One of the most popular and least controversial parts of Obamacare is the ban on insurance companies discriminating against those with pre-existing conditions. To most Americans, it just makes sense that you shouldn’t be shut out of the marketplace because of circumstances beyond your control.
But maybe not to Georgia’s Insurance Commissioner, Ralph Hudgens. Here’s what he said at a Republican event last month, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported:
I’ve had several companies come in and they have said just the fact — just the fact — that in the individual market pre-existing conditions have to be covered on Jan. 1, that that is going to double the cost of insurance. And if you don’t really understand what covering pre-existing conditions would be like, it would be like in Georgia we have a law that says you have to have insurance on your automobile. You have to have liability insurance. If you’re going to drive on Georgia’s roads, you have to have liability insurance. You don’t have to have collision. You don’t have to have comprehensive…. But you have to have liability.
But say you’re going along and you have a wreck. And it’s your fault. Well, a pre-existing condition would be you then calling up your insurance agent and saying, ‘I would like to get collision insurance coverage on my car.’ And your insurance agent says, ‘Well, you never had that before. Why would you want it now?’ And you say, ‘Well, I just had a wreck, it was my fault and I want the insurance company to pay to repair my car.’ And that’s the exact same thing on pre-existing insurance.
Got that? If you get cancer, “it’s your fault.”
Watch the video here.
After being confronted by the Journal-Constitution with the comments, Hudgens pretty much did a complete reversal, calling the car wreck comparison a “really poor analogy.” He added: “I’ve had family members, I’ve had friends … who have pre-existing conditions. It’s not the person’s fault they have a pre-existing condition.”
Glad we got that straight.
Zachary Roth