GOP Presidential Candidates Would Have A Hard Time Finding Coverage Under Their Health Reform Plans

[Galraedia]

The National Journal’s Margot Sanger-Katz and Meghan McCarthy have an interesting piece examining how the GOP presidential candidates obtain health insurance coverage, given their support for repealing the Affordable Care Act and pushing individuals and families into the individual market:

– MITT ROMNEY: The Romney campaign refused to say where he gets his health care coverage. But because of the health care reform law he signed as governor of Massachusetts, he is lucky to live in one of the few states with good insurance options for a 64-year-old unemployed man with a wife who has a preexisting health condition: multiple sclerosis.

– RICK SANTORUM: The 53-year-old former senator from Pennsylvania is enrolled in insurance that “is totally private, and not related to his time in Congress,” his spokesman, John Brabender, said in a phone interview. And if Republicans succeed in their stated goal of repealing “Obamacare,” Santorum likely won’t be firing his insurer any time soon, since his daughter suffers from a pre-existing condition.

– NEWT GINGRICH: Gingrich, 68, is enrolled in Medicare and buys his own supplemental insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield, according to his campaign.

– RON PAUL: Paul, 76, as a member of Congress, gets his insurance coverage from the federal-employee benefit program, his campaign says.

– RICK PERRY: Perry, 61, gets his insurance from the state of Texas, a benefit he can continue to receive for the rest of his life. (According to the Texas Tribune, Perry is already collecting a state pension, even while he earns his salary as governor.)

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/01/12/403539/gop-presidential-candidates-would-have-a-hard-time-finding-coverage-under-their-health-reform-plans/

[Quantess]

1. "I got mine, screw y'all."

[burrowowl]

2. K&R

Hypocrites!

[subterranean]

3. Why would they have a hard time finding coverage?

They already have coverage without the Affordable Care Act. With the exception of Santorum, their coverage is guaranteed by the government. Repealing the ACA wouldn't affect them at all.