In a July 30 article for the Denver Post, Rep. Mike Coffman criticizes “increasing the government’s involvement in our health care system.” Why, then, is that what he promotes?
Coffman wants politicians to “require health insurers to cover those with pre-existing conditions.” But prior political interference is precisely what created the problem. Tax policy pushed many Americans into the expensive, non-portable employer-paid system. Lose your job, lose your insurance. Politicians burden insurers with reams of ever-changing controls, undercutting their ability to offer long-term policies.
Forcing insurers to ignore pre-existing conditions only encourages people to wait to get insurance until they get sick, leading to Massachusetts-style mandates.
Coffman is right to want to limit frivolous legal suits and ease the tax burden for individual purchases of health care. The solution is not more political control but liberty.
(Note: The Denver Post declined to publish the above letter. I’m sure it is merely coincidence that the Post’s pro-Obamacare editorial content has vastly outweighed the material critical of Obamacare, particularly in the letters.)