Genius Republican Thinks Waiters Aren't Worth Wasting Medicine On

Oh, THAT guy
Genius congressman Warren Davidson of Ohio, who teabagged himself right into John Boehner's former congressional seat when Boehner left the House to spend more time with his gin, offered some terrific advice to a constituent at a town hall last week: When the woman told him her son would lose his health insurance if the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion is rolled back, Davidson let her know that maybe her son wasn't deserving of health care since he only works in the service industry, and not even full-time at that. Here's the video, via Friend of Wonkette Tommy Christopher at ShareBlue:
Holy sh*t, Davidson tells a woman whose son is on Medicaid expansion, would lose insurance under repeal, that his "skills" are to blame. pic.twitter.com/UiERBOIQ5T
— Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) April 21, 2017
Nice Lady: My son did not have health insurance for four years, until the ACA when Medicaid was accepted. He didn’t have health insurance because he’s in the service industry. And that industry pays minimum wage and they keep their employees below a certain number of hours so that they cannot -- so that they don’t have to pay health insurance. So, many of the people that are on Medicaid are working, and they are the working poor. [applause]Under Trumpcare, one of the major ways to make health insurance affordable is to bring back catastrophic insurance, which is basically no insurance at all. Given that, given that preventative health care is the number one way to keep people healthy in our society, can you explain why my son and millions of others in his situation are not deserving of affordable, decent healthcare that has essential benefits so that he can stay healthy and continue working? [applause]
Well! While your more polished, Establishment-type Rs like Paul Ryan might mouth some vague evasion about how TrumpDon'tCare would offer every American "access" to whatever health care they can afford (None. Literally none except for ER visits that could bankrupt them), Davidson -- a member of the House Freedom Caucus that found the first iteration of TrumpCare insufficiently cruel -- let the silly woman know that if her son doesn't have the "skills" to earn his own way, then maybe he shouldn't get health care at all, because since when does America have any laws requiring that it promote the general welfare of its citizenry beyond allowing everyone the right to grab as much for themselves as possible?
OK, I don’t know anything about your son, but as you described him, his skills are focused in an industry that doesn’t have the kind of options that you want him to have for health care. So, I don’t believe that these taxpayers here are entitled [sic] to give that to him. I believe he’s got the opportunity to go earn those health benefits. [scattered gasps and boos]Isn't that the American Dream? get a job, work hard, and if you don't make management-level pay, you're expendable? Besides, as Davidson explained, once the ACA with all its fancy-pants, expensive "essential health benefits" is repealed, the woman's son could probably afford some kind of catastrophic care plan that might cover the very worst accidents or illnesses, or not. Assuming he's not stupid enough to have a preexisting condition, the bum. When the woman didn't see why that would be better than the coverage her son has now (but which is paid for by the other good people in the room, who booed Davidson because they don't realize they're slaves to this woman's lazy useless son), Davidson explained -- and on this one, he's right on track with other Republicans -- that health insurance is exactly like a cell phone, apart from the tiny detail that they're nothing alike:
Davidson tells woman if here son doesn't want catastrophic plan, he shouldn't buy one, "if you don't want a flipphone,don't buy a flipphone" pic.twitter.com/7ccgJCcdda
— Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) April 21, 2017
Davidson: If he doesn't want a catastrophic care plan, then don't buy a catastrophic care plan. If you don't want a flip-phone, don't buy a flip phone [general groans, expressions of disgust, and at least one "stop doing that!" from audience]Nice Lady: I'm sorry, health care is much different than a cell phone, and I'm tired of people using cell phone analogies with health care [applause]
Presumably, Davidson will see the error of his ways and break out a Nazi analogy next time.
Now, obviously, when a member of Congress says something as colossally stupid as "people who don't make much money don't deserve health care," their staff is ready to walk it back with some pleasant shading, explaining that the congressman simply meant America is a great place where everyone can prosper if they work hard. Not so much Davidson's office: Monday, Davidson spokesperson Alexei Woltornist delivered what was meant to be some kind of clarification, in which Davidson made it clear poor people aren't worth medical care:
Rep. Davidson does not believe that taxpayers should be providing more and more people health care [...]This is unsustainable, as we're seeing with Obamacare, and it ignores the real problem of ever-increasing health care costs [...] The congressman has been laser focused on solutions that lower health care costs, so that everyone can get the kind of health insurance they want at a price they can afford.
Unless of course the "kind of health insurance they want" is the kind that actually covers luxuries like chronic conditions, doctor visits, checkups, surgery, reproductive care, cancer screenings, and other stuff that only better people deserve. You want anything but a bare-bones policy that may or may not cover some of the costs of a major illness, then you'd better work harder, mule.
Rep. Warren's campaign website asserts he "champions conservative Republican values with integrity, a thoughtful, well-developed intellect, and a sincere Christian faith." He is among several Republicans calling on Donald Trump to issue an executive order that would give federal contractors the "religious liberty" to discriminate against people for being gay.
Yr Wonkette has not confirmed whether Rep. Davidson has rebuked his Saviour, Jesus the Christ, for setting an unsustainable example by foolishly dispensing free medical care to people who clearly had not developed the job skills necessary to deserve private care.
[ShareBlue /
Holy sh*t, Davidson tells a woman whose son is on Medicaid expansion, would lose insurance under repeal, that his "… https://t.co/J16NFg9pfd— Tommy X-TrumpIsARacist-opher (@Tommy X-TrumpIsARacist-opher) 1492800439.0
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