Pay Up, John Hagee

by Deacon Blues

Yes, the reaction of the Tea Party crowd indicating that it was OK to let the uninsured die rather than having government-instigated health coverage was ghastly. Democrats should use the clip in all DCCC and DSCC campaigns next year with the simple message that "There is a difference between the political parties."

But the real take-away from Ron Paul’s pathetic libertarian message has been missed so far by Democrats. Paul and the Tea Partiers not only repudiated the teachings of Jesus, but they also put the tab onto the churches.

"What he should do is whatever he wants to do and assume responsibility for himself," Paul responded, adding, "That’s what freedom is all about, taking your own risk. This whole idea that you have to compare and take care of everybody…"

The audience erupted into cheers, cutting off the Congressman’s sentence.

So much for that 'taking care of my brother' stuff.

"I practiced medicine before we had Medicaid, in the early 1960s when I got out of medical school," Paul said. "I practiced at Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio. And the churches took care of them. We never turned anybody away from the hospitals. And we've given up on this whole concept that we might take care of ourselves and assume responsibility for ourselves, our neighbors, our friends; our churches would do it."

So to avoid government involvement in health care, we can assume that Paul, the Tea Party, and the GOP support making evangelical churches pay the health care costs of their uninsured members? Imagine how much less money John Hagee and evangelical churches will have to spend on tax-exempt political activity when they're saddled with hospital bills under the Tea Party/GOP health care policy.

Under this libertarian, Tea Party approach to health care, the admission process at our hospitals would go as follows:

Hospital Admissions Clerk: What source of payment do you have?

Uninsured Christian: I have no insurance.

Hospital Admissions Clerk: What church do you attend?

I can see how this comports to the libertarian, "leave me alone" worldview.

And where will the GOP's new "Make the Churches Pay For It" philosophy hit the hardest?

New Census data shows that Georgia's poverty rate was the third highest in the country in 2010, up two spots from last year, with more than 1.8 million residents counted among the poor.

The only states with higher poverty rates in 2010 were Louisiana and Mississippi. Nationally, 15.1 percent of Americans were living in poverty last year.

Georgia also ranked eighth in the nation in the number of uninsured residents, at a rate of 19.4 percent. Roughly 1.9 million Georgians did not have health insurance last year when the state joined a challenge to President Barack Obama's health care plan, meant in part to address rising numbers of people without health insurance.

Only Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina and Texas had higher rates of uninsured residents.

All have GOP governors. I can't wait to see them and the GOP explain to the churches in their states that the bill for those surgeries, transplants, and comas are now their obligation.