Ron Paul's Ex-Campaign Manager's Death Backdrop For Health Insurance Position

WASHINGTON -- When CNN's Wolf Blitzer pressed Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) over what he would do if a 30-year-old uninsured man suddenly slipped into a coma and needed care, he did so, in all likelihood, not knowing just how personal a question it was for the Texas Republican.

Paul's 2008 campaign manager, Kent Snyder, went through a strikingly similar experience to Blitzer's hypothetical one, dying of complications from viral pneumonia just two weeks after Paul ended his presidential bid. Snyder was uninsured, so family and friends were forced to raise funds to cover his $400,000 in medical bills. Their efforts included setting up a website soliciting contributions from Paul supporters.

The episode reflects what Paul himself argued should be the free-market ideal for health insurance policy. During Monday night's GOP primary debate, the libertarian Republican made the case that health insurance coverage was a choice. If one decided to forgo it, he ran the risk of mounting bills. If a patient was on his deathbed, it wasn't the taxpayers' responsibility to pick up that tab.

"I practiced medicine before we had Medicaid in the early 1960s when I got out of medical school. I practiced at Santa Rosa hospital in San Antonia, and the churches took care of them," Paul said. "We never turned anybody away from the hospital. 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. This whole idea -- that's the reason the cost is so high. The cost is so high because they dump it on the government, it becomes a bureaucracy."

Paul's statement was overshadowed by the audience response that preceded it -- most notably, the audible yells of "yes" when Blitzer asked Paul if he thought society should "just let" the hypothetical sick patient without insurance die. By Wednesday, that moment had become the basis of a new online ad campaign and attack site -- www.LetHimDie.com -- funded by the Democratic-leaning Protect Your Care.

It's important to note that no one on the debate stage agreed with the audience members who screamed. The next day, Texas Governor Rick Perry said he was taken aback, and a staffer for former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman expressed dismay.

While the episode provides a window into the type of principled approach that makes Paul both an appealing candidate and a lightning rod, the question of whether Snyder's story affirms the congressman's worldview is far more controversial. It shows community support can fill the void that government often plays, but at the same time, not all uninsured individuals can rely on family, friends or campaign email lists to raise $400,000.

The individual mandate for people to purchase insurance coverage is meant to ensure that taxpayers aren't left on the hook. But the law that Paul and others may find equally problematic -- at least in this instance -- is the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which requires that care be provided to anyone needing emergency treatment regardless of citizenship status or ability to pay.

The Paul campaign did not immediately return request for comment, but this story will be updated if The Huffington Post receives a response.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Representative Ron Paul was from from Ohio. He is from Texas.

Comments

[Mary Halyard]

06:17 PM on 09/30/2011

Look, it is a tragedy that this young man died young of pneumonia complications. Before he died, he racked up $400,000 in medical bills (so he was treated without health insurance).

My question is, what does this say about the ineffectiveness and expense of our existing health care system? and, WHY ISN'T THAT THE FOCUS OF THIS ARTICLE?

Thank you, Dr. Paul, for advocating my freedom to opt out of such a charade of health care. If I get cancer, I don't want to have to deal with insurance companies refusing to pay my cost of "treatment." I want to leave my children with a little money, and the knowledge that I made my choice.

Dr. Paul is RIGHT.

[Tania Moreno Donovan]

08:06 PM on 09/27/2011

The true reality is that government intervention in healthcare has counter-intuitively driven up the costs of medical attention and the cost of medical insurance. Compare the costs of medical treatments not covered by health insurance, such as laser eye surgery, and you will see that the costs have consistently gone down over time. The free market dictates that companies cannot charge the maximum amount for care. Contrast these prices to the dramatically increasing prices of treatments covered by insurance and government mandate. Though the intention is good in involving the government in healthcare, the results are disastrous. All too often, people do not distinguish intention vs results. The government, via subsidization and regulation, has created growing medical industries of uncharitable bureaucracy. These corporate special interests have disturbingly embedded themselves in with the government bureaucrats in an incestuous marriage, in which we have the wolves tending to the sheep. The corporate special interests lobby for regulations that allow for government-enabled and even government-mandated monopolies. The first director of the American Cancer Society, Clarence Cook Little, resigned in 1954 to become the Scientific Director of the Tobacco Industry Research Council. That move was chillingly convenient for the tobacco industry. “Cut, Poison, Burn” is the video that details just how corrupt one of the most government-trusted agencies in America, the American Cancer Society, has become. They have facilitated monopolization of cancer treatment and stifled innovation. Google it. Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem.

[Tania Moreno Donovan]

08:06 PM on 09/27/2011

The real story that isn't told by the mainstream media: Kent Snyder was uninsurable due to a terminal illness, yet he still received the best possible care, which unfortunately could not save him. While uninsured patients are charged 2.5 times what insured patients are charged, in practice they are only expected to pay a quarter of what the insured pay. In other words, Kent's arbitrarily inflated $400,000 hospital bill could be taken care of for about $40,000, and as far as I know that's exactly what happened: about $50,000 was voluntarily raised by Ron Paul's supporters and paid to the hospital; the hospital was satisfied and did not try to collect the balance from Kent's estate. It was a voluntary and charitable solution in a broken system. Snyder knew he was not going to last much longer in this world. That's why he quit his job and went to work for Dr. Paul. He wanted to make a difference in the short time he had left. He gave it his all and SHAME on the mainstream media for making a mockery of this man's life and his passion for liberty! Kent Snyder is an inspiration to us all... and his spirit will not be forgotten.

[bobvedari]

03:53 PM on 09/22/2011

this story shows why purists of any stripe are nuts. We need PRAGMATISTS. How hard is that? Apparently, darn near impossible. Here's a pragmatic solution. Create taxpayer funded (the words "government funded" should forever be banned from the lexicon), high deductible safety nets for severe cases. Make it rather spartan so that there is incentive to buy your own PRIVATE SECTOR insurance. For instance - you want a private room, you need to have your own insurance. You want TV while your convalescing - buy insurance. You're willing to accept life-saving care that is relatively devoid of things that will make your stay more palatable, accept the taxpayer funded program as your sole source of relief. During your stay at the hospital, if you want more, you or your family, or Ron Paul's mailing list can help you out. The cost of this to the taxpayer would be much lower than MessiahCare, insurance companies would do well once a few sad cases said that they'd wished they'd bought health insurance. The Messiah would not be in our hospital room making decisions for us, and we the people would be providing a civilized society at a cost we could afford. How hard is that?

[an0n0m0us]

07:19 AM on 09/20/2011

What this article leaves out... Is that much of Ron Paul's point if not all, was that government intervention and spending induces inflation in that area particular and regulations and policies such as banning cheaper drugs from abroad... Ensure becomes a oligopoly run by a few corporations and that real competition is near eradicated from the market so they can raise prices and reduce efficiency to increase profits further pushing up the cost of health care...

AKA it wouldn't cost 400K in the congressman's view in a truly free-market system, that he feels aught be phased in not suddenly brought in. Families and or charities community groups and churches AKA society! Would once again be able to afford help, also they'd be less incentive not to have health insurance as it'd be cheaper...

[DianeB528]

10:17 PM on 09/19/2011

Some points were not mentioned in this article. Kent Snyder had a pre-existing condition that made health insurance unaffordable to him. If he did have health insurance he would very likely be alive today -- he had HIV. The family was only able to raise $35,000 to pay the hospital bill. Ron Paul says he never knew Kent, even though Kent raised $19.5 million for his campaign, and was instrumental in getting Ron Paul to run for president. Ron Paul did not provide health insurance to his staff. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton did provide health insurance to their staff.

[love5pets]

09:09 AM on 09/18/2011

Give me a freaking break! The man was able to raise the $400,000 funds through Paul's website.

Tell me, how many people who are sick and dying and can't pay for it have the means to do that?

We are becomming an aberration as a society.

This Ron Paul dude and his crazy son, Rand, are a piece of work.

[DianeB528]

10:02 PM on 09/19/2011

Only $35,000 of the hospital bill was paid. Also, Kent had a pre-existing condition, and therefore could not afford to purchase insurance. Ron Paul offered no health insurance to his staffers, even though this man raised $19.5 milion for Ron Paul's campaign. In contrast, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton provided health insurance to their staff.

[love5pets]

08:15 AM on 09/20/2011

Therein lies the difference between a Democrat and a Republican.

Thanks for the post.

[commentonthehuffpost]

03:28 PM on 09/16/2011

I don't know what to make of Paul's position on health care and the audience's response to Blizter's follow-up question.

The tone of the answer is more than troubling. It means in Paul's vision, you can either afford care or die. But I think that's not what he believes. He wanted to evade the question. Outwardly, he has to show that he's the ultimate free marketer. Inwardly, I suspect he has more compassion than he's letting on.

This is problem with politics. There's no room for nuance or grey areas.

[DianeB528]

10:03 PM on 09/19/2011

Anyone who wants to abolish Medicaid, as does Ron Paul, has absolutely no compassion.

[Elvin Frantz]

09:14 AM on 09/16/2011

Single-payer Medicare For All is the way to go. Other countries have been doing it this way for a long time. Covering everyone this way is a lot cheaper than the way we do health care in the U.S. now. What are we waiting for ?

[love5pets]

09:11 AM on 09/18/2011

Ours is not a compassionate society. More and more it's survival of the fittest.

Stock up!

[Forrest Brandt]

08:40 PM on 09/15/2011

Charity is good and imporant. But American's are kick people. There is no way that charity or volunteer doctoring will help with all the medical treatments necessary or is demand. A lot of doctors are already out of work. I do agree with Paul on on thing. That we need to take of ourselves better, exercise more, eat less meat and more fresh veggies. Quit the fast food.
Preventative care is the key, and guess what, all those evil European countires with their commie medical care all have a focus on prevention.

Sorry free market fanatics, making things easier for drug and insurance companies to screw people isn't the going to make things cheaper. Taking the profit motive out will though. This is one of the reasons why other countries pay less per GDP for medical care than Americans. Plus the get better treatments too. Doctors and patients are making the decisions, not insurance companies and drug peddlers posing as doctors.

[vman2003]

06:06 PM on 09/16/2011

Sorry to break it to you but we don't have free market. Government has been raising costs of medicare by constant intervention and regulation under the guise of "protecting us". Take I'll take just FDA for example (others follow similar patterns) - all they do is try to come up with ways to eliminate competition for pharmacies and large agricultural corporations and their subsidies. When they ban importation of medicines from overseas do you really think they are trying to protect you ? Do you think that technicians and doctors in say Eastern Europe or India where medications are much cheaper are incapable and can't produce safe meds. No... The problem with letting meds being imported is that it would destroy big pharma monopolies. When they put out food health regulations do you think they care about your health? No... They are working for large food corporations to kick small agricultural business out of business coz they can't afford to comply. FDA has a bunch of connections within large food and pharma corporations. Top shareholders, ex-CEOs, etc.
You see the difference between free market and goverment regulated rules is this.
In free market you have to work to keep customers happy. There are 10s of thousands you need to please in order to stay in business.
In goverment-regulated marked all you have to do is target a few key people to pass a legislation that's gonna keep you competition free.

[amajid]

08:26 PM on 09/15/2011

Many people hate my response to their view. I speak what I believe about everything even about the president. I do not live in that glass bottle, box or any ideal the US Government put into US. Citizens minds. I look at the through my eyes and through my ears. I do not take what the US. Government say is always the truth. The people do not like my opion have the right not too. I have the right to accept the US. Government B/S. PEOPLE THE WAY YOU FEEL ABOUT ME IT IS OK (SMILES). I am who I am. i LIKE YOUR COMENT DIS AGGREEING WITH ME.

AMajid

[talkstocoyotes]

04:16 PM on 09/17/2011

How entertainingly ambiguous.

[Cindy Stipes Schneider]

07:19 PM on 09/15/2011

They are the party of Protect, and DEMAND you be born, until you ARE born, then you're abandoned. They don't want to have anything to do with you, you're on your own. What a Grand Old Party they are.

[matthew mikulin]

06:42 PM on 09/15/2011

Isnt Universal Healthcare the true meaning of caring for you neighbors...you know everyones money going into the community pot, then when someone gets sick they are covered. And isnt the opposite kinda the big F U to your neighbors...?

[jaggededge]

03:35 PM on 09/15/2011

just heard an interesting question to be posed to aynrand paul's father: you are for ecveryone being responsible fo themselves & paying their own way....why should we contribute to your election fund????????????

[somethinggood]

03:09 PM on 09/15/2011

RP is a half wit that preys on poor uneducated (mostly white) people with populist platitudes and fear. And he owned a failed coin shop for 12 years.

Also - RP's infamious newsletter included several attacks on Martin Luther King. After Martin Luther King Day was named a national holiday, this was written in his newsletter­­, “What an infamy Ronald Reagan approved it!…..We can thank him for our annual Hate W***ey Day”

http://new­­sone.com/­n­ation/ca­se­y-gane-­mcc­alla/o­pini­on-ro­n-pau­l-is­-a-whi­te-­suprema­ci­st/