Debate Crowd Cheers Letting Uninsured Die

One of the most macabre moments of last night's GOP candidate debate occurred when members of the audience cheered the idea of letting people without health insurance die. "What do you tell a guy who is sick, goes into a coma and doesn't have health insurance? Who pays for his coverage?" CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked Ron Paul. "Are you saying society should just let him die?" Several audience members yelled out: "Yeah!"

While Paul didn't cheer the death of the uninsured, he didn't exactly leap to their defense. "That's what freedom is all about, taking your own risk," he responded. He did urge communities and non-governmental institutions such as churches to take up the slack. "We have given up on this whole concept that we might take care of ourselves, assume responsibility for ourselves. That's the reason the cost is so high," Paul said. (More Ron Paul 2012 stories.)