Not a good day for Alabama Republicans. After the surprise election of Democrat Doug Jones for the vacant U.S. Senate seat, Rep. Mo Brooks made a surprising announcement on the House floor this morning. From The Hill:
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) revealed in an emotional House floor speech on Wednesday that he has prostate cancer.
Brooks lost the Alabama Senate GOP primary earlier this year, a result that he said may very well have saved his life.
“Had I won, I would not have had time for my physical and PSA test. I would not have had a prostate biopsy. I would not now know about my high-risk prostate cancer that requires immediate surgery. In retrospect, and paradoxically, losing the Senate race may have saved my life. Yes, God does work in mysterious ways,” Brooks said.
To be clear, there is ZERO joy in a cancer diagnosis of a political foe. But this revelation from Mo Brooks cannot be uncoupled from his statements only a few months ago during the debate about the Republican’s disastrous healthcare bill. At that time, Mo Brooks made one of the most cold-hearted, inaccurate statements of them all—that people who “lead good lives” don’t have pre-existing conditions. From AL.com:
Speaking with CNN's Jake Tapper about House plans to vote on a revised health insurance bill, Rep. Mo Brooks, R-AL, referenced people who lead "good lives" and said they should not have to pay as much as others.
"My understanding is that (the new proposal) will allow insurance companies to require people who have higher health care costs to contribute more to the insurance pool," Brooks said. "That helps offset all these costs, thereby reducing the cost to those people who lead good lives, they're healthy, they've done the things to keep their bodies healthy. And right now, those are the people--who've done things the right way--that are seeing their costs skyrocketing."
Welcome to the high risk pool, Rep. Brooks. The lesson here is that you’re healthy until you aren’t. We are all at risk. Nobody should be refused medical treatment or bankrupted while fighting cancer or any other disease. Good luck on your cancer journey. We’ll be keeping you in our thoughts and prayers.
We saved Obamacare before, and we can again. If the GOP Tax Scam gets out of Congress and signed into law, 13 million people will lose health insurance. Call your members of the House and Senate TODAY at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to vote NO on the final version.
