FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 26, 2018
DAVID YOUNG ACCIDENTALLY ADMITS STATES HAVE THE RIGHT TO DENY COVERAGE FOR PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
~ Two weeks before the election, David Young accidentally admits on tape that he has been lying about protections for pre-existing conditions ~
Des Moines, IA – After staking his re-election campaign on lying to voters about repeatedly voting to take away protections for pre-existing conditions, Republican incumbent David Young (R-IA-03) admitted on tape this week that he supports health plans that deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.
In an interview with Iowa Public Radio that aired on October 23rd, Congressman David Young accidentally admitted that he supports allowing insurance companies to deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. A claim he has repeatedly opposed during the duration of his re-election campaign, and one that has become a centerpiece in Iowa’s 3rd District Congressional race.
In an exchange regarding the Iowa Farm Bureau’s new health plans, which David Young previously opposed, Young said, “This will give people more coverage, it will accept, they say, people with pre-existing conditions, maybe not all of them, so there’s not really that mandate on there. It’s important to give states flexibility.” Earlier this month, David Young said regarding the Iowa Farm Bureau plans, “I do not like that fact that they do not protect those with pre-existing conditions, so I have a real problem with that bill.”
When pressed on whether he supports allowing states to waive protections for Iowans with pre-existing conditions, Young said, “I like state flexibility in this, yeah.”
David Young has repeatedly said on the campaign trail that he believes states must be required to provide protections for pre-existing conditions. David Young often says he voted for the Republican health care bill only after it included the amendment that said, “If a state receives a waiver from the Affordable Care Act, it must provide protections for those with pre-existing conditions” as his defense to voting for the Republican health care bill.
However, two weeks before the election, David Young said the exact opposite, stating that he does not support requiring states, or health plans, to provide protections for those with pre-existing conditions.
“David Young has spent the last year hoping voters would forget his record of repeatedly voting to take away protections for pre-existing conditions. But two weeks before the election, he accidentally revealed what we’ve known all along, that he doesn’t support ensuring protections for pre-existing conditions,” said Cindy Axne, Democratic candidate for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District. “When Iowans cast their ballot, they deserve to know that David Young supports allowing insurance companies to deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.”
David Young has repeatedly said on the campaign trail that he does not support so-called ‘junk-plans’ that can discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions.
Full transcript of the exchange is available below:
Reporter: at the state level and i know you’re federal, at the state level, the farm bureau plan that came forward in the state legislator, it could exclude or charge more for people with pre-existing conditions. Was this the right call to do this?
Young: Well I think it’s important that states have as much flexibility as they can. Because what we’re seeing right now, because of the affordable care act, Obamacare, is premiums have gone through the roof, deductibles too, there needs to be options. So I’m all for states having those experiments for doing what they can do to try to give people more coverage. This will give people more coverage, it will accept, they say, those with pre-existing conditions, maybe not all of them, so there’s not really that mandate on there. Um, it’s important to give states flexibility. And I’m always, at least at the federal level, fight for pre-existing conditions on any kind of federal role there is in health care.
Reporter: So even at the state insurance commissioner, he or she won’t be regulating it at the state level, but it still seems like something states should have the call to do? Is what I’m hearing you say?
Young: I like state flexibility in this, yeah. And then at the federal level, I’ll be fighting for pre-existing condition protections.
