Fox News host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery says Democrats are acting “hysterical” in their defense of Medicaid because they have publicly (and rightly) noted that when you cut Medicaid, you are cutting people’s lives short.
After showing clips of Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and Sen. Al Franken warning that thousands of people will die without Medicaid, they all had a good laugh, calling the warnings nothing more than hyperbole. A perfectly healthy (for now) Lisa Kennedy Montgomery took it a step further, saying, “We’re all going to die” some day! From Think Progress:
You know what, at least they are not employing any hyperbole at all. No exaggeration, no hysteria,” she said. “You know what the crazy thing is? We’re all going to die. And they can’t predict — there’s no way unless they are absolutely psychic and have a party line to heaven, they don’t know who’s going to die or when or how many people.”
I hate to “well, actually” another woman, but Lisa, honey, we can say, with complete certainty, that people will indeed die without Medicaid. More from Think Progress and the New England Journal of Medicine:
“A subsequently analysis showed the largest decreases were for deaths from ‘health-care-amenable’ conditions such as heart disease, infections, and cancer, which are more plausibly affected by access to medical care,” the New England Journal of Medicine writes.
Another study of “Medicaid’s mortality effects” found “one life saved for every 239 to 316 adults who gained coverage. The health care bill Senate Republicans pulled the plug on would’ve resulted in 15 million Americans losing Medicaid over the next decade.
Senate Republicans are still talking Trumpcare, and plan to bring it back after July 4 recess. We absolutely MUST make sure they don’t have the votes. Keep calling your Republican senators at (202) 224-3121. Tell them “NO DEAL” on Trumpcare. Then, tell us how it went.
What a sad day in this country, when cable news hosts mock the healthcare needs of the children, poor families, the disabled and the elderly. Like everyone who’s had a cancer diagnosis, catastrophic illness or raised a disabled child, Lisa Kennedy Montgomery would do well to remember that everyone is healthy … until they aren’t. Watch the Fox News crew have a good laugh about taking away insurance from our most vulnerable citizens:
She might be surprised to know 64 percent of all nursing home residents are on Medicaid and the New York Times notes that many of these facilities will have to close if Medicaid is slashed. What does Montgomery think will happen if those people are put out on the streets? These people aren’t “freeloaders.” In fact, given the demographic, they are likely Fox News viewers:
The 150 residents of Dogwood Village include former teachers, farmers, doctors, lawyers, stay-at-home parents and health aides — a cross section of this rural county a half-hour northeast of Charlottesville. Many entered old age solidly middle class but turned to Medicaid, which was once thought of as a government program exclusively for the poor, after exhausting their insurance and assets.
A combination of longer life spans and spiraling health care costs has left an estimated 64 percent of the Americans in nursing homes dependent on Medicaid. In Alaska, Mississippi and West Virginia, Medicaid was the primary payer for three-quarters or more of nursing home residents in 2015, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
“People are simply outliving their relatives and their resources, and fortunately, Medicaid has been there,” said Mark Parkinson, the president of the American Health Care Association, a national nursing home industry group.
What exactly would happen to these people if they were turned out on the streets? What about the disabled Americans who are able to survive and thrive in their own homes instead of being locked away in an institution? Let’s hope Lisa Kennedy Montgomery and her cohorts can dig deep and find an ounce of empathy. Because you never know, one day in the not-too-distant future they could very well be getting the news their child is permanently disabled or trying to make sense of a pathology report after hearing their doctor say, “I wish I had better news, but ...”
