Not according to Michael R. Strain.
Making the case that
it's okay if repealing Obamacare kills people appears to be the new front in pro-repeal arguments. The American Enterprise Institute's Michael R. Strain takes that one to the op-ed pages of the
Washington Post, hinging his case on the notion that if the government really cared about keeping people from dying, the speed limit would be 10 miles per hour. The speed limit goes much higher than 10 mph, so therefore the government also should be fine yanking health care from millions of people. Because zomgnannystatestrawman:
Consider this question: Should society have as its goal that the government prevents all deaths from any health-related ailment other than natural causes associated with ripe old age? The notion is absurd — to both conservatives and liberals. There are limits to the proper amount of scarce resources, funded by taxpayers, that Washington should redirect toward health care.
The notion is absurd! Ignore that it's not what we're talking about when we talk about Obamacare. We're talking about people not dying or being forced into bankruptcy by illnesses or injuries that our medical system can absolutely cure or manage. If you can afford it. Which many, many people could not until the passage of Obamacare.
Strain's whole argument boils down to "screw the little people," though he works hard to erect enough straw men and redirections to pretend that what he's really talking about is a viable replacement that would bring FREEDOM and not direct so many scarce resources to useless crap like health care. Obviously, stuff like this goes unmentioned:
The end of the year finds the uninsured rate 30 percent lower this year than in 2013. And healthcare spending grew slower in 2013 than it had in the past 53 years. Oh, and the law helped save 50,000 lives because it's made hospitals safer. Enrollments have outpaced expectations, and it looks like the uninsured rate could reach historic lows by the end of this enrollment period.
But, look. Why pay attention to little things like that when you could be embracing the idea that we could repeal Obamacare and be okay with the resulting deaths?
