Ali Velshi continues to earn his stripes as he challenges every politician that appears on his show with lies. This one was epic. He did not allow this Republican to escape his justifiable wrath.
Ali Velshi in true journalistic form
Ali Velshi did not allow this Republican Congressman to misinform on the air. He schooled him not only on Trumpcare but healthcare in general.
Congressman Andy Harris (R-MD) showed that even though he is a doctor, he either knows little about the healthcare system & Trumpcare, or he is willfully ignorant. The latter is more likely as it seems many knowledgeable Republicans pushing Trumpcare are putting their Ayn Randian ideology before humanity.
Ali Velshi told Congressman Harris that the Senate version of Trumpcare’s poll numbers is at all time lows.
“You have a bill that people hate,” Velshi said.
Harris claimed that Americans just do not understand the law. The Congressman then immediately began to lie. He stated that Trumpcare stopped the increases in premiums. Velshi interjected that it does not stop premium increases.
“But it doesn’t sir,” Velshi said. “You know that. Right? You know that. It absolutely does not.”
The Congressman continued to lie. Velshi did not let his lie become the last word. Harris lied about high-risk pools working. Velshi pointed out that irrespective of what Paul Ryan and others said, high-risk pools do not reduce premiums.
“I appreciate that doctors are good at what they do,” Velshi said. “You shouldn’t go near business or math. This is just not true. Even this thing about high-risk pools stuff, you know as a doctor, if you look at 34 out of 35 developed countries in the world, if you look at 58% of the world’s economies, they use universal healthcare because the best pool is the biggest pool.”
The Congressman failed to realize that government subsidized high-risk pools are nothing more than corporate welfare to insurance companies. They are removing the risk from insurance corporations and expensing it to taxpayers — so much for a real market solution.
After the Congressman’s continued bloviation, Velshi pointed out an inconvenient fact.
“If you have a heart attack it is amazing to be an insured American,” said Velshi. “If you rather not have a heart attack, it is better to be in the U.K. or France, or Canada, or everywhere else where they treat the stuff that leads to a heart attack.”
The Congressman train of lies continued as he told Velshi that Americans wouldn’t lose their insurance under Trumpcare. The fact is that the Senate version of Trumpcare will cause over 22 million Americans to lose their health insurance. This reality was clearly spelled out by the Congressional Budget Office report. The Congressman just chose to ignore it. Velshi challenged him and was ready with graphics to prove that the health insurance rates would rise with Trumpcare.
Just imagine if during the Obamacare debates in 2010 if we had journalists who challenged the usual lies that misinformed Americans. Imagine if ‘objective third parties, journalists refuted the death panels’ and ‘throwing grandma over the cliff’ lies. We would probably be debating single-pay Medicare for all by now.
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