Speaking at the Value Voters Summit today, Baptist minister turned politician turned talk show host, Mike Huckabee, denounced the notion of providing health insurance to people with pre-existing conditions.
Here is a sample of his remarks-
“It sounds so good, and it’s such a warm message to say we’re not gonna deny anyone from a preexisting condition. Look, I think that sounds terrific, but I want to ask you something from a common sense perspective. Suppose we applied that principle [to] our property insurance. And you can call your insurance agent and say, “I’d like to buy some insurance for my house.” He’d say, “Tell me about your house.” “Well sir, it burned down yesterday, but I’d like to insure it today.” And he’ll say “I’m sorry, but we can’t insure it after it’s already burned.” Well, no preexisting conditions.”
So much for the days of compassionate conservatism.
I guess Huck figures that a child born with a serious medical condition should never be entitled to expensive but needed medical care throughout his or her life because, in the Governor’s words, that house has already burned down.
While Huckabee’s statement is troubling on many levels, what seems to bother me the most is that someone who spent much of his life preaching the Word of God would express such a dispassionate and hurtful point of view. Had he said that folks who existed on a diet of white sugar and pasta on their way to their diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes should be denied health insurance, I could, at least, see where he was coming from.
But there are hundreds of thousands of ‘innocents’ in this country who did nothing to earn their pre-existing condition beyond being born.
I found myself wondering how Huckabee could possibly believe that his lack of compassion for these people somehow represented a Christian point of view.
And so, I went looking.
Keep in mind that I am about as far from an expert on the Bible as one could possibly be. But as I read through a number of different pieces, I came across an article written by the Rev. Sandy Strauss that I found particularly interesting. Rev. Strauss writes-
Jesus was a healer, and healing was one of the most important aspects of his ministry. The gospels are replete with stories of Jesus healing the sick, raising the dead, making the lame walk, restoring sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. He cared deeply for the spiritual welfare of all. He empowered others “to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal” (Luke 9:2). He never refused to heal someone because they could not pay, and pre-existing conditions were his specialty. It seems to me that Jesus would provide for the health and well being of all persons.
I could not tell you if the Reverend’s position would be considered controversial or not. As a result, I am open to hearing from any of you who believe that Strauss’ perspective might, somehow, misrepresent the teachings of Jesus or the Bible in general.
But it seems to me that Rev. Strauss’ comment that pre-existing conditions were Jesus’ specialty hits pretty close to home. Somehow, it is hard for me to imagine that Jesus would be against much of anything that might help out a person in need of healing.
As for Huckabee, he’s apparently decided that being famous trumps the obligations to his faith and ministry. It was just three years ago when Huckabee, responding to a question as to whether Jesus would be supportive of the death penalty, said, “Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office. That’s what Jesus would do.”
Good answer. Much better than what we got from him today.
We all understand that there are special and unique challenges to every stakeholder in the healthcare system. We see the difficulties that an insurance company faces when asked to insure people who they know are highly likely to cost them a bundle. Ironically, this was one of the reasons Congress passed the mandated insurance – to keep people from buying coverage only after they found out they were ill.
We also understand that, given the realities of the high cost of healthcare, we, as a nation, cannot just let people die because they can’t afford to get needed medical attention. This presents us with a serious problem that deserves serious consideration from all sides of the political equation.
But Huckabee’s remarks today, dripping with sarcasm and lacking feeling for Americans with serious medical challenges, are far from befitting a man who not only seeks to be a national leader but presumes to minister the Word of God.
I don’t know if Huckabee is really a religious man or, for that matter, ever was.
However, if the Governor does practice what he preaches, he might want to be more concerned about his speech plays when his day comes to account for his behavior before a much higher power than the conservative crowd that filled the auditorium at today’s Value Voters conference.
He may find that he’s going to be facing a much tougher audience.
Source : Forbes
