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BOO! Republicans are trying to scare you

Posted by: Erin Kelly on Oct 30, 2009

Much of the controversy over health reform has centered around the idea of including a public option-a government-sponsored health insurance plan-in the final legislation. And much of the opposition has come from Republicans, who have warned that a public option would amount to a government takeover. (And, in their playbook, that's a bad thing.)

But it turns out that, while many of the most vociferous opponents of the public option didn't exactly lie, they didn't tell the whole truth. Because 55 Republican members of Congress who adamantly oppose the idea of a government-run health plan are ... ahem ... wait for it ... enrolled in a government-run health plan themselves. Yep, 55 Republican crusaders against this public option get their health care courtesy of Medicare.

We know this because Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York decided to conduct a study to see how many members of Congress (1) oppose the public option, and (2) are currently on Medicare. Rep. Weiner says it best himself,

Even in a town known for hypocrisy, this list of 55 Members of Congress deserve some sort of prize. They apparently think the public option is ok for them, but not anyone else.

The list of this "I've Got Mine" club includes dozens of Senators, such as Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. Chuck Grassley, Sen. John Kyl, Sen. Orrin Hatch, and Sen. Mike Enzi. If these names don't ring a bell, let us help jog your memory.

Minority leader Mitch McConnell has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the current reform bills. Sen. McConnell took the Senate floor yesterday to say

[A public option] would soon be the only option. The others would simply fade away.... Private plans would either become so expensive that only the very wealthy could afford them or they would go out of business altogether.

Sen. Grassley has flip-flopped his way through the August recess, on the one hand saying he supports health care reform and on the other helping to spread the "death panel" rumor. He told the Kaiser Foundation that the public option was a "deal breaker" and furthermore, he said,

I don't see a compromise in that area. 

And last but not least, Sen. Kyl has expressed his disdain for the public option time and time again. Even when some Senators pushed the idea of a "co-op" to replace a public option as a form of compromise, this is what he said:

It is [a public plan] by another name. It is a Trojan horse. And therefore no, I don't believe Republicans will be inclined to support a bill.

The long list of hypocritical quotes goes on and on, but you get the point. It's an outrage that while these elected officials enjoy all the perks of government health insurance, they are telling every other American that they can't have access to it. And they're somehow doing it with a straight face.

Click here to see the full list of names.