House Republican Gets Schooled for False Claim that Canadians Come To The US for Healthcare

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 02:31 pm

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Yeah, no.

That’s a big fat no to the old Republican canard that Canadians come to the U.S.A. to get healthcare because that darn socialized medicine is so awful when everyone has coverage. Trumpcare defense is not going so well these days.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) got taken down on MSNBC when he tried the false Republican canard that people in Canada come to the U.S. for medical care. Ali Velshi called baloney on it, “I grew up in Canada… Nobody I know ever came to the U.S. for health care.”

What makes this even better is MSNBC host Ali Velshi’s bio, which reads, “Unlike Obama, I really AM a Kenyan-born Muslim.”

Watch here:

Jordan is so sure that people hate having healthcare that he advocated repealing Obamacare before replacing it. Sure, millions will die, but you see, people really hate having universal healthcare, so thus they must also hate having more affordable healthcare.

After some tap dancing about taxes and regulations being bad (i.e., Obamacare taxes the rich and has regulations that mean you get the coverage you pay for), Jordan claimed that things will be better than they are now, “under complete government control!”

Clearly we are not under complete government control, because the *marketplace* was a Republican idea and it’s how people buy, on this thing called the Obamacare free market, their insurance from various companies.

Ali Velshi countered this claim by pointing out the fact that in those countries with “government control”, people are pretty happy with their healthcare. “You know, sir, in all those countries, in all those countries that have single payer systems or universal health care, happiness about health care is actually substantially greater than it is in the United States.”

“Then why do they all come here?” Jordan demanded Velshi prove his unsubstantiated point.

Wait for it…

“They don’t all come here! Republicans say that all the time. They don’t all come here. People in Canada, people in Norway, people in the United Kingdom, people in Sweden, people in Denmark. They don’t all come to the United States for health care. Why do you say that?” Velshi demanded.

“You see it all the time,” Jordan offered. “People in Canada come her for extensive surgery. They come here and get it done in the United States.”

Um, no. Velshi killed that sad little Fox News talking point, “I grew up in Canada. I lived in Canada, my entire family is in Canada. And nobody I know ever came to the United States for health care. I’m sure you have a handful of stories about things like that. It’s not actually statistically true.”

Velshi took this argument home saying he is not defending Obamacare, he is arguing the idea that the free market works for health care, “I’m arguing the fact that you keep on saying that a free market works. Just name me one country, one country in the world where a free market system for health care works.”

Jordan had nothing on this, so he claimed Republicans have a mandate to repeal Obamacare. Which they do not. Winning an election with the help of the Russians and still losing by almost 3 million popular votes does not a mandate make.

Republicans can’t even defend their own plan, let alone their reasons for not liking Obamacare. It turns out that people were quite satisfied with Obamacare’s 2017 pricing before Republicans began their not-so-subtle sabotaging of affordable healthcare.

The problem here is that Republicans don’t have any idea what the average American is really dealing with when it comes to health insurance, and they have no interest in listening to find out. They are hell bent on taking away affordable health insurance just to stick it to President Obama.

Sure millions will die, but at least Republicans can say they’re governing their way.

Image: Screen grab, Ali Velshi, MSNBC

Sarah Jones

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