On Thursday's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC contributor Joy Reid asserted that Republicans who are trying to discourage people from signing up for ObamaCare are "asking you to essentially kill yourself," dismissing concerns about freedom, tagging their actions "insane."
After a clip of President Obama complaining about ads financed by "Republican billionaires," host O'Donnell posed:
Joy, it really is an astonishing phenomenon to watch these Republican billionaires advocating for people something they'd never advocate for their own children?
Reid responded:
You're absolutely right, and herein lies the great irony about the conservative objection to Obamacare. What are they actually asking people to do? They're actually asking you to essentially kill yourself, because if you get sick and you don't have insurance, and you can't be treated, you cannot survive a catastrophic illness or they're asking you, bankrupt yourself, because if you can't afford to pay your bill at the emergency room, they're going to bill you anyway.
And then you're going to be pursued by credit collections people, you could lose your home. People are literally going bankrupt or they're dying earlier because they're not getting preventative care. They're catching breast cancers at stage 3 and stage 4.
She continued:
So they're presenting this is as liberty. This is not freedom. It's crazy. If the government is going to super subsidize you to be able to buy what you and I have, because we have a job, meaning an insurance card, so that you can go to the doctor, why would you say no? What is it about liberty that it's a good thing not to have that card? But they're trying to sort of fudge that argument that some how you are abridging liberty by giving people the opportunity to have insurance. It's insane.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Thursday, September 26, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC:
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: Joy, I think I disagree with the President about the last point. I think if it gets up and is running very well, he will be getting credit for it.
JOY REID, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I mean, he'll get credit for it I think from an historical perspective. But I've got to tell you a little anecdote. My colleague at The Grio, Perry Bacon, was in Kentucky and actually looking at the way that ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act is implemented. And at the state level in Kentucky, they're calling it KYNCT.
So, people who are those signing up for KYNCT are signing up for all the benefits of ObamaCare, of the Affordable Care Act, and in some cases not even realizing that's what they're getting. So I think the big risk for the President here is that in the states that are implementing the exchanges, they tailor the exchanges to their state and then people say, ah-ha, look how good my state is doing or how will my state is doing at providing me health care coverage, when no, no, no, in fact, that's Obamacare.
O'DONNELL: Yeah, Jared. Maybe they should have written into the law some name for these exchanges, because every state has a different name for its exchange, and the word "Obama" or "federal government" is not going to be in the name of any one of those exchanges.
JARED BERNSTEIN, ECONOMIST: Right. We may be looking at a situation 10 years from now where some aged Tea Partier says "keep the government out of my ObamaCare." In other words, what you have today with Medicare is probably a good analogy. Back when Medicare first was passed, there was a tremendous anxiety. I think it was Ronald Reagan called it a great socialist experiment. Now, it's not only an extremely popular program, it's also a very efficient one.
And you really do have conservative Republicans protecting Medicare, saying keep the government out of my Medicare, not even making the connection it's a government program. Part of this, by the way, I think a serious part of this is just the information that needs to really get out there. It's already way behind in terms of the, really, flooding the public with, with important information about this.
O'DONNELL: Let's listen to what the president said today about some very, very rich Republican billionaires trying to convince people not to participate in this new health care program.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Some of the Tea Party's biggest donors, some of the wealthiest men in America are funding a cynical ad campaign trying to convince young people not to buy health care at all. I mean, think about it, these are -- these are billionaires, several times over, you know they've got good health care.
But they are actually spending money on television trying to convince young people that if you've got the choice between getting affordable health care or going without health care, you should choose not having any health care.
Now, do you think if you get sick or you get hurt, and you get stuck with a massive bill, these same folks, they're going to help you out?
O'DONNELL: Joy, it really is an astonishing phenomenon to watch these Republican billionaires advocating for people something they'd never advocate for their own children?
REID: You're absolutely right, and herein lies the great irony about the conservative objection to Obamacare. What are they actually asking people to do? They're actually asking you to essentially kill yourself, because if you get sick and you don't have insurance, and you can't be treated, you cannot survive a catastrophic illness or they're asking you, bankrupt yourself, because if you can't afford to pay your bill at the emergency room, they're going to bill you anyway.
And then you're going to be pursued by credit collections people, you could lose your home. People are literally going bankrupt or they're dying earlier because they're not getting preventative care. They're catching breast cancers at stage 3 and stage 4.
So they're presenting this is as liberty. This is not freedom. It's crazy. If the government is going to super subsidize you to be able to buy what you and I have, because we have a job, meaning an insurance card, so that you can go to the doctor, why would you say no? What is it about liberty that it's a good thing not to have that card? But they're trying to sort of fudge that argument that some how you are abridging liberty by giving people the opportunity to have insurance. It's insane.
