Over at Forbes, I have a piece up entitled “Health Care Questions I’d Ask Each Candidate at the Bloomberg-Washington Post Republican Presidential Debate,” with one challenging query for each of the candidates. I thought I might share with Corner readers the questions for Romney, Perry, Cain, and Santorum.
Mitt Romney first:
Governor Romney: You’ve repeatedly stated that the individual mandate is needed as a matter of “personal responsibility” so that taxpayers aren’t paying for the care of others. But in Massachusetts, under your plan, the state has reduced uncompensated care by $250 million a year, and increased insurance subsidies by over $800 million a year. Doesn’t that mean that, under your plan, there are more free-riders today than there were before?
Rick Perry:
Governor Perry: You believe that states could do a better job of running Medicare and Medicaid than Washington does. But Texas has the highest proportion of uninsured residents in the United States. If Washington wasn’t standing in your way, how would you achieve universal coverage in Texas?
Herman Cain:
Mr. Cain: You haven’t spoken at all about what you would do to rein in Medicare and Medicaid spending. Where do you believe that entitlement reform ranks in terms of priorities for the new President? If you believe it ranks highly, why have you not proposed a single idea to address the problem?
Rick Santorum:
Senator Santorum: Over the course of your political career, you have been one of the strongest advocates of the pro-life cause. I’d like to ask you about a mother who is pregnant with a baby who has Down syndrome. Over 90 percent of mothers in that situation elect to have abortions, and a big reason why is the substantial costs involved in caring for a Down syndrome child. In order to decrease the incidence of these abortions, should there be a universal government entitlement to provide health care for kids born with birth defects and congenital disorders? If not, why not?
The rest here.