Feckless Idaho Rep Paul Labrador Says ‘Nobody Dies’ Without Healthcare
by Michael John Scott
In the event you were hiking Mt Everest you may not know that the day after House Republicans passed the reworked American Health Care Act, Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador faced an angry woman at a town hall who accused him of “mandating people on Medicaid accept dying,” reports the Idaho Statesman. That statement is so bizarre it’s hard to even comprehend.
Here’s what the House Freedom Caucus member said:
“That line is so indefensible. Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care.”
The astonished woman later told the Statesman she was an ER nurse:
“It absolutely kills people. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You should sit in ER waiting rooms and explain to people that their children are going to die because they can’t afford insurance.”
The immediate reaction was brutal, as the Washington Post puts it, “The boos instantly drowned him out.”
Mr Labrador frantically sought to calm the furor on Saturday by writing:
“In the five-second clip that the media is focusing on, I was trying to explain that all hospitals are required by law to treat patients in need to emergency care regardless of their ability to pay and that the Republican plan does not change that.”
Unfortunately for the likely doomed congressman, video of the exchange continued to reverberate, landing on Reddit’s “Not the Onion” thread, and attracting outrage on social media—one breast cancer patient wrote that “You are literally trying to kill me because it costs too much money to take care of me.”
Even America’s doctors weighed in, recounting specific examples of patients who died because they put off health care they couldn’t afford until it was too late.
At CNN, Chris Cillizza gives Labrador his “worst week in Washington” rating, writing that, “If you didn’t hear that line before now, never fear: You’ll be hearing it A LOT more in Democratic campaign ads.”
For Labrador, he’s lucky enough to be the recipient of that first shot fired over his Republican bow, as voters are furious over the last Thursday’s reckless actions of the Republican congress. Their twisted, heartless healthcare bill, touted as a replacement for ObamaCare, is going to affect millions and millions of people who will no longer have healthcare and they’re going to get even.