Saturday, September 17, 2011

Ron Paul's 2008 Campaign Manager Died in 2008 Without Health Insuance

Though Ron Paul did not say "let him die" in reply to Wolf Blitzer's question if a 30 year old uninsured man should be left without care if he should face a serious medical problem (people in the crowd did indicate the man should die) he did exactly that in 2008 as his campaign manager got sick without medical insurance and died shortly after Paul quit the race.

What is worse; the campaign manager had raised over $19 million for Paul's run for the presidency during one quarter of a year's accounting, but the candidate didn't shell out the extra money for insurance for a middle aged man who needed more expensive plan for pre-existing conditions.

Many of the reports say the man couldn't get insurance, but I'm sure that he could for the right price. (And one report notes that it was a lack of affordable insurance, not insurance per se.) Instead the manager left his mother with $400k bill for a failed attempt to save his life during a bout of pneumonia.

Paul's campaign staff says that the candidate held a money raiser to help the mother with the hospital bills, but one of my sources says they were only able to raise $50k. I am pretty sure that with up-front money people generally get better care and therefore a puny postmortem fund raising, not only did not pay the bill, but likely failed to get him the best care in the first place. Also, as many have noted, if Paul and the campaign manager's friends didn't raise the money then you and others in the end paid for the man's treatment through higher medical prices for everyone.

And remember this was a man responsible for getting Mr. Paul $19 million dollars in one quarter. Heartless hardly covers Mr. Paul's ideas on libertarian medicine.

See: Truthout:
  Uninsured by Ron Paul, His 2008 Campaign Manager Died Owing $400,000 for Medical Care

Times Daily.com:   Paul’s false bargain on health care

NPR plays this like it's an affirmation of Ron Paul's strength of character that he let his aide die instead of breaking down and giving the man health insurance (though it wasn't Ron Paul that died), but I am linking to it because it shows that the campaign finance aide got Mr. Paul $19m in one quarter, yet Mr. Scrooge McDuck wouldn't even provide medical insurance for him. See: Dead Ron Paul Aide Fit Uninsured Scenario From Tea Party Debate