Again, I’ll stick to my strengths. For more passionate ramblings on other topics covered in the debate, follow me on twitter at @aaronecarroll.
Let’s start here with the moment I screamed at the TV. I’m sorry, but the audience cheering the idea of letting a thirty-year old who got sick without insurance die is appalling. You can dislike the moral hazard, you can bemoan the fact that people don’t take enough personal responsibility, you can even wish that society wouldn’t have to be on the hook when uninsured people get sick. But don’t take pleasure in that fact. Right now, there are thirty-year olds who don’t have jobs, can’t find work, and can’t afford insurance. Letting them die if they get sick is not “good”. It’s not even “freedom”. Applauding that is depressing.
Governor Romney’s claim that the major difference between Massachusetts and the ACA is that he didn’t have to raise taxes to pay for it is a bit disingenuous, since he used a ton of federal money to pay for his reforms.
The continued rage against opt-out vaccine policy is unsettling. This isn’t new. Yes, the HPV vaccine protects against a sexually transmitted disease, and I understand (while not agreeing ) with the moral hazard argument that some feel with respect to that vaccine. But Hepatitis B is also a sexually transmitted disease; do they oppose that vaccine, too? And will these candidates follow through and fight all opt-out vaccines? If not, they are playing a dangerous game with an issue that should not be politicized.
Finally, it saddens me every time these candidates rail against any cuts to Medicare. If we don’t find a way to stop demonizing that, we’re never going to get our fiscal house in order.
That is all.
