Diary: Senator Kyl's Apprehension

This week's contribution by Republicans to a more candid understanding of the "debate" over the need for health care reform is Senator Jon Kyl's assertion, on Meet the Press, that he "is not sure it's a fact" that people die because they lack health insurance. As Ben Frumin pointed out at TPM, the senator must be unaware of the September 17 report published by the American Journal of Public Health. Nor, apparently, has he read any of the numerous testaments of individuals with first-hand knowledge of no health care, death resulting, for example here, or here. Nor, it might be uncharitably observed, has the senator availed himself of that resource that the rest of us sometimes employ, common sense.

In fact, Senator Kyl's hesitancy to acknowledge the obvious is close to an explicit admission that he, his party, and apparently his constituents, are, at best, indifferent to the human dimension of our failed health care system, which should make it easier for those of us who are not, to give them the credence they deserve: little or none.