South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint Explains Why Children Up to the Age of 26 Should NOT be Allowed to Remain on Their Parent’s Health Insurance

Well Sort of Explains It – Because Only Mr. DeMint Understands What He Said

With the looming Supreme Court decision coming on whether or not the Congress had the Constitutional right to regulate health insurance we now have Republicans scrambling to try and figure out a way to preserve some of the popular parts of the program if it is struck down in its entirety.

The most popular part seems to be the provision that allows children to remain on their parent’s insurance up to the age of 26.  This is a relatively inexpensive part of the program for everyone, as expensive health care issues do not exist for most young people.  It allows college students to meet the requirements many school have that students have health insurance and it takes a huge burden away from young people who may be unemployed or not have access to health insurance.

But for really hard line Conservatives even this benign provision is too much.  South Carolina’s Jim DeMint said this about the provision of letting young people have access to health insurance.

“If we keep people on the plans 26, 30 years old, it encourages people not to get their own health care; it gives them time to develop health conditions that might make it harder for them to get their health care in the future,” he said. “It just is not a smart thing to do, to build the system on a group plan idea, on a family plan, when what we need is individuals to have their own plans, regardless of their age.”

Yes, you are reading that correctly.  Letting young people stay on their parent’s plan “gives them time to develop health conditions”.  Wow!  Does that make sense to anyone except Mr. DeMint.  Is it not a totally ridiculous and incomprehensible position?  Does such a statement not disqualify Mr. DeMint from serving in the Senate because he apparently does not have sufficient intelligence to understand a simple concept, that having health insurance allows a person to get early detection and treatment of problem thus making it better for everyone?

And notice how Mr. DeMint condemns the entire idea of group insurance.  One would almost think he has no understanding whatsoever of how insurance works, how pooling of risk is required to have effective insurance.  Oh, maybe he does not have any understanding of how insurance works.  Yes that would explain his comments.

But maybe this Forum is wrong and Mr. DeMint does know how group insunance works.  See Sen. DeMint has the finest group health insurance money can buy, all sponsored and paid in large part by the Federal government.  Maybe if Mr. DeMint lived up to his words he would drop the government plan and go get his own insurance.  Yeah, right.

What an idiot!