This is an interview of Romney from one of CNN’s top journalists:
In an exchange with Leno on the subject of healthcare, Romney once again displayed his lack of affinity with less-fortunate Americans. When Leno pressed him on salvaging from Obamacare the requirement for insurance companies to offer coverage to people with preexisting medical conditions, Romney made it quite clear he has little sympathy for people who get sick before they can afford to buy health insurance. He came close to Ron Paul’s notable let-them-die moment from one of the early debates of the GOP presidential campaign.
No. He didn’t come close, Romney did say “let them die”, he just said it in sanitized corporate double talk:
“People who have been continuously insured … then they get real sick and they happen to lose a job or change jobs, they find, gosh, I’ve got a pre-existing condition, I can’t get insured. I’d say, ‘no no no,'” he said Tuesday night on NBC’s “Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” “As long as you’ve been continuously insured, you ought to be able to get insurance going forward.”
A future USA without the Affordable Care Act aka “Obamacare”, which may be a reality with or without a Romney presidency, will have no regulation that says insurers have to cover pre-existing conditions. Without laws that compel private insurers to cover “high risk patients”, they won’t. He said “they ought to” be able to get insurance he didn’t promise to pass a law mandating that insurers enroll customers with “pre-existing conditions”. It’s non committal.
Romney’s statement makes no sense. Here is the definition of pre-existing condition:
Pre-Existing Condition – A medical condition that occurred before a program of health benefits went into effect.
How the f*ck can you be continuously insured if you have a condition before you have healthcare? Even if you are talking about people who had employer provided health insurance until they were laid off when their policy lapses, they are on their own. The existing HIPAA regulations before the ACA was passed were designed for say a person who left one employer based health care plan (that they had at least 18 months), and then enrolled in another employer based healthcare plan but maybe the new plan had a one to two month waiting period for health care. Then pre-existing condition denials were not permitted. Otherwise, insurance companies could deny anyone with any illness they deem as high risk.
In addition, there are pre-existing condition exclusions. Basically, you pay full price for health care, and enjoy insured access to all health care treatments except for the treatments that treat your pre-existing conditions for 12 to 18 months.