Miss USA stirs passions with ‘healthcare a privilege’ view
THE newly crowned Miss USA stepped into controversy after she appeared to express conservative views on the thorny issue of healthcare.
Kara Mccullough, 25, a scientist who works for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, triumphed in the competition on Sunday night in Las Vegas.
During the pageant, which until recently was part-owned by Donald Trump, Miss Mccullough was asked whether she thought affordable healthcare for everyone in America was a right or a privilege.
She said: “I’m definitely going to say it’s a privilege. As a government employee, I’m granted healthcare and I see first-hand that for one to have healthcare, you need to have jobs.”
Miss Mccullough was later asked if she considered herself a feminist. She said: “I don’t want to call myself a feminist. Women, we are just as equal as men, especially in the workplace.”
Miss Mccullough, a chemistry graduate from South Carolina State University, was born in Italy and represented Washington DC in the pageant.
Her answer came amid efforts by Mr Trump and the Republican Party to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
In 2015 the pageant was hit by controversy after Mr Trump, who owned a share in it, made comments about illegal immigration from Mexico.
The pageant this year included five women who migrated to the US at a young age. Runner-up Miss New Jersey Chhavi Verg, a student, told how she and her parents immigrated from India to the US with only $500 in their pockets when she was four.