Avik Roy walks through the issues quite well.
Ezra Klein, meanwhile, thinks that the Pledge’s language on pre-existing conditions–discussed in Roy’s post–is not just confusing but deliberately misleading.
Asked whether the GOP would repeal the Affordable Care Act’s protection for children with preexisting conditions, [Texas Republican congressman Mac Thornberry] waved the question away. “It says when we repeal Obamacare, part of the replacement is protection for people with pre-existing conditions,” he replied.
That’s just not true.
Actually, it is true, and Klein doesn’t even make an argument to the contrary. The protections may be weaker than those in Obamacare–they may also cause fewer negative unintended consequences–but the pledge does indeed say that we should repeal Obamacare and help people with pre-existing conditions. I don’t think that Klein is playing “word games,” as he accuses the Republicans of doing. I just think he is too invested in Obamacare to think straight about this issue.