On Meet the Press Sunday, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) was asked by host David Gregory if it is "a necessity to tackle the fact that there are more and more Americans who die because they don't have access to health insurance?"
Kyl responded with incredulity:
I'm not sure that it's a fact that more and more people die because they don't have health insurance. But because they don't have health insurance, the care is not delivered in the best and most efficient way.
As TPM points out, a highly publicized Harvard research study made headlines just last month. It estimated that 45,000 Americans die each year because they lack access to health insurance and that uninsured Americans are 40 percent more likely to die than Americans who are insured.
Kyl has been committing healthcare blunders right and left. Last month, he quipped about not needing maternity care while he was arguing that insurance companies should not be mandated to provide certain types of coverage. Kyl also singlehandledly blocked the extension of unemployment benefits through a procedural action. Both members of Arizona's Senate delegation -- Kyl and McCain -- also voted against the Franken amendment, which was written to provide legal protections for women who are sexually assaulted in the workplace.
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Arianna Huffington: Sunday Roundup
This week, Obama's pay czar announced he'd be slashing executive pay at seven of the biggest recipients of bailout billions. So it's no surprise that many of Wall Street's Masters of the Universe didn't turn up at the New York fundraiser President Obama spoke at -- choosing instead to attend a party thrown to toast the release of Too Big To Fail, Andrew Ross Sorkin's blow-by-blow account of the meltdown. There, enjoying cocktails and finger food, were many of the central players, including Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan and John Mack of Morgan Stanley. Which is kind of like Hannibal Lecter showing up for the opening of Silence of the Lambs. Perhaps they take comfort in Sorkin's assessment that when it comes to reforming Wall Street "the Obama administration seems to have moved on to other priorities." I need a drink.
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