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In case you missed it, Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks said some stuff out loud that Republicans have been trying pretty hard to keep mum about in this fight over repealing Obamacare. It's the idea that some people just don't deserve healthcare. We already knew that through their fight to cut Medicaid, but being poor isn't the only moral failing Brooks thinks should keep you from getting covered.
"My understanding is that (the new proposal) will allow insurance companies to require people who have higher health care costs to contribute more to the insurance pool," Brooks said. "That helps offset all these costs, thereby reducing the cost to those people who lead good lives, they're healthy, they've done the things to keep their bodies healthy. And right now, those are the people--who've done things the right way--that are seeing their costs skyrocketing." […]
Later in the CNN interview, Brooks acknowledged some people who maintain their health can still have pre-existing conditions.
"In fairness, a lot of these people with pre-existing conditions, they have those conditions through no fault of their own," he said. "And I think our society, under those circumstances, needs to help. The challenge though is that it's a tough balancing act between the higher cost of these mandates which denies people coverage because they can't afford their health insurance policies...and having enough coverage to help those people truly in need." [emphasis added]
So, if you're born with diabetes you are morally entitled to get health insurance, but if you develop it as an adult you've failed at leading a "good life" and you're out of luck?
That's what Brooks is saying. You can have the morally acceptable "right" kind of diseases or the "bad" kind of disease that means you're a lesser, weak person. Is this how they're going to legislate Zombie Trumpcare? The states can tell the insurance companies whether to cover just the good people's pre-existing conditions, and not cover the same disease for bad people?
That's going to go over well! Putting insurance companies in the position of making moral judgments on their customers is just a fine way to run a healthcare system. But that's what Republicans want—that's what this fight to get pre-existing condition protections is all about. Getting sick is a moral failing as far as they are concerned, unless you're also wealthy enough to be able to pay for all the care you need.
As if taking away health care from 24 million people wasn't bad enough, House Republicans have a new plan that would be even worse. Call your member of Congress at 202-224-3121, and tell them you expect them to FIGHT Trumpcare.