Defending Medicaid Cuts, Ernst Tells Iowans, ‘We All Are Going to Die’

[jaypatriot]

Her argument was that your concerns don’t matter because you’re going to die anyway.

That's not how I interpreted her statement. She could have phrased her response differently so as to pamper and coddle those in the audience who don't wish to be reminded that everyone dies.
What the stubborn Dems do not want to accept is that Medicaid eligibility is a) not for illegal aliens and b) not for able-bodied men who can work for a living and pay for health care.
That is not called cutting back in Medicaid. It is making sure Medicaid is offered only to those who deserve it.

Ernst was probably sick of the semantical game where Dems are inevitably going to oppose ANYTHING that looks like a change to Medicaid eligibility.

 

[jaypatriot]

Damn right, vote her out of office. For once, I can agree with you. And guess what? I actually do have a vote.

I have never cast my vote for her, nor will I do so in 2026. True leaders don’t say the stupid stuff she said.

That's democracy at its finest. You don't like what she says, then vote against her.
That's why I never voted for Trump, Obama, Hillary, Biden, or Kamala. They're all full of crap.

 

[jaypatriot]

“You’re gonna die anyway, that’s why I’m helping to take away your healthcare and make it harder for you to thrive and survive” in other words “**** you, I got mine” Let that rattle round inside your gray matter for a little bit.

There is no plan to take away Medicaid from those who are qualified to receive it.
Illegal aliens and able-bodied men who can work are not qualified to receive Medicaid.

 

[jaypatriot]

Doubling down. Her "apology" was filmed as she was walking in a cemetery!

Just totally tone deaf, and she's voting Yes for Trump's Big, Beautiful Tax Act no matter how badly it affects her Iowa constituents.

Her message in a nutshell.... Trump above constituents. And yes, her Senate term expires in 2026.

I hope you're in a position to vote her out of office.
That is the ultimate protest.

 

[Grogu]

That's democracy at its finest. You don't like what she says, then vote against her.
That's why I never voted for Trump, Obama, Hillary, Biden, or Kamala. They're all full of crap.

Most people here don’t have the good fortune of being a resident of Iowa to vote against Joni Ernst. All they can do is voice their concerns, much like I do when I have opinions on how complete human disgraces like Tommy Tuberville or Marsha Blackburn or Ted Cruz manage to get voted in to the Senate by the voters in their states.

 

[SuperDS77]

Interesting since Republicans (rightly in my opinion) blasted Obama for that idea. How things have changed since then. From opposing such ideas to embracing them.

To which idea(s) do you refer?

The ACA sets minimum requirements on plans sold in the market.

So a "panel" of government "experts" (presumably including some doctors) will make the determinations as to what is considered "futile" care? Is that what you are saying?

And the right has always complained that the floor it sets is too high.

True. But there is a "floor", so to speak, of requirements right? Not coverage for literally everything, right? Can we agree on that?

 

[Greenbeard]

So a "panel" of government "experts" (presumably including some doctors) will make the determinations as to what is considered "futile" care? Is that what you are saying?

I have no idea how you could read the words I wrote and conclude that’s what I said.

True. But there is a "floor", so to speak, of requirements right? Not coverage for literally everything, right? Can we agree on that?

You are confusing the concept of a floor with a ceiling. Consumer protections put floors on coverage requirements, the market decides what to do beyond that.

 

[Napoleon]

This is just proof positive that as much as the left says they want government UHC they don’t have the stomach for the tough decisions the government would have to make. It is neither financially feasible or medically sound to cover everything everyone wants all the time.

 

[americanwoman]

This is just proof positive that as much as the left says they want government UHC they don’t have the stomach for the tough decisions the government would have to make.

Like private insurance companies have our best interests in mind. So if either way we're ****ed, why not all be ****ed together in one big UHC bang?

 

[Napoleon]

Like private insurance companies have our best interests in mind. So if either way we're ****ed, why not all be ****ed together in one big UHC bang?

And you think the government would? I’ve never known anyone to wax sweet about the VA. And why not? Because there’s something profoundly anti-democratic about the government making those decisions.

 

[americanwoman]

And you think the government would? I’ve never known anyone to wax sweet about the VA.

True, our current government is beyond incompetent and I don't see it getting any better.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Just another tone deaf MAGAt Senator. Ernst is saying it succinctly.... "Trump is more important to me than my Iowa constituents."

"I fear being primaried by Donald Trump far more than I fear my Iowa constituents voting me out of office."

To then rub salt into the wound, Ernst doubles down and delivers a next-day retort from a cemetery.

So long as she retains power, Ernst doesn't give a hot shit about the hoi polloi.

 

[SuperDS77]

I have no idea how you could read the words I wrote and conclude that’s what I said.

Perhaps clarification is necessary. How are the "minimum requirements", to which you referred, determined?

You are confusing the concept of a floor with a ceiling. Consumer protections put floors on coverage requirements, the market decides what to do beyond that.

Do we agree that plans are limited to one degree or another?

 

[Greenbeard]

This is just proof positive that as much as the left says they want government UHC they don’t have the stomach for the tough decisions the government would have to make. It is neither financially feasible or medically sound to cover everything everyone wants all the time.

Public health insurance is already a thing that exists. People stomach it just fine.

 

[Greenbeard]

Perhaps clarification is necessary. How are the "minimum requirements", to which you referred, determined?

Information on Essential Health Benefits (EHB) Benchmark Plans | CMS

The Affordable Care Act requires non-grandfathered health insurance coverage in the individual and small group markets to cover essential health benefits (EHB), which include items and services in at least the following ten benefit categories: (1) ambulatory patient services; (2) emergency...

www.cms.gov

Do we agree that plans are limited to one degree or another?

If this is all a wind-up to “all insurance is a death panel,” you can save it, I don’t care.

The right’s claim that the ACA would introduce “death panels” was:

[G]overnment health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.​

This is, obviously, not a thing that has come to pass.

 

[Napoleon]

Public health insurance is already a thing that exists. People stomach it just fine.

Apparently not as evident by this thread.

 

[SuperDS77]

Information on Essential Health Benefits (EHB) Benchmark Plans | CMS

The Affordable Care Act requires non-grandfathered health insurance coverage in the individual and small group markets to cover essential health benefits (EHB), which include items and services in at least the following ten benefit categories: (1) ambulatory patient services; (2) emergency...

www.cms.gov

If this is all a wind-up to “all insurance is a death panel,” you can save it, I don’t care.

Concession noted.

The right’s claim that the ACA would introduce “death panels” was:

[G]overnment health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.​

Why not cite the author of the statement as to the nebulous "right"? Frankly, the governor is correct.

This is, obviously, not a thing that has come to pass.

Dr. Emanuel would be proud.

 

[Greenbeard]

Frankly, the governor is correct.

Palin’s parents and child with Down Syndrome were not put to death by a government panel, nor asked to justify their “level of productivity in society.”

Dr. Emanuel would be proud.

Emanuel has also not been put to death by a government panel. All your examples are of this prediction not even remotely coming true.

 

[Greenbeard]

Apparently not as evident by this thread.

Rightwing glee at the prospect of poor people dying for lack of access to health care will always be distasteful. Ernst is just the latest to let the mask slip.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Emanuel has also not been put to death by a government panel. All your examples are of this prediction not even remotely coming true.

Yet such sentiment persists in the MAGAsphere.

And they defend the idiocy of RFK Jr.

Up is down, and down is up.

 

[Greenbeard]

Yet such sentiment persists in the MAGAsphere.

And they defend the idiocy of RFK Jr.

Up is down, and down is up.

Sixteen years in and some still haven’t noticed that death panels didn’t happen. Remarkable.

 

[jaypatriot]

Most people here don’t have the good fortune of being a resident of Iowa to vote against Joni Ernst. All they can do is voice their concerns, much like I do when I have opinions on how complete human disgraces like Tommy Tuberville or Marsha Blackburn or Ted Cruz manage to get voted in to the Senate by the voters in their states.

You do what you can to show your distaste for certain politicians you do not care for.
I am not going to condemn a politician for stating an obvious truth to an audience that wishes to only demean a GOP representative of the U.S. Senate.
This is all political theater. The Dems have so few issues to use against Trump and his Administration. They will cling to anything they can to make GOP members look bad.
Perhaps Ernst should have passed out baby pacifiers to those who were triggered by someone telling them that everyone is going to die eventually.

 

[jaypatriot]

Rightwing glee at the prospect of poor people dying for lack of access to health care will always be distasteful. Ernst is just the latest to let the mask slip.

If I was a politician in front of a bunch of wolves wanting to attack an enemy, I would be hard pressed to keep my cool in the face of whiners and complainers who were there for political theater and not for a reasonable discussion about Medicaid.

 

[Greenbeard]

If I was a politician in front of a bunch of wolves wanting to attack an enemy, I would be hard pressed to keep my cool in the face of whiners and complainers who were there for political theater and not for a reasonable discussion about Medicaid.

I suspect that you’re right that you, too, would be totally unprepared and unable to defend your own Medicaid cuts. Ernst obviously was.

 

[jaypatriot]

I suspect that you’re right that you, too, would be totally unprepared and unable to defend your own Medicaid cuts. Ernst obviously was.

You can't even describe the kinds of "Medicaid cuts" that Ernst's attackers were supposed upset about.