Fact Checking Republicans Defending GOP Healthcare Bill
Many GOP Congressmen are hitting town halls, and mainstream media outlets defending their passage of the GOP Health Care Act. Below is a place to fact check some a couple of the biggest claims by Republicans and this Act.
Town hall meetings got loud for some Republican members of Congress this week, as they defended the passage of the American Health Care Act by the House of Representatives. Constituents have been asking a lot of questions, and we’ve been fact-checking the answers given by some leading GOP lawmakers.
Tom Reed, R-N.Y., at a town hall meeting in his district
“The pre-existing reform is not repealed by this legislation.”
Fact check: That’s not the whole truth
Reed was responding to a constituent who was concerned about a child with severe allergies: “His co-pays and deductibles will be through the roof,” the parent told Reed, “because he’s going to be in a high-risk pool — because he has a pre-existing condition.”
“No, no, no,” Reed told the parent.
The bill does have language that says insurers cannot deny people coverage or charge them more just because they have a pre-existing condition.
However, the GOP bill also has an enormous loophole in that regard. The plan allows states to apply for waivers from the federal government that get them out of many of the regulations put in place under the Affordable Care Act — including one that bans insurance companies from charging people with pre-existing conditions more for a health plan. A waiver would allow insurance companies to consider a person’s health status when determining what to charge for coverage. And that means that although someone with a pre-existing condition who lives in a state that got a waiver would have to be offered a policy, it could be very expensive.
Steve Scalise, R-La., on Fox News this week
“No matter what kind of plan you have today,” Scalise told Fox News, “if you have a pre-existing condition, under our bill, you cannot be denied coverage and you cannot be charged more than anybody else.”
Fact check: Not exactly true
Steve
Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.
