I am convinced that the lack of empathy by Republicans who passed the draconian health care bill is partially attributed to their state of delusion on everyday issues that afflict middle-class and poor Americans. This Congressman’s statement was unforgivable.
Raul Labrador Health Care ignorance
Delusional Republican Congressman Raul Labrador made a fool of himself by showing he has no clue about the health care reality of many of his constituents.
According to CBS,
Idaho Republican Rep. Raul Labrador sparked outrage from his audience and online after saying “nobody dies” for lack of health care access in a town hall Friday night at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. Labrador made the comments the day after the U.S. House passed a GOP-led health care bill repealing and replacing chunks of Obamacare. Labrador, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, was responding to an audience member who expressed concern about how the bill would affect Medicaid recipients.
“You are mandating people on Medicaid accept dying. You are making a mandate that will kill people,” the audience member said, before being drowned out by Labrador’s response.
“No one wants anybody to die,” Labrador said. “You know, that line is so indefensible. Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care.”
The line immediately drew audible outrage from the crowd, as well as ire from social media users.
Labrador should read the American Journal of Public Health study that disproves his false statement.
The study, conducted at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, found that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher risk of death than their privately insured counterparts, up from a 25 percent excess death rate found in 1993.
“The uninsured have a higher risk of death when compared to the privately insured, even after taking into account socioeconomics, health behaviors, and baseline health,” said lead author Andrew Wilper, M.D., who currently teaches at the University of Washington School of Medicine. “We doctors have many new ways to prevent deaths from hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease — but only if patients can get into our offices and afford their medications.”
The study, which analyzed data from national surveys carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), assessed death rates after taking into account education, income, and many other factors, including smoking, drinking, and obesity. It estimated that lack of health insurance causes 44,789 excess deaths annually.
If these politicians spent less time on ideological indoctrination and more time educating themselves, just maybe they would write better laws. #RESIST.
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