On Meet the Press Sunday, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) was asked by host David Gregory if it is “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 responded with incredulity:
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.
Crossposted from The Huffington Post
As TPM points out, a highly publicized Harvard research study made headlines just last month. It estimated that 45,000 Americans die each year because they lack access to health insurance and that uninsured Americans are 40 percent more likely to die than Americans who are insured.
Kyl has been committing healthcare blunders right and left. Last month, he quipped about not needing maternity care while he was arguing that insurance companies should not be mandated to provide certain types of coverage. Kyl also singlehandledly blocked the extension of unemployment benefits through a procedural action. Both members of Arizona’s Senate delegation — Kyl and McCain — also voted against the Franken amendment, which was written to provide legal protections for women who are sexually assaulted in the workplace.
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