GOP debate audience's reaction to treating uninsured sparks controversy

When presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul was asked if society should let an uninsured man who needs treatment die, some members of the audience cheered.

Los Angeles Times: Support At GOP Debate For Letting The Uninsured Die
[P]rogressive circles are jeering over an exchange involving Rep. Ron Paul that they say shows that conservatives are unwilling to use society's power to treat sick Americans and would rather let them die instead. The confrontation took place Monday night at the CNN/Tea Party debate among the Republican contenders for the nomination to face President Obama in 2012. At the center was Paul, a Texas congressman and libertarian icon (Muskal, 9/13).

MSNBC: Perry 'Taken Aback' By Debate Crowd Reaction
The morning after a sometimes-rocky appearance in front of a Tea Party debate audience, Gov. Rick Perry said he was "taken aback" by cheers from some crowd members on a hypothetical question of whether a young man who decides not to buy health insurance should be refused care if he develops a life-threatening illness and be left to die. ... Perry distinguished from that the issue of "justice," reiterating his strong support and "respect" for the death penalty on a state-by-state basis. "But the Republican party ought to be about life and protecting, particularly, innocent life," he added (Dann, 9/13).

ABC News: Tea Party Debate Audience Cheered Idea of Letting Uninsured Patients Die
If it was up to Ron Paul, or many of the Tea Party audience members at Monday night's GOP presidential debate, churches, not the federal government, would help foot the bill for the medical costs of America's 50 million residents living without health insurance. ... At Florida Hospital based in Orlando, regional vice president Richard Morrison said uninsured patients are an "everyday occurrence." If a man in a coma came into a Florida Hospital emergency room, as in the hypothetical used in the GOP debate, Morrison said he would "absolutely not" be turned away and would be treated the same way an insured patient would be treated (Bingham, 9/13).