Every time I think insurers have accepted reality when it comes to covering pre-existing conditions, someone proves me wrong. Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens has sipped deeply from their pitcher of Kool-Aid and is now sharing the lie with everyone else.
ThinkProgress:
Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens (R) has a message for the estimated 57.2 million Americans suffering from diabetes, asthma, cancer, genetic disorders, and other pre-existing medical conditions: it’s your fault.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution uncovered video of Hudgens from a November meeting at the CSRA Republican Women’s Club in Evans, Georgia in which he makes the case against the Affordable Care Act’s mandated coverage for Americans with pre-existing medical conditions. In fact, Hudgens compares requiring insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions to requiring auto insurers to pay claims to any reckless drivers without comprehensive auto insurance who crash their cars...[Read on for the transcript]
I found some small measure of irony in just looking at the folks in the room, particularly Hudgens. I wonder if that dinner included lots of red meat and sugary desserts.
Ending that pre-existing conditions exclusion is really painful for insurers. I get that. But it's time for them to suck it up and acknowledge the mess they made when they started excluding people for just about everything, including babies and cancer patients. That is entirely their fault.
