Leah Vukmir-linked group issued report in 2011 disparaging Obamacare's pre-existing condition protections

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Leah Vukmir said in a recent debate that she would “fall in front of a truck before I would let people go without coverage for pre-existing conditions.”

But in 2011, a business-backed group she has long been allied with issued a report that disparaged those protections in the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

The report also urged state legislators to not enforce consumer protections within the law.

The report was issued in January 2011 by the American Legislative Exchange (ALEC) health and human services task force. Vukmir, who has embraced her work with ALEC, was a public co-chair of the task force in 2011-'12.

ALEC works with corporations and conservatives to write model legislation that can be introduced in state legislatures throughout the country.

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According to its website, on health care, the organization seeks to "encourage genuine market-based and consumer-oriented health insurance reforms, which simultaneously would control costs, improve quality, and expand access to health care for all Americans through free enterprise."

Vukmir and Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin have clashed over health care. Vukmir seeks to repeal and replace Obamacare, while also pledging to keep protections for those with pre-existing conditions.

Baldwin backs the Affordable Care Act and also supports "Medicare for all."

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On Jan. 19, 2011, ALEC released the report, "The State Legislators Guide to Repealing ObamaCare." The report was written by Christie Herrera, the ALEC staffer who directed the health and human services task force.

In one key section on Obamacare, the report noted, "The most high-profile change prohibits insurance companies from fully taking into account a customer’s pre-existing medical conditions when deciding how much to charge, or even whether to offer insurance at all.

"Known colloquially as 'prohibiting insurance companies from discriminating against sick people,' it goes by the technical term 'guaranteed issue.' "

"What it means in practice is that individuals who are in good health can wait to purchase insurance until they are sick. They can use the guaranteed-issue rule to force insurance companies to bail them out at the last minute."

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In a chapter titled "How Can You As A State Lawmaker Stop ObamaCare?" the report noted ways that state legislators could fight the law "through legislation, oversight, re-framing the debate, and by enacting true health care reform at the state level."

Among the action legislators could take, according to the report: "Decline to enforce ObamaCare’s 'consumer protections' if such enforcement authority does not already exist in your state."

The report said: "A state will not be able to lessen the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act simply because it chooses to enforce the law. In reality, states will only be able to tinker at its edges, or seek minor concessions from Washington. And so ObamaCare presents the following choice for legislators: expend limited state resources to enforce the law, or step back and let the federal government enforce the law on its own."

Jess Ward, Vukmir campaign manager, said Vukmir "has said on numerous occasions that she supports health care for those with pre-existing conditions, it has been widely reported that she supports health care for those with pre-existing conditions and if she’s elected, she will protect those with pre-existing conditions."

During a campaign appearance in Waukesha Thursday, Vukmir pushed back on Democratic claims that she and other Republicans oppose protections for those with pre-existing conditions, calling it "the lie of this election."

"Republicans want people with pre-existing conditions to get their coverage," she said.