Last Sunday, on national television, Jon Kyl, the second ranking Republican in the Senate, made a statement that spoke volumes: "I'm not sure that it's a fact that more and more people die because they don't have health insurance." You can read more about Kyl’s statement here and here. It’s stunning.
As the Huffington Post reports, Arizonans are incredulous, and outraged. Kyl’s statement can’t be ignored. But Kyl’s statement is not just an Arizona matter, as it goes to the very heart of the health care debate. If a leader in the Senate truly believes people are not dying for lack of health care, how can we possibly make real progress on this issue?
As the Huffington Post reports, people want to know what it will take to educate Senator Kyl. In my mind, if it takes 10,000 letters, emails and faxes pointing Senator Kyl to the Harvard study, which estimates that 45,000 people die each year because they lack health insurance, or simply pointing out the obvious that someone without insurance is far more likely to let an otherwise treatable condition become fatal, so be it. It is not at all unreasonable to expect Senator Kyl to acknowledge, on television, that his prior statement was wrong. I’m sure Rachel Maddow would be happy to have him on her show for that purpose.
What I’m hearing from folks here is that we need to know whether the other 534 members of Congress, regardless of party, share Kyl’s view. They’re right. We should ask each and every one of them to state publicly whether they share Kyl’s view. We need to know whether our representatives in Washington understand the most basic, common sense premise underlying the health care debate: that real people are affected in very serious ways -- sometimes life or death -- when they don't have access to health insurance (and thus health care). If a substantial number don’t, we’ll at least better understand the sad state of affairs in DC. If Kyl is alone, or almost alone, in his view, then perhaps he’ll be marginalized in the upcoming debate.
So, I’d urge everyone reading this to contact your rep, your Senators, and any other member of Congress you care to contact, and request a simple public statement whether they know that people are dying from lack of health insurance. It’s something we’ve assumed they knew, but clearly Jon Kyl doesn’t, and perhaps others don’t as well. We need to know.
UPDATE: I'm told you can petition Sen. Kyl
http://act.ly/...
UPDATE 2: I'll be on the radio here, KPHX 1480 AM, a little after 5 to talk about this on the Mike Newcomb show.