the faces of extremism
TRANSCRIPT
8/8/2019 The Faces of Extremism
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T H E M A N Y F A C ES O F
E X T R E M I S M
Lawmakers opposing the Affordable Care Act have espoused positions that, if enacted, would havedevastating consequences for the people they represent. This report exposes the reality of their rhetoric and extreme consequences of repealing the new health care law.
By E rikka Knuti and Travis Waldron
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Meet the New Kids
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Part 1
Meet the New Kids With a new wave of inexperienced legislators and governors rolling intooffice, the Health Information Campaign presents examples of extreme
statements and positions from newly elected officials.
Meet the new lawmakers and opponents of health reform elected in the2010 cycle. Some of them misrepresent the facts, some are out of touch, andsome of them the health care reform law. Either way, their ideas about repealing the Affordable Care Act would have a negative impacton their constituents and are too extreme for America.
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Meet the New Kids
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Meet Rand Paul...
Paul Fact: Senator wants a $2,000 deductible for Medicare.
more S e n .- e l ec t Rand Paul (R-
During a September 2009 town hall meeting on health care, Rand Paul advocated for higher-deductibles, saying:
A $2,000 Medicare deductible would solve a huge amount of problems. [LexingtonHerald Leader , 10/6/10]
Paul reiterated his belief that people were not paying enough for health care during a later interview.
" I t sounds funny, but you need to be paying more for your health care. " [Details, 8/2010]
Medicare enrollees [Kaiser 11/4/10] should pay a$2,000 deductible. -poorest in the nation. Never
hole and already have to pay the full cost of the prescriptions a portion of the year [AARP, 2009].Paul thinks they need to pay more.
Too Ext reme for K entucky: 1 in 6 state residents are enrolled in Medicare and-poorest in the nation
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Meet the New Kids
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Meet Andy Harris...
Harr is Fact: --deaf doctor .
Th e f ir st qu e st ion R e p .- e l ec t Andy Harri s (R-MD 01) a s ke d a t n e w m e m b e r ori e n t a t ion wa s :
Wh e n do I c oll ec t m y gov e rn m e n t h e al t h c ar e ?
As an anesthesiologist for Johns Hopkins, Andy Harris campaigned against health care and promised to vote for repeal. Throughout his campaign, Harris frequently noted he was a doctor inorder to position himself as an expert on health reform.
-ed on health care reform:-deaf to those who know the most about the issue: patients and their health care providers. What's going on now is no exception: No one appears to be listening toHarris, 9/17/09]
New members of Congress, including Harris, will be sworn in January 3, but the insurance provided to them through the federal government is effective February 1. Harris was surprised and
upset at the very idea that his new health insurance did not start immediately. the fi rst dayyou are employed. [Politico, 11/15/10]
Harris asked said a congressional staffer [Politico, 11/15/10]
Extremely O ut of Touch
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Meet the New Kids
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A self-proclaimed health care expert, Dr. Harris is completely out of touch with the real life healthcare issues Americans face. The reaction above demonstrates tone-deafness to the three out of four
[Kaiser Family Foundation, 9/10]; or the 59 million Americans who were uninsured at some point
in 2010, according to the CDC. [CBS, 11/10/10]
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Meet the New Kids
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Meet Renee Ellmers.. .
Ellmers Fact: Wants to repeal the pre-existing condition provision of the healthcare law .
R e p .- e l ec t R e n ee Ell m e r s (R-NC
pr e - e xi st ing c ondi t ion s
During her campaign, Renee Ellmers told the Clay t on N e w s - S t ar she did not think insurancecompanies should be required to accept people with pre-existing conditions.
-existing
conditions situation she [Ellmers] said. [Clayton News-Star , 9/29/10]
In the same interview Ellmers was asked whether all insurance customers should have to help pay
for maternity care, as pregnancy is typically considered a pre-existing condition by insurers.
aternity coverage
[maternity care]? -year-Mat Ellmers said. [Clayton News-Star , 9/29/10]
Ellmers and her husband travelled across the country on the Americans for Prosperity bus tour protesting the health care law. The group was founded and is financially supported by billionairetea-party patron David Koch. [The New Yorker , 8/30/10]
Ellmers Fact: She dmaternity care should be covered.
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Meet the New Kids
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Too Extreme for North Carolina: Near ly 2 million Tar H ee ls have pre-existingconditions that could prec lude them from coverage.
More than 1.8 million North Carolinians, including 50 percent of those between ages of 55 and 64,have a pre-existing condition that could prevent them from accessing coverage [FamiliesUSA, 5/10]. Ellmers wants to let insurers figure out how to deal with pre-existing conditions, but theyhad their chance and dealt with it by denying coverage. A congressional investigation found thatfrom 2007 to 2009, toverage based on conditions such as pregnancy, angina, diabetes and heart disease [CNBC 10/13/10].
Lack of insurance is often cited as a major barrier to quality prenatal care. Before the AffordableCare Act passed, maternity coverage was an exception, not the rule. Only 14 percent of privateindividual plans offered it in 2009 [ , 2009]. More than two womendie every day in the United States from pregnancy and childbirth complications. Quality,accessible maternity care could prevent approximately half these deaths [Amnesty International, 3/2010].
Too Ext reme for Women: Ellmers .
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Meet the New Kids
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Meet Austin Scott...
Scott Fact: eplace .
R e p .- e l ec t Au st in S c o tt (R-GA 08) oppo s e s t h e e n t ir e h e al t h c ar e law; e v e n t h e pa t i e n t pro t ec t ion
provi s ion s s uppor t e d by 75 p e r ce n t o f Am e ri c an s .
During an October 2010 debate, Austin Scott said he did not support any of the provisions of thenew health care law.
MODERATOR: A re they any provisions of the health care bill passed that you support,
SCOTT: . [Think Progress, 10/14/10]
In fact, Scott is opposed to Congress passing any laws regarding the health care system. CNNreporter T.J. Holmes pressed Scott about his extreme position on repeal. He confronted Scott withthe two provisions most popular with the public: extending dependent coverage to young adults upto age 26 and banning coverage denial based on pre-existing conditions.
SCOTT: I would like to start over completely. I think those things should be left up to theindividual states. And I think that the states should determine --
HOLMES: But not the federal government? You don't think those are good enough that thefederal government should keep those in place?
SCOTT: I do not believe that the federal government should have control over the healthcare system. I think that the sta tes should determine whether or not they want those issues in thei r health insurance at a sta te level. [CNN, 10/20/10]
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Meet the New Kids
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would eliminate coverage for the estimated 43,500 young adults in Georgia who gained access toWhiteHouse.gov]. It wouldalso threaten the more than 1.8 million Georgians who have pre-existing conditions that could prevent them from accessing health coverage [FamiliesUSA, 5/2010].
Too Ext reme for Georgia : 43,500 Georgia young adults gained access to healthcare because of the Affordable Care Act.
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Meet the New Kids
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Meet Blake Farenthold.. .
Farenthold Fact: He thinks the 170 million Americans who have employer-basedhealth insurance have no personal responsibility.
R e p .- e l ec t Bla ke Far e n t hold (R-TX 27) propo s e s high-d e du c t ibl e plan s t ha t c ould ban k rup t low-
in c o m e Am e ri c an s
During his campaign, Blake Farenthold, blamed employer- health care problems:
Our healthcare system is broken because we have ta ken personal responsibility out of it.
Employers pay for the insurance, doctors bill theinsurance companies and all the consumer is out of the loop. There is no incentive for anyone to
[Farenthold]
otherwise. Unpaid medical bills are the number one cause of bankruptcy in the United States,causing 62 percent of bankruptcies in 2007. Of those who filed for bankruptcy, nearly 80 percenthad insurance. [American Journal of Medicine, 6/5/09]
On his website, Farenhold proposes high-deductible health plans featuring expanded HealthSavings Accounts to reduce health costs. High-deductible plans create a high financial hurdle thatAmericans struggle to clear. They often lead to severe financial problems that put care out of reach.More than half of adults in the highest-deductible plans report difficulty paying bills or accumulateddebt. Nearly 60 percent of Americans with an illness would have trouble paying medical bills under a high-deductible plan [Commonwealth Fund, 2005].
Extremely O ut of Touch: Medical costs are the leading cause of bankr uptcy.
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Meet the New Kids
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Meet Rick Scott...
Scott Fact: Scott was CE O of company fined $1.7 billion for Medicare / Medicaidfraud.
Gov .- e l ec t Ri ck S c o tt (R-FL)
Scott presided over Columbia/HCA, the largest private, for-profit health care company in thecountry, as it committed massive fraud. The company paid $1.7 billion in fines in the largestMedicare fraud settlement in American history.
fraudulent activities, including:
Billing Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs for tests that were not necessary or ordered by physicians. [Politifact, 6/10/10]
Upcoding, or claiming patients were sicker than they were to increase Medicare reimbursementto the hospitals. [Politifact, 6/10/10]
Illegally claiming non-reimbursable marketing and advertising costs as community education.[Politifact, 6/10/10]
Providing physician kickbacks, such as lavish fishing trips to Costa Rica, free office rent,discounted pharmaceuticals, bogus consulting jobs, and free ownership shares in Columbia
hospitals, to doctors in return for Medicare referrals. [Miami Herald, 6/27/10]
Improperly billing patients for home health visits. [Miami Herald, 6/27/10]
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Meet the New Kids
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Extremely Shady: -reform.
The fact care system. Scott wants Floridians to think is that his level of responsibility and his role in his
Was he responsible?
s I have said repeatedly, Columbia / H C A made mista kes, and I take responsibility forwhat happened on my watch as C E O Scott said in a written statement [Miami Herald, 6/27/10]
Or was he ignorant?
KLAS
SCOTT: t my life savings andstarted this company from scratch and then somebody would have done something wrong and I [St. Petersburg Times, 10/29/10]
Scott is trying to play it both ways. He eagerly boasts about being a successful, shrewd he pleads ignorance of the criminalactivity that was rampant throughout his company. Either Scott is a crook who defrauded his patients and the Medicare system out of millions of dollars, or he is the schnook who was notcompetent enough to identify the widespread fraud taking place right under his nose. But they aremutually exclusive, and neither inspires much confidence in his ability to lead Florida toward better health care for its citizens.
Regardless of his ruined reputation in the health industry, Scott had the audacity to found a so-any attempt by the new administration toreform health care. He brought on the public relations firm CRC, the masterminds behind the SwiftBoat Veterans for Truth campaign, to coordinate the campaign. [Washington Post, 5/11/09]
Extremely Bad Options for Florida : C riminal v. C riminally Incompetent
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Remember These Guys?
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Part 2
Remember These Guys?The new kids arent the only ones going to extremes to oppose the
Affordable Care Act. The Health Information Campaign presents examples
of currently elected lawmakers who have also made extreme statements
against health care reform.
Some of them try to scare the public, some of them ignore the facts, and
some of them are just plain hypocritical. Just like the new kids, the
positions of these lawmakers would be devastating to the health coverage of
the people they represent.
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Remember Rick Perry?
Perry Fact: Texas can deliver health care better than the feds.
Gov . Ri ck P e rry (R-TX) i s pu s hing a plan t ha t would c o st T e xa s billion s and c ould l e av e m illion s
wi t hou t h e al t h in s uran ce
As his state tries to find answers to a budget shortfall, Gov. Rick Perry and a few state legislators proposed the idea that Texas should withdraw from the federal Medicaid program.
know how to deli ver healthcare to more people in a less expensive way than what the
[Ft. WorthStar-Telegram, 11/13/10]
Of the 3.3 million Medicaid enrollees in Texas, nearly 2.6 million mostly poor children wouldlose coverage if Texas opted out of the program [Dallas Morning News, 12/3/10]. Beyond that,
Texans employed by the health care industry, secession could cost the state $900 billion in losteconomic activity. [Dallas Morning News, 11/30/10]
And while Texans would no longer benefit from Medicaid, they would still pay for it. Because
subsidizing the program for other states. [ New York Times, 11/19/10]
Extremely O ut of Touch
and leave 2.6 million without coverage.
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Remember Jon K yl?
Kyl Fact
Li ke R e p .- e l ec t R e n ee Ell m e r s (R-NC 02) , S e n . Jon Kyl (R-AZ) do e s no t wan t t o pay f or m a t e rni t y c ar e f or Am e ri c an wo m e n
again as part of the Affordable Care Act.
maternity care,
[TPM 9/25/09].
care plans. Often, non-smoking women paid more than male smokers. And maternity care was notresponsible for the price difference, given that it was offered on only 14 percent of privateindividual health plans in 2009. Last year, a 25-year-old woman was charged up to 84 percent morethan a man of the same age on plans that did not include maternity coverage. [
Law Center , 2009]
The Affordable Care Act ends the discriminatory practice of gender rating, lowering healthmust be covered by certain plans beginning in 2014. While two American women die every day dueto pregnancy and childbirth complications, quality maternity care could cut that number in half.[Amnesty International, 3/2010]
Extremely O ut of Touch: Women pay more for health insurance , and notbecause of maternit care.
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Remember John Ensign?
Ensign Fact: He condemned health care spending in the Affordable Care Act as wasteful .
S e n . John En s ign (R-
proj ec t in N e vada
On his Senate website, Senator Ensign says:
The new health law is filled
[Ensign]
Ensign penned a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services requesting grant moneyauthorized by the law for the University of Nevada, School of Medicine, despite his concerns for mit these funds would help Nevadans face their growing health care challenges in his letter, however spews anti-health reformrhetoric on his official website. [ThinkProgress, 11/15/10]
Extremely Hypocritical: Ensign sought a piece of health care spending he cal ledwastefu l.
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Remember Chuck Grassley?
G rassley Fact: Grassley told Iowans about a government program that would
End-o f -l i f e c oun s e ling wa s in c lud e d in a M e di c ar e bill S e n . Chu ck Gra ss l e y (R-IA) s uppor t e d in 2003
Grassley was working on a bipartisan health reform bill when he attacked the Affordable Care Actat an Iowa town hall meeting.
-of-
And f rom that standpoint,
you have every right to fear.
You shouldn't have counseling at the end of life. You ought to have counseling 20 years before you're going to die.You ought to plan these things out. And I don't have any problem with things like living wills.But they ought to be done within the family. We should not have a government program thatdetermines if you're going to pul l the plug on grandma.Huffington Post, 8/12/09]
provided Medicare coverage for optional end-of-life planning. In 2003, Grassley voted for a bill [Time, 8/13/09]
Extremely Hypocritical: He was for death panels before he was against them.
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Remember Steve King?
King Fact: Wants entire health reform bill repealed immediately .
R e p . S t e v e King (R-IA 05) c o m par e d t h e Aff ordabl e Car e Ac t t o a t u m or and c al l e d f or a f ull r e p e al ,
e v e n o f c on s u m e r pro t ec t ion provi s ion s .
that the entireAffordable Care Act needed to be repealed immediately, including provisions others in his partyhave supported.
teaspoon of it and say, 'well that wasn't so bad.' But now it's become the tumor of a cancer inour legislation, and you can't take a tumor out in part. You've got to pull it all out. And some will say , 'well there's some viable tissue there,' but that's the price of something that is acance r on A mer ica's spir it and vitalityTPM, 4/2/10]
provisions of the law. These include provisions protecting those with pre-existing conditions,Removing these provisions would have disastrous effects for many Iowans, including:
The 596,000 (24% ) with a pre-existing condition who, if King got his way, could be deniedhealth coverage. [FamiliesUSA, 5/2010]
The 8,330 young adults who would not have insurance coverage if they could no longer HealthReform.gov]
Extremely O ut of Touch: One in four Iowans have a pre-existing condition thatcould prevent them from getting coverage.
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Mor e than 57,000 small businesses that could qualify for a small-business tax credit to help provide health coverage to their employees. [HealthReform.gov]
The 23,098 Medicare beneficiaries who hit the Medicare donut hole in 2010 and received$250 rebate checks to help cover the cost of prescription drugs.
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Remember Virginia Foxx?
Foxx Fact: Thinks all Americans already had access to quali ty health care.
R e p . Virginia Foxx (R-NC 05) d e rid e d h e al t h r e f or m a s a m a ss iv e t ax in c r e a s e
At a press conference in July 2009, Virginia Foxx slammed the idea that there were Americans whodid not have access to health care.
[ThinkProgress, 7/24/09]
Then, in November, Foxx took to the House floor to battle health care reform again:
And I believe the gr eatest fear that we al l should have to our f reedom comes from this room th is very room and what may happen later this week in terms of a taxincrease bill masquerading as a health care bill. I believe we have more to fear from the [ThinkProgress, 11/2/09]
The Affordable Care Act addresses one of the major problems facing the American health caresystem: access to coverage. Studies estimate as many as 22,000 unnecessary deaths occurred in2006 due to lack of insurance coverage [Urban Institute, 1/2008]. An estimated 9,600 NorthCarolinians would die prematurely due to lack of insurance coverage over the next decade. Inaddition, more than 1 million uninsured North Carolinians will have access to health insurance by2019. [FamiliesUSA, 5/2010]
Extremely O ut of Touch : An estimated 1 mill ion uninsured North Carolinians
will gain coverage under the new law.
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Foxx claims the Affordable Care Act is a tax increase. But the law will provide tax breaks to morethan 1 million North Carolinians, the total value of which will exceed $4 billion. Half of those will be uninsured, with the tax credit allowing them access to coverage that was previouslyunaffordable. [FamiliesUSA, 9/2010]
that makes it easier for businesses to provide insurance to their employees. [HealthReform.gov]