Mitt Romney made a big gaffe yesterday. Sure it ended up being taken out of context, but hey – that’s the game Romney likes playing! Here’s what Romney said:
“I want individuals to have their own insurance. That means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep people healthy. It also means if you don’t like what they do, you can fire them. I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. If someone doesn’t give me the good service I need, I’m going to go get somebody else to provide that service to me.”
But there is still a problem there, even if we accept it in the context Romney put it. Here’s what Aaron Carroll pints out:
The real issue, unfortunately, is that very, very few people have the luxury that Gov. Romney is endorsing. Let’s say that you are self-employed, and lucky enough to have found a company to provide you with health insurance. Then, let’s say you develop cancer. You suddenly find out that your insurance company stinks. So you fire them, right?
Of course not. You’re screwed. Now you have a pre-existing condition. There’s not an insurance company out there that wants to cover you. So you don’t fire them. You scream, and curse, and cry, but you’re stuck. Only healthy people have the luxury of picking and choosing.
And that is a very serious issue and one that the healthcare bill did address, but also a serious issue that Republicans want to keep around with their “repeal” talk. So how does Mitt Romney suggest we fire our insurance companies? Maybe someone will ask him on the campaign trail.