Obama’s Non Sequitur: An Instant Response to the White House’s Health Insurance Talking Points

Dennis Smith / July 29, 2009

President Barack Obama is visiting North Carolina and Virginia today looking to shift the debate away from the massive new spending and government control in his health care plan, and to the “Security You Get” under Obamacare. But if  “health insurance consumer protections” are what Obamacare is all about, then why is Congress fighting over massive expansion to Medicaid, the creation of a federal health board, and a public option? If these goals are what the President has in mind, why is Congress doing this other nonsense?

White House talking point #1: No Discrimination for Pre-Existing Conditions
Heritage response: We want all Americans to be able to join the insurance pool without facing discrimination. The federal government has rules on the books that limit the time frame in which employers can impose pre-existing condition exclusions. Congress could simply extend those same rules to the individual-level health insurance market as well.

That way, people who do the right thing by getting and keeping coverage won’t face pre-existing condition exclusions if they change coverage. At the same time, people will be discouraged from trying to “game” the system by waiting until they are sick to apply for coverage, which is what will happen if insurers and employers were prohibited from imposing pre-existing condition exclusions under any circumstances. (more…)