Bill Cassidy Tries Yet Again To Lie About Pre-existing Condition Protections
After Sen. Cassidy went on a notorious lying streak last fall trying to convince Americans that his health plan protected people with pre-existing conditions (it did not), he is back at it again.
SHOT: Bill Cassidy Says GOP Wants to Protect Pre-Existing Conditions
CHASER: Graham-Cassidy: The Most Dishonest Senate Bill Of All-Time?
- Politico: Kimmel, not Cassidy, is right on health care, analysts say
- Huffington Post: Bill Cassidy Says Jimmy Kimmel ‘Doesn’t Understand’ Health Care. Experts Say He Does.
- Washington Post: Three Pinocchios for Sen. Cassidy’s rebuttal to Jimmy Kimmel: ‘More people will have coverage’
- PolitiFact: Bill Cassidy offers misleading defense in face-off with Jimmy Kimmel
- ABC News: Fact check: Sen. Bill Cassidy on his health care bill assertions
- Washington Post: Cassidy-Graham and fuzzy math
- Bloomberg: Republicans Peddle Nonsense to Sell Health-Care Plan
- Vox: Cassidy is selling his health plan with misleading numbers
- Huffington Post: The Sponsors Of Obamacare Repeal Are Trying To Fool America — And Fellow Republicans
- Bloomberg: GOP Health Bill Would End Guarantee That Sick People Won’t Pay More
- Vox: Graham-Cassidy’s cuts are confusing. Let’s make them simple.
- Washington Post’s Health 202: Moderates would have to swallow deep Medicaid cuts for GOP health-care push to succeed
- Forbes: 6 Big Lies About Graham-Cassidy And Healthcare Reform And 1 Truth
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND: Republicans Are STILL Trying To End Protections For People WIth Pre-existing Conditions
Republicans Are Arguing In Court That Protections For People With Pre-Existing Conditions Should Be Overturned. The Trump Administration and twenty conservative states are arguing in court that pre-existing conditions be overturned. A hearing is scheduled in a federal district court on September 5.
Senate Republicans Are Trying To Pass A Bill That Would Allow Insurance Companies To Exclude Coverage For Pre-existing Conditions. The bill, sponsored by ten Senate Republicans, would allow insurance companies to refuse to cover services related to a pre-existing condition. For instance, an insurance company could sell someone with cancer health care, but refuse to cover any services related to cancer treatment. Larry Levitt, Vice President of the Kaiser Family Foundation warns that this policy change would make guaranteed access to insurance “something of a mirage.”
Not A Single Republican In Congress Has Signed On To Proposed Resolutions That Would Give Congress The Authority To Defend Protections For People With Pre-Existing Conditions. Democrats in both the Senate and the House of Representatives have introduced a resolution that would enable each house’s respective Office of Legal Counsel to intervene to defend protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Not a single Republican has signed on.
Since 2010, House Republicans Have Voted To Repeal Or Substantially Alter The Affordable Care Act Dozens Of Times. House Republicans have voted dozens of times to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act and its protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Until recently, Republicans bragged about this record. As the Washington Post notes, until this year Rep. Dave Joye’s website read that he had voted more than thirty times to repeal, defund, or delay the ACA.
Last Summer Alone, Senate Republicans Voted On Three Bills That Would Have Meant Meant People With Pre-existing Conditions Pay More. Last Summer, the Senate voted to on three bills that would have weakened protections for people with pre-existing conditions — the Better Care Reconciliation Act, the Obamacare Repeal and Reconciliation Act, and the Health Care Freedom Act, also known as “skinny repeal.” Republicans largely supported each of these efforts.