Sen. Jon Kyl: "I'm not sure that it's a fact that more and more people die because they don't have health insurance."

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Arizona's Senator Obstruction, Jon Kyl, should just follow Abraham Lincoln's sage advice: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." Kyl has been on a tear for the past month or so, suffering from foot-in-mouth disease and removing any doubt about what a fool he is.

On Meet the Press Sunday, Sen. Jon Kyl took issue with the fact -- and it is a fact -- that lack of health insurance is linked to higher risk of death. Kyl: 'I'm Not Sure It's A Fact' That Lack Of Health Insurance Causes People To Die:

David Gregory asked Kyl about the issue of a "moral imperative," and said that while he's heard Kyl and other Republicans take issue with proposed health care reform legislation for fear that it might add to the budget deficit (although President Obama has insisted that it won't) -- he never hears such arguments from the GOP about a costly war in Afghanistan.

"No country can afford to scrimp and save, or try to win a war on the cheap," Kyl responded. "The president himself has said the war in Afghanistan, against these terrorists who killed over 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11 2001, is a war of necessity. You have to win it."

Gregory then asked, "And is it a necessity to tackle the fact that there are more and more Americans who die because they don't have access to health insurance?"

Kyl's response:

I'm not sure that it's a fact that more and more people die because they don't have health insurance. But because they don't have health insurance, the care is not delivered in the best and most efficient way.

* * *

[F]or the record, a highly-publicized Harvard study released last month said that 45,000 deaths are linked to lack of health insurance coverage each year -- and that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher death risk than their privately-insured counterparts.

I guess the Harvard study didn't make the GOP talking points memo.

Comments

[flounder]

Since 100% of humans eventually die, I suppose Kyl could technically be correct! Of course Kyl's use of the word "efficient" proves Alan Grayson's charge that Republicans want people to go die, and for them to do it quickly.
That said, I will remind everyone again that Jon Kyl lied to the Supreme Court during the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case. If someone is willing to lie to the Supreme Court, they are going to have no qualms about deceiving anyone else, especially a lightweight like David Gregory.