Romney stand on health coverage clarified

Mitt Romney\'s Boston staff clarified the presidential candidate\'s statements about where he stands on health coverage for pre-existing medical conditions. \"Well, I\'m not getting rid of all of healthcare reform,\" the Republican challenger said on NBC\'s \"Meet the Press\" Sunday. \"Of course, there are a number of things that I like in healthcare reform that I\'m going to put in place. One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage.\" Later, Romney\'s campaign issued a statement to National Review Online that emphasized Romney would repeal the Afford Care Act and that \"Romney would ensure that discrimination against individuals with pre-existing conditions who maintain continuous coverage is prohibited.\" The campaign staff referred to a statement Romney made last June in which he said: \"I also want to make sure that people can\'t get dropped if they have a pre-existing condition ... . So let\'s say someone has been continuously insured and they develop a serious condition and let\'s say they lose their job or they change jobs, they move and they go to a new place. I don\'t want them to be denied insurance because they\'ve got some pre-existing condition.\" Essentially, Romney supports the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, known as HIPPA, which said an employer cannot deny health insurance coverage to a new employee with a pre-existing condition, provided he or she had been continuously insured -- something not that controversial, The Washington Post noted. However, what is at issue is what happens to those who have a gap in health insurance coverage because they were laid off, fired, became sick or changed jobs. Earlier this year, a study published in the Medical Care Research and Review said about 89 million people ages 4-64 were uninsured for at least one month during the period of 2004 to 2007. Beginning in 2014, President Obama\'s Affordable Care Act will stipulate that uninsured people with a pre-existing condition can not be denied health insurance coverage, the Post said.