Ron Paul’s comments at the CNN/Tea Party Express debate

The comments I heard after the Republican Candidates debate in Tampa last week require me to give a firsthand account of Ron Paul’s comments to a question from CNN’s Wolf Blitzer about health care.  Blitzer suggested a hypothetical situation where a 30 year old healthy man, with a good job and income, has made a decision not to purchase health care insurance.  What would Dr. Paul recommend if this person ended up in a coma for six months?

Dr. Paul stated that he would recommend that he purchase a catastrophic policy to cover such an event. He also stated that no one is turned away from medical care in this country.

Blitzer asked if he would just let him die, to which a few people in the audience shouted “yeah”!  This is what most people watching heard, and it left them with the conclusion that the tea party is a group of cold and uncaring people.

This is not the case, as I explained to several people. No one should be forced to purchase a service or product by our government. This is an unconstitutional abuse of power.

Given the above scenario, the outcome would be as follows: If this man is in a coma and dies, the hospital would be able to recoup their expenses for his care from his estate. If there was not enough money in the deceased’s estate, they would be obliged to take a lesser amount and write off the loss. In reality, how often does this happen?

If the patient survives and wakes up from his coma, he would be billed and required to pay the hospital for the services he was provided.

At no point should you or I be required to pay for his or anyone else’s medical care.