Paul Krugman’s recent opinion piece in the NY Times touched upon a tricky subject, namely: the role of moral visions in modern politics.
Wolf Blitzer recently interviewed Ron Paul in a G.O.P. presidential debate, where Paul was asked what should be done if a 30-year-old man, who chose to not purchase health insurance, suddenly needed six months worth of intensive care.
Blitzer: “Should society just let him die?”
The crowd erupted into shouts of “yeah,” indicating, perhaps, that compassion is no longer in vogue for the G.O.P. base. Paul continued by asserting that the theoretical 30-year-old would receive care from some charitable source, perhaps ignoring the fact that indeed a lot of people do die without insurance. Period.
The question itself raises the issue of who can and cannot afford insurance- as it currently stands, a great deal of Americans can’t even afford it in the first place, and it isn’t an option of “who wants” to have insurance.
The entire Krugman piece can be viewed here.
Filed under: Insurance related, Of interest
