Gotta give Mike Huckabee some credit. If there’s one part of healthcare reform that’s really popular, it’s the requirement that insurance companies stop turning down customers with preexisting conditions. But he’s loudly against it:
And a lot of this, it sounds so good, and it’s such a warm message to say we’re not gonna deny anyone from a preexisting condition….Okay, fine. Then let’s do that with 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.
How would you like to be able to call your insurance agent for your car and say ‘I want you to insure my car.’ ‘Well tell me about your car.’ ‘Well it was a pretty nice vehicle until my sixteen year-old boy wrecked it yesterday. [He] totaled the thing out but I’d like to get it insurance so we can get it replaced.’ Now how much would a policy cost if it covered everything? About as much as it’s gonna cost for health care in this country.
I dunno. Does this play well even with conservative audiences? Maybe. But the preexisting condition provision is wildly popular, and appears to be popular even with two-thirds of Republicans. I guess that’s why Huckabee didn’t seem to get a very strong reaction from the Values Voter Summit crowd where he delivered this. But bravo for putting his mouth where his money is. I just hope none of his kids ever lose their jobs and then get sick.
