Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican candidate Sharron Angle squared off for their first debate tonight in Las Vegas, and one of the questions was on the issue of healthcare. Sharron Angle was asked by the moderator "Is there anything you think health insurance companies should be forced to cover?"

Angle hedged and said that "Forcing someone to buy something that they don't need is not the way to solve the problem" which of course didn't answer the moderator's question. When pressed again on whether there is anything at all the insurance companies should be forced to cover Angle replied.

I think that what we have here is a choice between the free market and Americanism. America is about choices and we need to allow people to have those choices. The free market will weed out those companies that don't offer as many choices and don't have a cost effective system. Let the people decide where they want to buy their insurance. You don't have to force them to buy anything and you don't have to force anyone to offer a product that no one wants.

Moderator: Okay, so no insurance mandates?

From reading some other accounts of the debate, I believe he got a nod in the affirmative.

Harry Reid rightfully pointed out that insurance companies don't "do anything out of the goodness of their hearts" and noted how horribly the premiums for most Americans were going through the roof if the government continued to sit by and do nothing.

This debate was painful to watch. Angle was terrible and Reid was so bad as well he didn't take advantage of it. This portion alone should have been like shooting fish in a barrel and would have been for someone with some better debating skills than Reid has. I'm sure most of the readers of this blog could come up with about a hundred better and more sharp and concise responses that would resonate with the public to Angle's nonsense than Reid did.

Sharron Angle's "free market solutions" boil down to people being "free" to have the insurance companies let them die because they'd rather line their CEO's pockets and pay their stock holders than cover the policies of the saps who paid into them when they actually get sick.