Mitt Romney reiterated his pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act during Thursday night’s GOP presidential debate in South Carolina and promised to replace the law with three national provisions that, he claimed, could help small businesses and individuals find health care coverage. Unfortunately for Romney, all three ideas are already incorporated in full or in part in the health care reform law he seeks to repeal. Watch his comments:
The comparison:
Romney’s ReplacementAffordable Care Act”Care for people that have pre-existing conditions if…they’ve been previously insured.”Sec. 1201 provides that individuals won’t be denied insurance even if they have no prior coverage history. Romney’s proposal is more limited and would allow insurers to discriminate against those who have not been “previously insured.” “I’ll allow people to own their own insurance, rather than just being able to get it from their employer.”Sec. 1321 establishes health care exchanges that would allow individuals to shop for their own health care policies. Sec. 1302 (e) allows younger adults to purchase high deductible catastrophic policies. Anyone can still purchase coverage in the individual market.”We’ll make it work in a way that’s designed to have health care act like a consumer market.”Sec. 1321 encourages states to build new health care marketplaces — or exchanges — in which consumers will have a choice of insurers.
For more on Romney’s replacement plan and why it’s not ad adequate solution for lowering the number of uninsured or reducing health care costs, click here.