Steve King Dismisses Concerns Over Preexisting Conditions: 'Minor Thing'

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) claimed Wednesday that he wasn't worried about eliminating the popular preexisting conditions provision of the health care bill through the current GOP effort to repeal the law.

"I actually don't think it would be met with tremendous backlash. There are Republicans that support those ideas and we start tomorrow the process of replacement of Obamacare," King said on MSNBC, when asked how people would react to the potential rescinding of a measure in the health care bill that prevents insurance companies from denying care to patients based on prior medical issues. "It will not work for us to say there's a certain component of Obamacare that has some merit and so therefore we want to leave that in place and repeal the rest. This is too many pages, it's too cluttered, it's too big an argument to allow it to turn on one or two minor things."

King then claimed that the preexisting conditions element of the health care bill, like the rest of the "good" parts of the overhaul package, could also better be handled on a state-by-state basis through Republican solutions.

A Department of Health and Human Services study released this week found that up to 50 percent of Americans under age 65 may have preexisting health conditions that would, without the current language of the health insurance reform law, allow insurers to reject them. According to the Affordable Care Act's benchmark, set for full implementation in 2014, a predicted total of 129 million people with preexisting conditions will all be able to receive insurance despite their medical history.

WATCH (via Political Correction):

Comments

[chesterrush]

10:58 PM on 01/23/2011

Go ahead, Senate Republican­s: Try to dismantle Health Care Reform piece by piece. I'm eager to hear you explain to the American people why eliminatin­g the mandate also means that you have to bring back pre-existi­ng condition exclusions­. Or better yet, just eliminate the mandate separate from any repeal of the ban on pre-existi­ng condition discrimina­tion--the insurance companies will love that!

[chesterrush]

10:57 PM on 01/23/2011

Go ahead, Senate Republican­s. Try to dismantle Health Care Reform piece by piece. I'm eager to hear you explain to the American people why eliminatin­g the mandate also means that you have to bring back pre-existi­ng condition exclusions­. Or better yet, just eliminate the mandate separate from any repeal of the ban on pre-existi­ng condition discrimina­tion--the insurance companies will love that!

[seeksthetruth]

01:06 AM on 01/21/2011

If you believe healthcare is a civil right, please sign the following petition:

http://hea­lthcare.ku­cinich.us/­petition/

[Fredday]

12:21 PM on 01/21/2011

Done.

[Rodger leMonde]

12:16 AM on 01/21/2011

I have my suspicions about what pre-existing condition he has that we suffer from.

[RRundbaken]

08:57 PM on 01/20/2011

Much like the piecemeal state by state approach to educational standards that has dragged down our children's education. Let each state do what they want. Look how well our health system has worked. After all we are ranked 38th in the world in healthcare. So let's follow the GOP lead an undo what of the great legislative achievements in this country's history so they can justify all that big pharm donor cash they rake in.

[Littlewords]

07:19 PM on 01/20/2011

Did anyone ever forget the Republican deceitful self title of 'compassionate conservatism' which nothing conservative and everything liberal and progressive when they dealt with the wealthy (rolling back taxes, issuing Gubment perks to big industry leaders and multinationals ), while painfully draconian and callous toward the middle class and poor in our nation as they eagerly outsourced jobs, busted organized labor, and scaled back every social program they could?

Well, Steve King is the embodiment of the nightmare that was the lie and fallacy of 'compassionate conservatism.'

[Fredday]

07:07 PM on 01/20/2011

The only thing minor about this g.oo.ber is his hair line.

[Gidster]

07:03 PM on 01/20/2011

King's ignorance is boundless. He proves it again and again!

[Henri101]

07:01 PM on 01/20/2011

Does this man really believe that his erractic behavior is a "minor thing" ? I hope his friends and family would take him for a mental evaluation and thank God his existing congressional health policy covers this condition but unfortunately not for millions who are not members of congress but hope they had the opportunity to take advantage of mental health insurance unlike him.

[drwtsn]

06:53 PM on 01/20/2011

Other minor things: the contents of King's head and heart.

[ThinkCreeps]

05:59 PM on 01/20/2011

That's kind of bizarre, coming from someone with a huge and longstanding mental health issue.

[William1950]

05:58 PM on 01/20/2011

all the republicans and t-party clones should go home, and stop wasting taxpayers dollars. they are making a mockery of our government and effectively weakening our nation. if allowed to run amok they would create a european type union of small countries with no national government at all...

[Steve-o-k]

05:43 PM on 01/20/2011

Not a big deal unless King or anyone in his family has a pre-exisiting condition. BtW. did this cat cancel is government run healthcare? Same with the rest of the baggers... what's the status on that.

[deebles]

05:32 PM on 01/20/2011

I'm truly shocked anyone thinks this is minor. You know what preexisting condition means? It means you go to work at Starbucks and they have to cover you through the company plan but if you want to start a business and hire ten people you now have to be screened. The biggest detriment to starting a business, self-employment or any job not attached to an insurance pool is screening. I bought private insurance and then tried to move and I couldn't. They screened me back to kindergarten to find a prexisting condition. I was turned down by everyone no matter how much I'd pay. When Obama passed that lucky loophole I jumped all over that. Now, some company is forced to take my 1700 bucks a month. I haven't spent a penny on anything yet, but I'm 54 and have no pool of payers so I'm a lose/lose in a country where a latex glove is twenty bucks. For profit companies want to insure 20 year old church organists. Everyone here with no insurance--you're shooting craps and the house always wins at craps. Find out the hard way when they tell you no because you had a yeast infection four years ago. Or don't ever lose your job, get divorced or move. Minor--the word should give it away--not minor to them. It's cheaper for them to hire someone to carry me around than pay for a knee replacement. The problem is the cost of care.

[Longtimeliberal]

05:28 PM on 01/20/2011

Who elected these guys?

[Gidster]

07:05 PM on 01/20/2011

The mentally challenged and fearful.