Romney Says Plan Would Cover People With Pre-existing Conditions. Adviser Acknowledges It Wouldn't. | The New Republic

Romney Says Plan Would Cover People With Pre-existing Conditions. Adviser Acknowledges It Wouldn't. | The New Republic:

The debate spin room is the place where advisers are supposed to convince reporters that their guy won. It's not the place where advisers are supposed to make news. But it sounds like Eric Fehrnstrom, a top Romney adviser, did exactly that night. And it's wouldn’t be the kind of news that makes his candidate look good, although it remains to be seen how many people will notice.

It happened while Fehrnstrom was answering questions about health care. During the debate, Romney repeated a claim he’s made many times: That his health care plan would provide protection for people with pre-existing conditions. As noted here and elsewhere, that claim is false. Romney has suggested he’d prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions if they already have insurance coverage. That wouldn’t protect the many people who’ve let insurance lapse (say, because of a job loss) or couldn’t get it in the first place. It also wouldn’t guarantee that people could pay for the insurance, either by providing financial assistance or regulating prices. In short, it wouldn’t do much more than the current law does, which isn’t very much.

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