September 26, 2011

In response to a Letter to the Editor by Barry Lurey, my response published September 26, 2011 in Morgan County Citizen




Regarding Barry Lurey’s letter in the 9/22 edition: it omits a crucial bit of information and mischaracterizes the candidate’s (Ron Paul) answer. He stated that during the Tea Party debate of 9/12 one of the candidates (Ron Paul) was asked about a hypothetical man that suffered an accident and had no insurance. In the original question (see transcript at http://goo.gl/JSUrm) it was stated that this man could have easily afforded health insurance but CHOSE not to have it.  The cheering was not, as Lurey suggests, related to a desire that the man should die but rather Paul’s repudiation of the idea that only the government can save him i.e. that we must be forced to pay (by taxation) for others’ bad choices, whether that is not buying insurance, bailing out banks, or building in hurricane prone areas. Also Lurey misrepresented Paul’s answer as essentially “that’s your tough luck.” Rather, he said that the man should not and would not be allowed to die because churches and the like would step in. And he should know, he has firsthand experience of an era (early 1960s) when medical costs were low enough that all could be easily helped. If you doubt that government is the main reason health costs are out of control just ask yourself this: why were costs not an issue before the 1960s (before Medicare/Medicaid) but have since skyrocketed? Subsidies and regulation simply increase costs to the consumer.

 

Sincerely

Gregory Morin