Key congressman: It's a good thing if more Americans lose coverage

[TexasTowelie]

Rep. Mike Burgess (R-Texas) chairs the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee related to health care, which makes his perspective on the issue rather important. If Republicans ever present their alternative to the Affordable Care Act, for example, Burgess’ panel would be among the first to tackle the policy.

It was therefore rather striking yesterday when the far-right congressman appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and shared an unusual insight. BuzzFeed reported:

Burgess was asked about concerns that repealing Obamacare will lead to a drop in the number of people with health insurance. He responded that it would be a good thing because it means fewer people are subject to the individual mandate.

“First off, we’re not going to send an IRS agent out to chase you down and make you buy health insurance,” said Burgess. “So if the numbers (of insured people) drop I would say that’s a good thing because we restored personal liberty in this country.”

It’s a fascinating perspective. It doesn’t matter if the ACA is helping bring health security to millions of Americans; what matters, in Burgess’ mind, is conservative ideological principles.

U.S. News’ Robert Schlesinger noted in response, “If you listened to Burgess, you’d think that all or most of {the 20 million people insured by the ACA} were dragged kicking and screaming into the system and that they yearn for liberation from the tyranny of being able to afford catastrophic illness.”

Read more: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/key-congressman-its-good-thing-if-more-americans-lose-coverage

[narnian60]

1. Bastard.

[neeksgeek]

2. It figures

"what matters, in Burgess’ mind, is conservative ideological principles."

Science fiction author John Barnes had a character in a story who said, "People who put principles ahead of people are people who hate people."

[Gothmog]

3. Burgess is an idiot in a gerrymandered district

I am not sure if Burgess' district is one of the districts being challenged in the Texas redistricting case. Burgess gets to make these statements because he is in a heavily gerrymandered district

[Dustlawyer]

4. Prime example of the effect of the root cause of most of our problems, the money

in our politics. If we can focus on this issue we can get crooked politicians out and real representatives in!

He is one of very many who represent Donors, not constituents.

[vlyons]

5. Obviously Burgess has never had a serious illness,

like heart disease, or cancer, or diabetes, of a broken leg. He's never known what's it's like to barely walk a few paces without gasping for air, or been unable to sleep lying down because of a leaky heart valve, or seen a sick child suffer with asthma. There's not too much personal freedom and liberty, when you're wracked with pain.

What is wrong with these people that they have no compassion?

[riversedge]

6. Or watched a loved one suffer in pain because of no coverage

[TexasTowelie]

8. See post #7.

[TexasTowelie]

7. Burgess is an obstetrician and a gynecologist.

Like some in the medical professions, he thinks that he is all-knowing and superior.

[C_U_L8R]

9. Hey a Republicans, it's 'give me liberty or give me death'

Not 'liberty equals death'. Dumbasses.

[justgamma]

10. They want to take away more freedoms.

In this case, it's the freedom to buy insurance. Those with pre-existing conditions weren't allowed to buy it before. What are they going to do about that?