David Waldman over at The American Prospect attacks Congressman Roy Blunt for being against the Obamacare provision that prohibits private health insurance companies from pricing based on risk. The Lefty way of framing this is "discriminating based on pre-existing conditions." The middle-of-the-road way that I'll use is "community rating."
Because why should we do any favors for people who are irresponsible enough to get cancer? Damn freeloaders, thinking they ought to be able to buy health insurance.Let's give Blunt some credit here. It would be easy, like other Republicans do, to pretend that you can outlaw denials for preexisting conditions without having an individual mandate. Blunt won't do that -- because he knows that a person with a pre-existing condition is nothing more than a health scofflaw.
Waldman and I can agree on one thing: you can't have a mandate without community rating, and you can't have community rating without a mandate. Disaster ensues without these things working in conjunction.
But his claim is that "if you don't support Obamacare, you don't care about sick people!" This is an irresponsible emotional argument that is not the way that serious people discuss serious issues.
There are many proposals that have emanated from the Right throughout the health care fight. I have some concerns about many of our ways of dealing with pre-existing conditions, but I'm willing to listen. I'm not, one to throw around ridiculous emotional arguments about what are serious issues, or willing to paint my intellectual opponents as cold-hearted compassionless monsters, which is what the Left was reduced to in their Obamacare campaign.
