Do you suffer from preexisting conditions like asthma, heart problems or diabetes? If so, according to one Republican congressman, it’s your fault for failing to live a good life.
In the most recent example of Republicans’ chronic diarrhea of the mouth (surely that counts as a preexisting condition?), Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama told CNN’s Jake Tapper that “people who live good lives” don’t have to worry about pesky long-term health conditions.
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So, basically, he solved health care. All you have to do is lead a “good life” (presumably by Republican standards) and then — poof! — your chronic health conditions disappear!
On Monday, Brooks told Tapper: “My understanding is that (the new proposal) will allow insurance companies to require people who have higher health care costs to contribute more to the insurance pool. That helps offset all these costs, thereby reducing the cost to those people who lead good lives, they’re healthy, they’ve done the things to keep their bodies healthy. And right now, those are the people — who’ve done things the right way — that are seeing their costs skyrocketing.”
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However, in a rare moment of self-awareness — or more likely, frantic gesticulating from a PR person offstage — Brooks clarified his comments later in the interview, saying that “a lot of these people with preexisting conditions, they have those conditions through no fault of their own.”
Even with his backpedaling, his Santa Clausian approach remains. Only the good boys and girls are rewarded with good health. Although Brooks is a member of the Freedom Caucus that helped stop Trumpcare in its tracks, he said that he might be willing to support Trumpcare 2.0 on the basis that it will permit individual states to waive health care mandates that cover people with preexisting conditions.
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So if you’ve been putting off leading a good life, it’s time to get on that now.
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