Romney Admits His Health Plan Would Not Prohibit Discrimination Based On Pre-Existing Conditions [View all]

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from HuffPo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/mitt-romney-health-care_n_1594711.html


____ In his Tuesday speech, Romney said that under his plan, a person who is covered by his or her employer and has a pre-existing condition could not get dropped after switching jobs. The Obama campaign's policy director, James Kvaal, argued in response that such a concept was already law. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, a person can't be excluded from health insurance coverage because of a pre-existing condition provided that he or she has had continuous coverage.

Romney aides insist that their proposal is more tailored to the modern economy, making it so that even individuals who leave big companies to start mom-and-pop shops won't be at the whims of insurers who discriminate.

The devil is ultimately in the details of the actual plan -- though as the Washington Post's Ezra Klein notes, there are precious few available. But even when (or if) that plan is produced, it will include an obvious hole.

For starters, there is the question of what happens to individuals with pre-existing conditions who lose their jobs rather than move to a new one? Often, COBRA coverage doesn't fully cover treatment costs or last long enough. Another, perhaps more pertinent question is what happens to people who enter the insurance market already suffering from a pre-existing condition?

Andrea Saul, a spokesman for the Romney campaign, addressed the latter point in a statement to The Huffington Post.

Fixing our health care system means making sure that every American, regardless of their health care needs, can find quality, affordable coverage. That is why Governor Romney supports reforms to protect those with pre-existing conditions from being denied access to a health plan while they have continuous coverage. And for those purchasing insurance for the first time, he supports reforms that empower states to make high risk pools more accessible by using cost reducing methods like risk adjustment and reinsurance. Beginning on his first day in office, Governor Romney is committed to working with Congress to enact polices like these that protect Americans’ access to the care they need.

The statement confirms that under a Romney presidency, there would be no federal prohibition barring health insurers from discriminating against pre-existing conditions. Instead, his administration would push reforms that help eat away at the problem. It would allow "reinsurance," in which insurance companies pool resources for a joint plan to cover high-risk patients (essentially an insurance policy for health insurers); provide block grants of Medicaid dollars to the states while giving them flexibility to cover their uninsured population; and encourage the creation of high-risk pools.


read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/mitt-romney-health-care_n_1594711.html