Pence: ‘We Actually Do Deal With Pre-Existing Conditions’ In The GOP Health Bill
Pence: ‘We Actually Do Deal With Pre-Existing Conditions’ In The GOP Health Bill
This week, House Republicans officially released their alternative health care legislation, which the Congressional Budget Offices estimates would still leave 52 million Americans uninsured by 2019. The plan has been met with widespread criticism, focusing around the fact that the plan doesn’t bar insurers from rejecting coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Today on Fox News, however, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) tried to whitewash this point and simply insisted, “We actually do deal with pre-existing conditions in our bill”:
PENCE: You know, the Speaker has said it was scandalous — some interpretation of the Republican plan, which I am happy to talk about. We actually do deal with pre-existing conditions in our bill. But what’s scandalous is the Democrats launching a massive $1.2 trillion government takeover of health care paid for with more than $700 billion in tax increases on individuals and small businesses at a time when unemployment may well today come close to 10 percent.
Watch it:
Yesterday on MSNBC, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) similarly said that they “address the pre-existing conditions.” Both statements are misleading, and Republicans clearly recognize that they’re in an uncomfortable position because their bill doesn’t address one of the public’s top priorities in health care reform. A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found that the public overwhelmingly wants final legislation to require “that health insurance companies cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.” Sixty-three percent of the respondents said that it “must” be included, and another 26 percent said they would “prefer” that it were there.
As Roll Call reported, Republicans “deal” with Americans with pre-existing conditions by forcing them into expensive high-risk pools:
And states would be eligible for a total of $15 billion [in federal funds] over the next 10 years in aid for creating high-risk pools for people whom private insurance companies refuse to cover because of pre-existing health conditions.
People with pre-existing conditions would pay up to 50 percent more than average for insurance coverage under the plan. States would have to cover the rest of the tab with a “stable funding source,” although the modest federal subsidy would cover a portion of the cost.
Most states already have such plans, which typically are much more expensive than regular insurance and have not made much of a dent in the ranks of the uninsured.
Even worse, high-risk pools would be able to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions that made people eligible in the first place. So people would be forced into the pools because of their pre-existing conditions, but the pools wouldn’t pay for treatment of that condition. President Obama and the Senate Finance Committee have also supported increased funding for high-risk pools, but only as a stop gap until 2013, when insurers would be prohibited from denying people coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
The disappointing refusal to bar insurers from rejecting Americans with pre-existing conditions comes after numerous Republican officials promised to address this problem.
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Pence: We actually do deal with pre-existing conditions in our bill
– - And by “deal,” Pence means they summarily deny coverage.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:03 pmSick Pence, none the healthier.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:03 pmTo be fair, there probably wasn’t room to include it and still have a “bill” that the GOoPers can finish reading before the end of their terms. A cover, a glossary, and an index is about all they can manage.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:07 pmBirth – the next pre-existing condition.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:09 pmLet’s cut to the chase, shall we? Grayson WAS right. The Repugs plan is no plan at all. The Repugs and Insurance Companies want healthy people, then when the you get sick, they want you to die quickly. It is so obvious. And Pence’s argument? He didn’t even answer the frigging quetion! He went on and on about the cost. That’s the Repug plan. Insurance Companies get richer and the average American can go die in a corner.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:09 pmThe only reason they finally came up with a bill was because people began to realize that they didn’t have one, after promising over 130 days ago that they would. Too late for damage control now, so they run to their partner, Fuchs Noose, where they can lie without being challenged.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:12 pm“We actually do deal with pre-existing conditions in our bill.”
that’s right, they allow them to continue
November 6th, 2009 at 5:12 pmBut what’s scandalous is the Democrats launching a massive $1.2 trillion government takeover of health care paid for with more than $700 billion in tax increases
How exactly is it a “$1.2 trillion” plan if it only costs “$700 billion”?
November 6th, 2009 at 5:14 pmI’m sorry but I wouldn’t be able to hold back if I was one on one with these jokers on national TV. Wasserman-Schultz and every other Democrat for that matter needs to just not let these liars finish their sentences because it’s all lies all the time.
It never ends. They can’t honestly debate anything because they know their arguments fail. It’s a disgrace.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:15 pmI can’t believe how he simply blew off the question. He didn’t even address the the fact Insurance Companies won’t cover sick people. I thought these Repugs were Christians? But they all seemed obsessed with getting rich and denying people from getting quality care. That’s pretty immoral to me.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:22 pmYes, the Republipimp’s public plan is to have those with pre-existing conditions get their insurance through a high risk pool. Privately, if you have a pre-existing condition and do not want to be in a high risk pool, they will be happy to accompany you out behind the barn and put you down; it’s the compassionate thing to do, yanno.
@ 5. PD, really, the insurance companies don’t want people at all; if they could figure out a way to just take everyone’s money and not provide anything at all, they’d be happy. As it stands, they have to maintain client records and make decisions about whether to not reimburse now or not reimburse later, etc etc. Basically, they don’t provide anything to anyone, apart from the bookkeeping, filing, and centralized health care purchase clearing service they provide for employers. Any individual who buys health care insurance in this market could probably do as well, or better, with a health savings account and catastrophic insurance as a stop loss provision.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:23 pmMike Pence has been and continues to be a blatant LIAR. He’s gotten now to the point of just making things up – even on the fly. He knows they’re false – the people he is speaking to know they’re false – and the media that is covering his ’snippets’ know almost everything he is saying is a lie and the STILL cover this fool.
WHY???
November 6th, 2009 at 5:23 pmActually, old farts like me who reached maturity before 1963, have an advantage over all of you whippersnappers. That was the year when computerized insurance records became practical. Most medical procedures were handled in a doctor’s office, including the setting of fractures and minor operations. But then, we are disappearing from the insurance company charts as Medicare cuts in.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:26 pmThese guys all grew up listening to Reagan’s, ‘All Government is Bad’. To Repugs, the Government is an evil entity that must be quashed. They have duped millions of seniors into thinking they are the ones looking out for them, when in truth, they would get rid of S.S. and Medicare in a heartbeat. I guess are only hop,e is our children. These old dinosaurs will never look to the future. Hell, they don’t even believe in Global Warming. Now that’s just pathetic.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:31 pmVirtual@11, Yeah, you’re right. Like Steven Colbert said, we are just a commodity. As soon as we lose value, we are worthless.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:34 pm.
Changing the “For Profit” rules about pre-existing conditions from denial to penalty payments IS NOT BENEFITING THE PATIENT.
This rule change only benefits the “For Profit” Insurance sector.
Oh, and rewards the “Death Panel” “Profit Driven” Private Insurance Claims Adjusters out there.
.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:37 pmThe government is the problem is just another canard. They would never kill the cash cow
November 6th, 2009 at 5:39 pmWho is Pence kidding? Republicans wouldn’t even vote for the GOP Health Care bill.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:42 pm“We actually do deal with pre-existing conditions in our bill. But what’s scandalous is the Democrats launching a massive $1.2 trillion government takeover of health care paid for with more than $700 billion in tax increases on individuals and small businesses at a time when unemployment may well today come close to 10 percent.”
____________________________________________________________
This doesn’t convince me of anything. This is an obvious “deny and deflect” ploy. This is the same as “I did brush my teeth! But my sister didn’t wash her hands after she peed — you need to go after her!”
If they “actually do deal with pre-existing conditions,” let them point out in the bill where they do this. I missed it when I read through it.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:43 pm.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/47519
November 6th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
The Republicans think they can deceive the public with misrepresentations. They know the high risk pool will end up with all of the people who make the most claims and are uninsurable. There is no way for these pools to offer low cost insurance without major government subsidies. There is no way for most of these people to get out of the pools because they cannot control the health problems. The Dems should accelerate the provisions of the bill and force this in 2011. That is more than enough time for the companies to prepare and make the necessary changes. And it would be appropriate punishment for their opposition to the bill.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:49 pmSeems to me that a pre-existing condition does not really make one “high-risk”.
Risk has nothing to do with it; you know your condition will require care, so the insurance company knows it will lose this bet on your health.
that’s why they don’t want to cover you. It’s going to cost them. And since they’re not really about providing coverage to those who need it, the cost to them is what they will focus on. Rather than seeing such coverage as a cost of doing business responsibly, they see it as a liability best avoided.
Yet people with pre-existing conditions need to be covered. The best way to do that is by changing the nomenclature from “risk pools” to “resource pools”. Those who do not need care help subsidize those who do.
Yes, this is socialism. No, socialism is not the blanket evil that scares the beejeezus out of wrong wingers. It has its useful applications, and this is one of them.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:50 pmExactly right, missmolly. They seem to think that just because they say it, it makes it true. Or at least, that we should believe them.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:53 pmCAUTION:
November 6th, 2009 at 5:54 pmVenereal DiseaseTroll whoring around.
I see our cowardly VDT is back…
November 6th, 2009 at 5:54 pmHmmm. We have an invisible VDT. Can the inane poo flinging be far behind?
November 6th, 2009 at 5:56 pm.
So,
If I’m born with a congenital defect…
… I should be financially punished for it?
.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:56 pmSo, people with pre-existing conditions such as getting reaped
November 6th, 2009 at 5:57 pmor beat up, would have to pay 50 percent more for state insurance cover ?
OT: Republic lawmakers attend Crazy Shelly’s “Super Bowl of Freedom” rather than vote on key revisions to the Patriot Act.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:59 pmWhy is he so outrage at a spending bill designed to keep people healthy and give people jobs? Has he never researched the effectiveness of Medicare and Medicaid in lowering our infant mortality and death-in-childbirth rates and increasing our life expectancies as a country? Don’t Republicans understand the general correlation between government expenditures and economic health?
November 6th, 2009 at 6:07 pmRepublicans are balls out vile
who would have guessed?
November 6th, 2009 at 6:08 pm.
Someone was asking about Boehner quoting the Declaration of Independence while stating that it was the Preamble to the Constitution.
Here it is.
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/scarce/boehner-pulls-boner
And the G(no)P cheers blithely in ignorance, along.
.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:11 pmOT – Marcos Moulitsos just called Tom Tancredo he was a coward for all intents and purposes and Tancredo stormed off the set. Priceless.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:12 pmMax Anax junius -1 says: CAUTION: Venereal DiseaseTroll whoring around.
VDT is of course actually an antisocial disease. best controlled by the efforts of an educated community.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:16 pmRepublicans don’t respect government. they don’t even respect the constitution when it serves them to disrespect it.
The constitution is the first and last refuge of the scoundrel.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:18 pm5th,
November 6th, 2009 at 6:19 pmVDT whores hate to be educated.
That’s because no Republican knows what the constitution says.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:19 pmTancredo was badmouthing veterans health care and Marcos said “I am a veteran not somebody who avoided serving like you” and Tancredo said he wanted an apology. Marcos said I’m not going to apologize I meant what I said. Something like that. I need to find the video.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:19 pmRepublicans have no idea what’s in the constitution but they tear up when they hear the declaration of independence. They have no idea what’s in the declaration of independence either.
Republicans have their own declarations…
November 6th, 2009 at 6:22 pmVile is a pretty good word for them. They do not give a damn for anyone except the within-the-beltway nation of lobbyists, corporate entities, and themselves. Hope they see the results up close and personal if this fails….
November 6th, 2009 at 6:23 pmGOP Health Care Plan, more give tax payers money handed over to corporations. Last time, it was Wall Street handouts. This time, it will be insurance industry handouts. How stupid can voters be in that they don’t even notice that Republicans are notorious for stealing tax payers money.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:23 pm.
Sir Ian McKellen on The View…
http://www.hulu.com/watch/107148/the-view-sir-ian-mckellen
… Ms. Hasselbeck peddles FEAR!
.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:27 pmActually, the reason that the revisions to health care are being put off is because the plan renews are on an annual cycle. 2010 is out of reach already as the sign-up process has started. The corporate plans for 2011 are already in negotiation. That only leaves 2012 and 2013 as the earliest options. Republicans would sacrifice all their offspring before letting it become a factor in the 2012 elections. The Dems cringe at the prospect of that conflict! It is beyond comprehension why WWII was won in less than 4 years, but, the libs were in charge at that time.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:27 pm38 Shayne says:
Then Tancredo ran away. He was obviously not prepared to listen to what Marcos was saying. Maybe this will make Tancredo think about what the hell he is doing, and who he is associating with [Republicans]. Or maybe his rattitude goes deeper, who knows and soon to be who cares.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:27 pmSo, people with pre-existing conditions such as getting reaped
or beat up, would have to pay 50 percent more for state insurance cover ?
In Texas its subsidised — but thats good to soak the taxpayers as long as it goes to a few private hands.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:28 pmApe-Man,
My cousin and I got into a discussion about voting and education. She, being a staunch (R)epublican took the hard line, “I stand for what the Framers originally meant in the Constitution. Go read it. Not everyone should be allowed to vote.”
I paused and then uttered back to her, “Um, according to the Framers, YOU should not be voting.”
I killed the conversation. Damn, arguing FACTS with a (R)epublican is so easy.
.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:40 pmSpeaker Pelosi received a statement from Rep. Kucinich and Rep. Conyers, the co-authors of HR 676, that they do not think that this is the right time for a vote on national single-payer legislation.
November 6th, 2009 at 7:02 pmMax Anax junius -1 says: I paused and then uttered back to her, “Um, according to the Framers, YOU should not be voting.”
I assume you refer to the creation of the Electoral College to prevent emotional populist “mob rule” which direct election would have risked, and the creation of the Senate designed specifically to delay or mitigate the effects of populist bills proposed by Congress to sate an uninformed public’s desire and thus guarantee a Representative’s re-election not on his merits but on his expedient pandering?
Yup, that’s a conversation-killer alright! :D
November 6th, 2009 at 7:30 pmThe Dems cannot seem to grasp the idea that the people who voted for them want a major change rather than a half-assed incremental bill. In all likelihood, they will never have a plurality and the mandate to achieve major change in the forseeable future. If the Dems want to stay in office, they need to start delivering on other promises because the unemployment figures are not good.
November 6th, 2009 at 7:36 pm#38 Shayne
It’s up at Huffington Post.
November 6th, 2009 at 7:48 pmIt may show up later on Olbermann’s show
What the Republics are proposing is no different than it already is. I can get insurance from Blue Cross with my pre-existing condition. It would be $1,100 a month for a policy with a $10,000 deductible. Like that’s going to help. And if I was stupid enough to pay them that $1,100 a month and used up my $10,000 deductible, they would just then cancel my policy because I didn’t tell them I had acne when I was 12.
November 6th, 2009 at 7:49 pmBilbo
November 6th, 2009 at 7:50 pmThat’s about the size of it, all right.
I would like to suggest that the Republican Congressmen are sitting behind the eight ball. I assumed no Republican plan would be submitted (remember their budget no show). Their constituents back home may have given them an earful at town meetings, and obstructing was not acceptable. The recent polling indicates the Republicans are loosing the health care debate. Now “doing nothing” may cost them their seats. Considering the dismal showing at Bachmann’s rally, they are in a corner.
I am cynical about a “Republican Health Care Plan”. Their health care plan is what we have currently have. The Republicans wouldn’t change anything other than give the insurance companies a few extra perks. It is a starting point, and they can be pinned down on specifics.
Even at this late stage in the health care debate, the Republicans may just have to begin the practice of good governance or answer to the voter.
November 6th, 2009 at 9:25 pm46. Max Anus Julius,
Don’t tell me that she’s one of these that hold that blacks and women shouldn’t have the vote.
And you can beat your wife once a month with impunity ?
Should make the conversation interesting.
November 7th, 2009 at 1:55 amThe Republican Health Insurance Companies Profit Plan is nothing more than a graphic example of their talking out of the sides of their mouths. They are too stupid to think normal people can see what they are doing!
November 7th, 2009 at 10:34 am