It was all I could do to not steal his idea.
Bob Laszewski and I were catching up yesterday when he told me about an interview he did with an LATimes reporter. The reporter was working on a story about how several of the GOP candidates’ would likely not be able to get insurance if their health care platforms actually became law.
Fortunately Bob posted on it today, ending my temptation.
The net is this – four of the GOP candidates have had bouts with cancer. In most states, none could get affordable coverage in the individual market today, and their ‘reforms’ would make it even less likely.
And all of them are calling for the free market to solve the coverage problem, including Romney who is actually stumping for less regulation of the insurance market. Makes you wonder if they have any idea what they’re talking about…
Dec
11
Remarkable.
My only criticism is that the article wasn’t very clear about the (hypothetical) impact on the candidates. I wish the article had gotten more specific by looking at the years in which these men had their cancers and therefore the (pre-Medicare) years in which they would have had trouble getting insured in the individual market. The article could have listed whether in the states they resided they wouldn’t have been able to get it at all for certain years, or what the costs would have been. As in, Guiliani would have had to pay $10,000 a year, etc.
I think McCain and Thompson may have had their cancers after 65, in which case it would be instructive to compare someone with their conditions at 60 and at 65 in terms of insurance.
There is more to be mined on this topic.