In a memorable 2009 speech on the House floor, Florida Representative Alan Grayson claimed that the Republican plan for healthcare involved two simple steps: don’t get sick and, if you do, die quickly. According to Nation editor-at-large Chris Hayes, those controversial comments are proving scarily accurate. While dozens of Republican governors have blocked the expansion of Medicaid in their states, Hayes draws on the example of Massachusetts—which expanded access to health insurance, lowering the state’s mortality rate by 3 percent—as proof that “insuring the previously uninsured saves lives.” Under the Affordable Care Act, the national rate of uninsured has dropped to the lowest point since Gallup began recording the figure. As Hayes said, “Blocking the implementation of Obamacare will cost lives.”
—Mara Kardas-Nelson