 percent of the population between age 4 and 65.[cite above]
This is what Romney has repeatedly said:
Earlier this summer Romney came out for laws protecting Americans who have obtained continuous insurance coverage from being denied access to care. But the provision in the Affordable Care Act goes much further and bans insurers from turning down prospective customers on the basis of health status. It takes effect in 2014. A Romney spokesperson later clarified that Romney still supports his version of the policy — not the ACA’s.[source] [bolding mine]
And Romney in his own words:
"If they are 45 years old, and they show up and say, 'I want insurance because I have heart disease,' it's like, 'Hey guys. We can't play the game like that,'" Romney told Jay Leno during a March appearance on the "Tonight Show." "You've got to get insurance when you are well, and then if you get ill, you are going to be covered.
"People who have been continuously insured, let's say someone's had a job for a while and been insured, then they get real sick and they happen to lose a job, or change jobs, they find, 'Gosh, I got a pre-existing condition. I can't get insured,' I'd say no, no, no. People with pre-existing conditions, as long as they have been insured before, they are going to be able to continue to have insurance," he said. [source]
Here's the video [
link] where Mitt discusses this on the March 27, 2012 Jay Leno show. [forward to 1:06, will not embed here.]
Now for people like me that cannot get insurance and haven't been able to for a very long time (since 1997 in my case as high risk is too expensive--more than I make], Mitt would eliminate me from insurance. I would not be coverable. I am 59, too young for medicare.
I just can't sit here and clutch my pearls in terror after Mitt repeatedly lied about almost everything in the debate.
Please pick your own topic and get the info out there.
And for crikie's sake, don't panic! Act!
Wed Oct 03, 2012 at 9:55 PM PT: Update: Please see cc's recommended diary for Romney campaign's admission that he lied in the debate on this topic.
http://www.dailykos.com/...