The rhetoric on MSNBC has gotten so over the top in recent weeks it’s almost unbelievable.
On Tuesday’s The Cycle, co-host Krystal Ball said that Republicans are asking young people to not buy health insurance thereby supposedly risking "agonizing and unnecessary death" in order to hurt President Obama (video follows with transcript and commentary):
KRYSTAL BALL, CO-HOST: This ad though by a Koch brothers-backed allegedly conservative group really has me confused, though.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHYSICIAN: Okay. Let's have a look.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALL: Wow. Now, I want you to think about this: the GOP is saying to young people, “We would like to have the government stick an unnecessary trans-vaginal probe in you if you want an abortion, but when it comes to health insurance, don't take any government help. Don't go to the state or federal government operated insurance exchanges to buy private insurance. Stay away. Stay uninsured. Skip that Pap smear. Skip that tetanus shot. Skip that prenatal care. Skip that cholesterol test. And if you die an agonizing and unnecessary death, one that could have been prevented by the health insurance reform that bears the president's name, at least you know your death will not have been in vain. You will have died to serve the noble and patriotic cause not of conservatism but of hurting this president and denying him a victory.
Honestly, how does this woman have a job in a news division?
Oh. That’s right. MSNBC isn’t a news organization. How could I have forgotten?
Saying Republicans don’t want young people to buy health insurance is preposterous.
What conservatives don’t want is the government to force young people to purchase something that morbidity tables show will likely have absolutely no benefit for them until the distant future so that others who likely will benefit much sooner can get it either for free or far more cheaply.
Irrespective of what Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts foolishly ruled last year, this is neither Constitutional nor ethical.
As for these young people dying if ObamaCare is not enacted, that asininely assumes that people won’t have the money to pay for their care if they get sick or won’t purchase health insurance when they reach an age when they believe they need it.
For example, Ball mentioned prenatal care and tetanus shots. As a person that owns an insurance agency, I certainly would be telling a client looking to have children to purchase health insurance.
As for Pap smears, the Mayo Clinic recommends women over 21 do them every two to three years.
The cost varies state by state. In New York City, you can get one for as little as $150.
As such, a woman in that city doing it even once every two years would save thousands of dollars paying for it herself rather than buying health insurance.
As for cholesterol tests, these are now available online for as little as $40.
The reality is that intelligent young people can easily manage their own healthcare needs far more cheaply than purchasing health insurance.
The Democrats know this, and that’s why they insisted on an individual mandate that quite literally redistributes money from healthy young people to unhealthier folks of the same age or older.
That is immorally penalizing folks either for their age or their fitness.
In an era where young people are struggling to find work and pay off student loan debt, why would we further burden them with the legal requirement of subsidizing others?
Sadly, folks in the media such as Ball are either too intellectually handicapped to recognize this or too dishonest.
Or both!
