GOP Says Ill People Who Are Poor Should Just Die Already

Jimmy Kimmel tearfully explained his newborn son's
health crisis the other night on his show and pleaded
with lawmakers not to literally kill poorer children
in the same situation through their Obamacare
repeal efforts

I was among the many this week who was struck by the contrast between late night television host Jimmy Kimmel's heartfelt on-air description of his newborn son's health crisis and some members of the GOP, who apparently would like ill children like Kimmel's to just get out of the way and die already.

Kimmel's son Billy was born last week and it quickly became apparent he had a heart defect and needed immediate surgery.

Terrifying for any parent, for sure.

A tearful Kimmel said Billy pulled through, but waiting out the surgery was the longest three hours of his life

Kimmel's rich and has got resources and insurance to cover things like this. But, like most people, he thought about others who aren't so monied and what they'd do without health insurance.

"We were brought up to believe that we live in the greatest country in the world, but until a few years ago millions and millions of us had no access to health insurance at all, Kimmel said. 

"You know, before 2014, if you were born with congenital heart disease like my son was, there was a good chance you'd never be able to get health insurance because you had a pre-existing condition. You were born with a pre-existing condition and if your parents didn't have medical insurance you might not live long enough to even get denied because of a pre-existing condition. 

If your baby is going to die and doesn't have to, it shouldn't matter who much money you make."

Kimmel added: "Whatever your party, whatever you believe, whoever you support, we need to make sure that the people who are supposed to represent us, people who are meeting about this right now in Washington, understand that very clearly."

Of course, those GOP members that what to repeal Obamacare don't really represent their constituents. There's no money in that. They represent the insurance companies and such that keep the money flowing to these Congress creatures.

Just contrast what Kimmel said with what Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama said about health care, as just about every media outlet did on Tuesday.

Basically, many GOP Congress creatures want to let insurance companies charge anything they want to people with pre-existing conditions. In other words, people with such conditions who are not zillionaires will not be able to afford insurance.

You'll never catch any of these GOP members saying this out loud, but what they're telling us is people with pre-existing conditions just aren't profitable, so they need to die and get out of the way

Brooks came close to saying this when he told CNN's Jake Tapper:

"My understanding is that it will allow companies to require people who have higher health care costs to contribute more to the insurance pool.....thereby reducing the cost to these people who lead good lives. "

Brooks said people with pre-existing conditions just aren't being fair to people who are healthy: "They're healthy, they have done the things to keep their bodies healthy and right now those are the people who have done things the right way and are seeing costs skyrocket."

I guess Kimmel's son Billy didn't do things the right way. However, my guess is little Billy Kimmel didn't acquire his heart condition by chain smoking and constantly munching on Cheetos during the nine months or so he spent in his mother's womb.

Brooks did concede that some people have health conditions through no fault of their own, but didn't explain what we should do to help these people afford health insurance. Even if it's not their fault, ill people should just go away, apparently.

I get it that government programs can't and shouldn't do everything for everybody. However, health care, as most industrialized nations already know, should not be fully a matter of free markets.

If you're poor, it's OK to not be able to afford a unnecessary item like, say, an Alfa Romero. But literally causing the deaths of people who can't afford health care, like what some in the GOP want to do, is just pathological.

But I guess the zillionaires have to watch out for one another. Or something.

Conservative pundits piled on, too. Media Matters cited several, including Charles Hunt in the Washington Times, who said Kimmel gave a "slobbering wet kiss to federal bureacracy."  and called him a "dirty self-absorbed narcissistic exhibitionist."

The real problem here, being, that Kimmel called attention to the issue and we are supposed to shut up about it so as not to raise public anger at the GOP's efforts to kill poor people.

Media Matters also noted that Cheryl Chumley said Kimmel continued the left's "uncomfortable habit of slinging around tears to get what it wants."

She missed the point entirely when she said hospitals don't kick people out who need treatment. True, but without health insurance, people do not get the help they need, don't see doctors when they must, don't get life saving medication, and thus die, or at least go bankrupt

And the GOP is forging ahead. House Republicans say they have enough votes to do their Obamacare repeal and will take a vote today. These are terrible people.