There’s more than one reason I would love the debate on health care in Washington, DC to go away. The primary one being that the federal government has no Constitutional authority to be involved in health care in the first place. But the newest reason for me is the now prevalent “people will die” argument.
I was not surprised when this argument came from the lips of Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on the Senate floor recently:
“These cuts are blood money. People will die. Let’s be very clear—Senate Republicans are paying for tax cuts for the wealthy with American lives.” (Emphasis Added) But to hear a variation of the argument from our very own Senator Heidi Heitkamp? As the old Norwegian saying goes… Uffdah! I mean, I get it. She’s a Democrat. But I still expect… well… better from a North Dakota Senator– regardless of party. Apparently my expectations were too high. Lesson Learned.
After proclaiming her efforts to work in a bipartisan manner – something she points out most Democrats haven’t done on the recent Republican health care bill – here’s what she said on CNBC’s Squawk Box:
“This is way too important… and life and death for a lot of people in North Dakota and across the country. You shouldn’t be doing it this way.” (Emphasis Added)
I’ve included the link to the interview in the sources at the end of this article. Just in case you care to view it yourself. It’s not that long.
I wonder if Heitkamp and the others that are parading around this argument have ever considered how ridiculous they sound? I also wonder if they’ve forgotten the insane increases we’ve experienced under the so-called “Affordable Care Act”? You know, making it not exactly affordable. To the point, in fact, that some people have had to drop their coverage. But let’s not let facts get in the way of a scary catch phrase.
As one author recently wrote on this subject:
“In short, the ‘people will die’ argument is premised on an easily-recognized logical fallacy. Don’t use it if you want to convince others to adopt your health care policy views. If you do, the only thing certain to die will be your credibility.”
Among the many things I’d love to see removed from Washington are the federal governments involvement in health care and Senator Heitkamp. And not because it’s life or death. But because North Dakota – and the country – deserves so much better.
Note: The “people will die” argument has now caused the following video to go viral. It’s a parody that perhaps you’ll find amusing:
Sources:
1. http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/26/sen-heitkamp-senate-gop-health-bill-is-worse-than-the-house-version.html (Note: If you don’t want to watch the entire 2 minutes and 17 seconds, just fast forward to about the 2 minute mark.) 2. https://economics21.org/html/spurious-%E2%80%9Cpeople-will-die%E2%80%9D-claim-2427.html
