This afternoon, MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell asked Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) if the GOP’s ‘Pledge‘ to “repeal and replace” the health care law would eliminate all of the new health provisions that go into effect today and if he approved of the new benefits. Thornberry initially refused to say if he supported prohibiting insurers from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions and charging co-pays for certain preventive services, but awkwardly explained that Republicans would repeal all of them and then restore some of them:

O’DONNELL: I want specific answers from you on this — one of the things that went in place today, coverage for kids with pre-existing conditions. You want to repeal that? Yes or no?

THORNBERRY: Look at the document itself. It says when we repeal Obamacare, part of the replacement is protection for people with pre-existing conditions. It’s in the document itself.

O’DONNELL: So that’s a yes?

THORNBERRY: Read it.

O’DONNELL: What about a ban on lifetime benefit limits? Yes or no, Do you want to repeal that?

THORNBERRY: We want to repeal all of the Obama health care proposal and begin to replace it. We laid out four or five specific things to replace it with immediately.

O’DONNELL: This is a simple question. It’s a yes or no. I asked you about expanded coverage for young adults. Everybody up to the age of 26 can stay on their parents’ health care insurance. Do you want to repeal that? Yes or no?

THORNBERRY: If you would let me answer the question. What I was about to say was this is a first step. This is not the whole answer to health care. It does not try to solve all of the problems about young adults who don’t have coverage personally. I support that. I have two kids about that age. But what’s in this plan is what people are talking about now. And it’s a first step towards greater — towards further steps on health care, budget reduction, and all the other issues.

Watch it:

Thornberry told O’Donnell that she misunderstood the document as a comprehensive health care proposal. It’s not. “It is not a party blueprint for everything we would do if given the opportunity in another Congress,” he said. “It is, again, a first step that we want to do now and now we would start with repealing the whole health care bill.”

Taken at face value, the GOP’s ‘replace’ proposal is full of regulatory loopholes, much like the the health plan Republicans offered last year. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that proposal would increase the number of uninsured to 52 million in 2019.

Starting today, insurance companies can no longer discriminate against children with pre-existing conditions, drop coverage because of a simple mistake on an application, institute lifetime caps, limit choice of doctors, charge more for emergency services obtained out of network, or levy deductibles, co-payments or co-insurance for certain preventive benefits. Children will also be able to stay on their parents’ plans until their 26th birthday and everyone will have the right to appeal insurer decisions to an independent third party.

Ironically, today Republicans are also unveiling a new ‘Pledge To America,’ an agenda which promises to “repeal” all of these benefits — as well as the entire health care law — and replace it with “reforms  that  lower  costs  for   families  and  small  businesses,  increase  access  to  affordable,  high-­‐quality  care  and  strengthen  the  doctor-­‐patient   relationship.” The document provides almost no specifics about what the party would do to control health care spending, improve quality, or pay for its reforms. And at least 7 of the GOP’s ideas on health care are already included in the health care law:

The document doesn’t detail how Republicans plan to offset the $140 billion deficit increase that will result from repealing the ACA or how they’ll lower health care spending. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the GOP’s previous very similar health care plan — presented by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) as an alternative to the House health care bill — would increase the number of uninsured to 52 million in 2019 and reduce the deficit by only $68 billion over the 2010–2019 period.

Moreover, as conservative health care blogger Avik Roy points out, “the Pledge says almost nothing about the biggest and most difficult questions in health policy: Medicare and Medicaid reform.” “It criticizes PPACA’s ‘massive Medicare cuts’ without offering an alternative solution for putting the program on stable long-term footing.” CMS estimated earlier this month that under the health law, Medicare spending will decline $86.4 billion from previous projections due to reforms. “Specifically, average annual Medicare spending growth is anticipated to be 1.4 percentage points slower for 2012–19 than we projected in February 2010. By 2019, it is projected to grow 7.7 percent—0.9 percentage point more slowly than we projected in February 2010,” the report concluded. Repealing the law would increase in Medicare spending. How do the Republicans plan to hold down those costs? On that their document is absolutely silent.