‘Nobody dies because of no access to healthcare’

A Republican congressman from Idaho is drawing criticism for his response to a town-hall attendee’s concerns about how his party’s healthcare bill would affect Medicaid recipients.

“You are mandating people on Medicaid to accept dying,” the woman said. “That line is so indefensible,” said Rau´l Labrador, a member of the influential House Freedom Caucus. “Nobody dies because they don’t have access to healthcare.” Boos drowned him out.

The town hall meeting occurred in Lewiston, Idaho, a day after Republicans in the House passed the American Health Care Act. The bill was passed hastily, with few public hearings and key revisions agreed upon during closed-door meetings. The Congressional Budget Office had not analysed its cost and impact on coverage, but the agency’s analysis of its original version projected that 24 million would lose insurance by 2026.

The bill will undergo surgery when senators start to work on it. Should the Senate produce something significantly different, the president and congressional leaders will face the choice of trying to reconcile the House and Senate versions, or trying to jam the Senate bill through the House. There’s still no guarantee of final passage.

There’s no current public polling about the bill that was approved on Friday. What was known about the first version of the bill, the one that couldn’t muster the votes to pass, was not encouraging for any Republican looking at a re-election campaign. Fewer than 1 in 5 Americans said they liked the earlier version. The more people knew, they more intensely they disliked it.