At this point in American health care, the subject is difficult to talk about without using expletives. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, expressing the anger of so many of us, could not do it.
“What’s so stunning about this,” Scarborough said on Morning Joe, “what’s so inhumane about this is: There are people who depend on Medicaid, on the sort of health care that we’re talking about, about the guarantees that have been given, that are going to be stripped away.” The host implored Republicans to be honest about what’s in the bill and who it would hurt. “You think I’m being a son-of-a-bitch right now?”
The new bill, co-sponsored by Senators Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham, allows insurance companies to make health care prohibitively expensive for those with preexisting conditions, drastically cuts Medicaid funds, permits annual and lifetime coverage caps, and rolls back protections for essential health benefits (including mental health and maternity care). Just looking at all that fills my mind with bad words.
Below, the faces of two of the people threatening health care for American families. I invite you to take some time to inwardly curse at them.
Senator Bill Cassidy, who lied to Jimmy Kimmel’s face when asked earlier this year about whether he believes all Americans deserve affordable health care.
Senator Lindsey Graham, who claims his bill covers preexisting conditions (it does not).
When you’re done, you can do what activists and nonpartisan medical groups are asking: Call your senators. If you live in a blue state, call those in a red state and tell them why this matters.