Mitt Romney's Lie About Pre-existing Conditions

The commentary on Mitt Romney's incredible dishonesty during the first presidential debate continues to unroll.  Reflecting on all of Romney's lies I am left with the conclusion that Romney views most Americans as cretins who are in his view too stupid to figure out that they are being shamelessly lied to and played for suckers.  It is part an parcel with his arrogance, sense of entitlement and utter disconnect from the reality with which most Americans live their lives.  Paul Krugman has a great take down of Romney in the New York Times that looks particularly at Romney's lies about health care coverage pre-existing conditions.  As a small business owner myself who must shop health care coverage options every year, I will say that Romney is on hallucinogenic drugs if thinks small businesses have a snow ball's chance in Hell of negotiating with big health insurance companies on aspects of coverage or premiums.  Perhaps if the man lived in the real world he'd understand just how disingenuous his statements are in fact.  Here are some key excerpts from Krugman's column:

“No. 1,” declared Mitt Romney in Wednesday’s debate, “pre-existing conditions are covered under my plan.” No, they aren’t — as Mr. Romney’s own advisers have conceded in the past, and did again after the debate. 

Was Mr. Romney lying? Well, either that or he was making what amounts to a sick joke. Either way, his attempt to deceive voters on this issue was the biggest of many misleading and/or dishonest claims he made over the course of that hour and a half. Yes, President Obama did a notably bad job of responding. But I’ll leave the theater criticism to others and talk instead about the issue that should be at the heart of this election.

So, about that sick joke: What Mr. Romney actually proposes is that Americans with pre-existing conditions who already have health coverage be allowed to keep that coverage even if they lose their job — as long as they keep paying the premiums. As it happens, this is already the law of the land. But it’s not what anyone in real life means by having a health plan that covers pre-existing conditions, because it applies only to those who manage to land a job with health insurance in the first place (and are able to maintain their payments despite losing that job). Did I mention that the number of jobs that come with health insurance has been steadily declining over the past decade? 

What Mr. Romney did in the debate, in other words, was, at best, to play a word game with voters, pretending to offer something substantive for the uninsured while actually offering nothing. For all practical purposes, he simply lied about what his policy proposals would do.

How many Americans would be left out in the cold under Mr. Romney’s plan? One answer is 89 million. According to the nonpartisan Commonwealth Foundation, that’s the number of Americans who lack the “continuous coverage” that would make them eligible for health insurance under Mr. Romney’s empty promises. By the way, that’s more than a third of the U.S. population under 65 years old. 

First, Mr. Romney proposes repealing the Affordable Care Act, which means doing away with all the ways in which that law would help tens of millions of Americans who either have pre-existing conditions or can’t afford health insurance for other reasons. Second, Mr. Romney is proposing drastic cuts in Medicaid — basically to save money that he could use to cut taxes on the wealthy — which would deny essential health care to millions more Americans. (And, no, despite what he has said, you can’t get the care you need just by going to the emergency room.) 

[M]any Americans have health insurance but live under the continual threat of losing it. Obamacare would eliminate this threat, but Mr. Romney would bring it back and make it worse. 

Not only was Mr. Romney’s claim fundamentally dishonest, it has already been extensively debunked, and the Romney campaign itself has admitted that it’s false. 

Let me be blunt.  Mitt Romney is a lying sack of shit.  Would that he knew what it is like to have a desperately ill child and be faced with medical costs that vastly exceed the limits of one's health insurance coverage.  But, I guess with large trust funds and family wealth he'' never know that reality.  I've been there and know that reality.  My savings were totally wiped out and it took me years to pay off the bills - even back when I had a six figure income.  As I have noted before, I suspect Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were in as in touch with the reality of the lives of their subjects as Mitt and Ann Romney are with most Americans - i.e., not in touch whatsoever.