[Vision2020] Labrador: ‘Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care’

Sun May 7 14:24:52 PDT 2017

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2017/05/07/heres-what-rep-raul-labrador-probably-meant-when-he-said-nobody-dies/#488142957694

Ron Force
Moscow Idaho USA

On Sun, May 7, 2017 at 2:00 PM, Shawn Clabough <shawnc at outtrack.com> wrote:

> http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/07/politics/raul-labrador-
> healthcare-ahca/index.html
>
>
>
> Shawn
>
>
>
> *From:* vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@
> moscow.com] *On Behalf Of *Moscow Cares
> *Sent:* Saturday, May 6, 2017 5:37 PM
> *To:* Moscow Vision 2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> *Subject:* [Vision2020] Labrador: ‘Nobody dies because they don’t have
> access to health care’
>
>
>
> Courtesy of the *Idaho Statesman* at:
>
>
>
> http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/article149013339.html
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Labrador: ‘Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care’
>
> Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/article149013339.
> html#storylink=cpy
>
> A statement made by U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador during a town hall meeting
> Friday morning has drawn criticism by those challenging his stance on
> health care.
>
> After a woman suggested that the lack of health care was essentially
> asking people to die, Labrador had a controversial answer at Lewis-Clark
> State College in Lewiston.
>
> “That line is so indefensible,” Labrador said. “Nobody dies because they
> don’t have access to health care.”
>
> A video of the statement, posted on YouTube by Tom Hansen, drew attention
> from national news outlets, including CNN
> <http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/05/06/labrador-health-care-acosta-sot-ac.cnn>
> .
>
> An email to Labrador’s press secretary late Friday for comment did not
> receive an immediate response.
>
> Labrador on Thursday voted in favor of the American Health Care Act,
> pushed by the GOP through the House.
>
> “All across Idaho, families and small-business owners are struggling to
> keep up with skyrocketing health care costs caused by Obamacare,” Labrador
> said in a statement after the Thursday vote. “The people of Idaho know
> Obamacare is a disaster and want it fully repealed. Since I was first
> elected to Congress, I’ve been working to repeal Obamacare and that
> includes opposing the first version of the American Health Care Act.
>
> “Over the last few months, I have been working to improve the AHCA,
> joining with my colleagues in the House Freedom Caucus. We have negotiated
> legislation that keeps our promise to the American people to lower health
> care costs while also protecting those with per-existing conditions.
> Furthermore, unlike the first version of AHCA, our bill showed it had
> enough support to actually pass the House.”
>
> The AHCA does set up a high-risk pool that was meant to offset the cost
> for those with pre-existing conditions, something that has brought heavy
> criticism from Democrats and sick people.
>
> “The bill we passed today strikes down Obamacare’s prohibition on less
> expensive health care plans and the knot of insurance regulations and
> mandates that are making health coverage so unaffordable,” Labrador said
> Friday. “Meanwhile, it sets up a national $130 billion invisible high-risk
> pool to help offset the cost for those with pre-existing conditions.”
>
> At a town hall in Meridian in April
> <http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article145631354.html>,
> about 800 people attended, many of whom had questions about health care.
> Criticism came when when a woman asked Labrador whether he believed that
> health care is a right. Labrador said no.
> <http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/politics-blog/article145800684.html>
> FACT CHECK: HAS ANYONE DIED?
>
> The ongoing dispute over whether to fill the so-called Medicaid gap in
> Idaho has brought forward stories of people who actually died because of
> the lack of access to health care.
>
> The story of Jenny Steinke, a woman from Idaho Falls, has been frequently
> cited in Idaho. Steinke died at age 36 from an asthma attack after her
> condition had gone untreated
> <http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/business/article41425458.html> for
> years because she couldn’t afford health insurance, according to the (Idaho
> Falls) Post Register.
>
> But how often does lack of health insurance, or access to health care,
> cause people to die?
>
> That has been a subject of debate, with two fact-checking organizations —
> FactCheck.org
> <http://www.factcheck.org/2009/09/dying-from-lack-of-insurance/> and
> Politifact
> <http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/sep/06/alan-grayson-claims-45000-people-die-year-because-/http:/www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/sep/06/alan-grayson-claims-45000-people-die-year-because-/> —
> looking into it. Some question whether it’s possible to find a definite
> cause-and-effect relationship between insurance and death.
> RELATED STORIES FROM THE IDAHO STATESMAN
> U.S. Congressman Raul Labrador holds a town hall meeting in Meridian
> <http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article145668554.html#storylink=related_inline>
>
> Researchers have found links for years between insurance and health
> outcomes. And several high-profile studies have drawn connections between
> lack of insurance and higher mortality rates.
>
> “Because people without health coverage are less likely than those with
> insurance to have regular outpatient care, they are more likely to be
> hospitalized for avoidable health problems and to experience declines in
> their overall health,” according to the Kaiser Family Foundation
> <http://kff.org/uninsured/fact-sheet/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population/>,
> a nonpartisan health care information nonprofit. “When they are
> hospitalized, uninsured people receive fewer diagnostic and therapeutic
> services and also have higher mortality rates than those with insurance.”
>
> Some studies cited by the foundation looked at what happened to patients
> once they were hospitalized:
>
> ▪  A 2009 study published in the Journal of Public Health
> <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19875420>found a 60 percent higher
> mortality rate among uninsured American children in the hospital.
>
> ▪  A study published in 2011
> <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3208649/>in the American
> Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine concluded that “the
> uninsured have a higher mortality and receive fewer procedures when
> compared with privately insured patients treated at the same hospitals.”
>
> ▪  A 2010 study in The American Journal of Surgery
> <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20359573> hypothesized that
> insurance coverage wouldn’t affect the outcomes of patients with blunt and
> penetrating traumas, such as car crash injuries and gunshot wounds. But the
> researchers concluded that insurance coverage was actually “a potent
> predictor” of how well a patient would do. They found a higher death rate
> among uninsured patients.
>
> A frequently cited study published in 2009 in the American Journal of
> Public Health  <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2775760/>found
> a 25 percent higher risk of death among uninsured compared with privately
> insured adults. The researchers calculated 44,789 deaths among Americans
> age 18 to 64 in a single year that they said were tied to lack of health
> insurance.
>
> “The uninsured have a higher risk of death when compared to the privately
> insured, even after taking into account socioeconomics, health behaviors
> and baseline health,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Andrew Wilper, said at
> the time
> <http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/09/new-study-finds-45000-deaths-annually-linked-to-lack-of-health-coverage/>.
> “We doctors have many new ways to prevent deaths from hypertension,
> diabetes, and heart disease — but only if patients can get into our offices
> and afford their medications.”
>
>
> Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/article149013339.
> html#storylink=cpy
>
> ---------------------------------
>
> Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .
>
>
>
> "Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
>
> http://www.MoscowCares.com <http://www.moscowcares.com/>
>
>
>
> Tom Hansen
>
> Moscow, Idaho
>
>
>
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