Sean Hannity Would Rather See 15 Million Americans Die Than Have Health Care Reform Passed
There are so many things morally and factually wrong with this video, it is hard to decide where to begin.
First of all, you can see that Hannity is in complete denial of the facts when he disputes the fact that the United States spends significantly more on health care than any other nation, a point brought up by Caroline Heldman.
Next, he does what many other conservatives have done during this debate, and parses down the figure of 47 million Americans down to 15 million.
In the process of subtracting people from the 47 million figure, he said:
If you factor out the people that are temporarily uninsured or don’t have health insurance, ya know, on average 3 or 4 months…
He never says just how many people make up this section of America, but what happens if they are diagnosed with a horrible illness while they are uninsured? Now they have a pre-existing condition and will be unable to attain health insurance. What happens if they are critically injured in a car accident or some other horrible ordeal while they are uninsured? They will be taken care of through emergency care, but they will not be covered after that, not to mention they will most likely be billed for the services rendered and forced into bankruptcy. But don’t worry about those people, they are just collateral damage.
The most heartless thing I have heard during this entire debate that has lasted months, came out of Hannity’s mouth next. He said:
Why would we change a system that is the best in the world, that has advanced care, prolonged life, and given us a better quality of life, for 5% percent of the population [15 million people]?
Setting aside the fact that a system that does not cover millions of it’s citizens is anything but the best in the world; and setting aside the fact that there are several other countries who have prolonged the life of their people to a greater extent than the United States, Sean Hannity just admitted that he would rather see 15 million people suffer and die than to see health care reform become a reality.
Since Hannity proclaims to be a Christian, someone needs to ask him the question, “What would Jesus Do?”
August 19th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Hannity could not have actually meant this. I’m sure he just doesn’t realize what he actually said. Hannity is stupid, arrogant, and every other adjective you can think of, but no one can be that callous.
Can they?
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August 19th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Who are these people who are only uninsured for three or four months? Don’t these tools get the fact that a significant portion of employers in this country do not offer insurance coverage to their employees? And don’t these tools get the fact that many more in the US are severely underinsured? And that people with serious health problems are dropped from coverage routinely? My neighbor has been forced to declare bankruptcy and just lost his house because of unpaid medical bills. He thought he was insured, and probably technically was. It’s appalling how so many in the US can be duped by these paid shills into believing that gross profits for health insurance carriers are far more important than human lives
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August 19th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
“If you factor out the people that are temporarily uninsured or don’t have health insurance, ya know, on average 3 or 4 months…”
Whether one guy is uninsured for 24 months or 24 guys are each uninsured for a month, the chances of someone getting sick or injured while uninsured is the same.
And the number of uninsured doesn’t go down when an uninsured person gets insurance. Someone else takes their place, and then some.
So subtracting the short-term uninsured makes no sense. There are still always 46 million people with no insurance.
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August 19th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I’m pretty proud of Caroline Heldman. She did an amazing job of keeping her cool and just laying out the facts. Course, they probably just bounced right off of Hannity Calamity.
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August 19th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Dorf,
I do think that Hannity is that callous. Plain and simple.
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August 19th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
How does Hannity’s skin not sizzle when he walks into a place of worship? What a wonderful poster “CHILD” for Christianity.
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August 19th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Sean Hannity is typical of the mindset of the “conservative” movement. For the most part, conservatives are social Darwinists, who see lack of wealth as a character flaw. It’s a “sink or swim” mentality.
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August 19th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
The REAL story here is that Sean Hannity, and the likes of him, garners such a large chunk of the ratings.
That tells me a couple of things:
1: Americans are severely gullible.
2: Americans are severely uneducated.
…and I’ll add another, if I may:
3: We, educated, Americans are in for a hell of a lot of hurt and pain down the road…not only as a people…but as a Nation.
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August 19th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
donaldlinks: Agreed and there seems to be nothing we can do about it. It is frightening that these people are clearly paid to do just that – dumb down the American people even more.
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August 19th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
As far as ratings go, these ‘entertainers’ (Hannity, Rush, Glen Beck) wouldn’t have any influence if nobody truly listened to them. The problem is, people truly do.
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August 19th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Tis the season for ‘entertaining’ bullies. The problem with bullies is that they never truly get any respect, they are always annoying because of their singular means of communication: fight!, and everyone is just bracing themselves until they all blow over.
Take a hint conservative talk: your dirty mouths are fouling up the place.
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August 19th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I have a few verses for Hannity to consider:
Leviticus 19:15 (ESV)
“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
Leviticus 25:35 (ESV)
“If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.
Deut. 15:7 (ESV)
“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother,
Deut. 15:11 (ESV)
For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
Deut. 24:14 (ESV)
“You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns.
Proverbs 12:22 (ESV)
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,
but those who act faithfully are his delight.
As an evangelical christian myself, I am continually disgusted by Hannity’s (and the other’s) willingness to lie.
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August 19th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
What intellectual junk! Just to point out one fact for you insane radicals. We passed a federal law in 1969 that prevents any healthcare provider from withholding lifesaving care from anyone based on their ability to pay. It is the rare case indeed when someone in this country dies because they don’t have insurance. To somehow insinuate that Hannity is consigning folks who lack health insurance to death is the weakest hyperbole, but so typical of how debased so many supposedly intelligent people have become. Shame on all of you!
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August 19th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
I missed the part where he said that. Can someone point it out to me?
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August 19th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Glenn,
If you consider 22,000 Americans dying from lack of insurance a year “rare”, well then your point is well taken.
As for the law passed in 1969, I am not familiar with it, but it doesn’t really matter because that law, as you have stated it in your comment, is irrelevant because it does not deal with the fact that there are millions of Americans without coverage.
Answer me this?
Are health care providers obligated to administer chemotherapy to a cancer sufferer who is uninsured?
Are health care providers obligated to supply insulin to uninsured diabetics, who would otherwise die if they did not have it?
Are health care providers obligated to provide psychiatric drugs to uninsured patients who are in desperate need of them?
The answer to all of these questions is no.
So I ask you, who should be the most “shamed”? People who see health care as a basic human right? Or you, someone who calls people names, and apparently feels little or no compassion for people in need?
Sorry Glenn…Shame on you.
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August 19th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
John,
It’s impossible to notice something if you are unwilling to look.
What else do you think Hannity meant when he basically said that he doesn’t understand why we need to change the system just because 15 million people are uninsured.
That tells me, that he is really not concerned with the 15 million people who will suffer.
Really? You didn’t see it?
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August 19th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Sparta – To me it sounded like he meant “Why change the whole program when only a small part is broken.” Wouldn’t it make more sense to focus our time, energy, and money on fixing what’s broken and leaving the rest alone?
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August 19th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
John,
The problem is, he said why would we change a system for only 5 percent? He may have meant something else, but that is not what he said.
I agree with you, that is probably not what he meant, but Hannity has a long track record of being very crass and insensitive to the needs of others. So I chalk it up as karma.
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August 19th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
John,
I agree with you that everyone’s energy could be spent in a more constructive way, but the whole system is broken. When the richest country in the world spends double what other countries spend, and can’t cover all of it’s citizens, not to mention have a shorter life span than other countries as well, I consider that broken. It’s going to take more than a tweak. This is something that tax credits, and medical savings’ accounts will not fix.
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August 20th, 2009 at 12:32 am
Well, I’m not sure that I agree. I think there’s plenty of good in our existing system and that we’d see a far better (and faster) return on investment by focusing on the uninsured rather than trying to “eat the whale.”
Heck, we could buy a commercial health insurance plan for every uninsured person in the US for far less money that it would cost to move everyone to a single payer system. We could then take the money we saved and apply it to things that would really help like preventative medicine programs, tort reform, insurance portability, etc.
The majority are not against this plan because they want to see poor people die but because it’s just isn’t a very good plan!
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August 20th, 2009 at 6:54 am
I like the way they show Caroline Heldman as being from “Occidential College”. (http://departments.oxy.edu/politics/faculty/heldman/HELDMAN.htm)
If they don’t even bother to spell-check the affiliations of their guests, why should we expect them to check other facts? If I say it loudly enough, enough times, it is true, right? Right?
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August 20th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter how ignorant and sloppy they are. Their viewers have been dumbed-down so much for so long, that it goes unnoticed. Their viewers are brain-washed to believe so many lies, and to hate anyone who challenges those lies. Alas, more and more Americans are stupid (or hateful) enough to tune in and get their hatred whipped into passion every day, that we are ALL in trouble.
You can’t reason with these people. You can show them facts, but they are uneducable, and they are growing in numbers, anger, hatred, passion and volume – AND THEY ARE ARMED. It is getting ugly, and I repeat: we are all in trouble.
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August 20th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Lies like this one: “Sean Hannity Would Rather See 15 Million Americans Die Than Have Health Care Reform Passed”?
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August 21st, 2009 at 2:10 am
Yes, indeed. He doesn’t care what happens to the 15 million (which is really a Hannity-dumbed-down number). It’s basically the same thing as not caring whether they die, because it’s obvious he doesn’t care WHAT happens to them.
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September 4th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
It’s amazing how what was said gets twisted to fit their argument. 47 million is the number, but look at the facts of the number. When it comes down to it, 15-20 million is about the right amount of unisured due to preexisting issues or illegal immigration, as well as, choosing not to be covered. That is a fact, not dumbed down. The “true” number is there. Research it. I do agree it sucks that not everyone is insured, but what is more disturbing are the number of people who CAN be insured choose not to.
BTW When, exactly, did Hannity say he would rather see 15 million die…”???????
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September 20th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
we think most republican are evil
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October 19th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
PEOPLE DO NOT CHOOSE NOT TO BE COVERED, THE TRUTH IS THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO BE COVERED. MINIMUM WAGE DOES NOT COVER FOOD, CLOTHING, SHELTER AND HEALTH INSURANCE. ALSO, NO HUMAN BEING SHOULD BE DENIED HEALTH CARE FOR PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS…THAT IS SHAMEFUL!!
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October 20th, 2009 at 1:52 am
We are paying over $900 per month because we don’t “choose to not be covered.” But with a letter received announcing that our premium will increase by 17% next year, I don’t know how much longer we can make the “choice” to be covered. Understand? Our health insurance premium is more than our mortgage payment and growing ever larger. How long can we continue to pay? I don’t know; I really don’t know.
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December 8th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
If 20 million (I’ve heard numbers in this range spouted by wing-nuts when making this argument) of the 47 million are temporarily uninsured for 3 or 4 months, then the number of people likely to be uninsured in at some time in a given year is not 47 million, it’s more like 87 – 107 million. If you add in those who are under-insured and those who are financially handcuffed because of high premiums and medical costs, you have a much different number than the 5 percent he talks about. What good does it do us if we have insurance all our lives only to lose all we have saved and worked for at the end due to medical calamity?
The core of the fear-mongering campaign is to convince people that there is not “enough” health care available for everyone, and that if we ensure that everyone has coverage, it will mean less coverage for them. Of course, what it really means is that when the time comes to set priorities, our government will have to ensure a high level of coverage for all Americans because we will demand it. If this means higher taxes on the rich or closing corporate tax loopholes, not many are really going to mind. It may also mean a bit of protectionism so that truly American companies benefit from the largest consumer market on earth more than foreign companies, or companies that are American in name only. We have the resources, the know-how, the manpower to provide for ourselves as a country, it’s just a matter of structuring the rules of the game better to see that this happens.
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March 18th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
I can’t even begin to say how biased this title is. Not wanting to destroy health care for 95% of the population to give a semblance of care to 5% is not the same as giving 15 million people over to die. Those 15 million do have care. I know that because I’ve been to a county hospital emergency room. A few simple things could improve health care.
1) allow insurance competition across state lines. (this is probably the best bang for the buck)
2) Make all health care tax free. i.e health savings accounts that don’t expire.
3)Allow donating money in your own savings account to another who needs it.
4)Tort reform. We ultimately pay for those multi million dollar settlements, not the hospitals or drug companies. Doctors perform too many tests because their afraid of being sued (but if he had savings accounts we could pay for them ourselves if we really wanted them.
5) Force Insurance companies to take a certain percentage of previous conditions after patient is insured for 1 year. There has to be a waiting period or no-one would get insurance until they had a major problem. It’s ok to take a risk, as long as it’s your own life your risking.
6) Promote health-care co-ops owned by their members.
7) shorten patent expiration periods on drugs and high end MRI and other expensive medical equipment.
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March 19th, 2010 at 2:10 am
I saw this entire interview with Sean. In fact, I’ve been watching Sean Hannity since his earlier days on “Hannity & Colmes.” Sean has a good heart, and he would never be so callous as to want anyone to die. The author of that comment knows nothing about Mr. Hannity. We all know that in the states, no one dies from lack of health care. We have anti-dumping patient laws (passed by Ronald Reagan), we have Medicaid, Medicare and free clinics. Those who choose not to seek care are the same people that have insurance and die from cancer or other illness…simply, they don’t take the time to see a doctor. When my uncle, a waiter, had a head-on collision many years ago, he broke almost every single bone on his face. He did not have insurance; however, the gov. not only paid for all of his emergency care, they also paid for all of his reconstructive surgery. Sean, in this particular show, is alluding to why change the system for those who have insurance for those who don’t. For instance, would it be right to close markets, such as Whole Foods, because many cannot afford the extra cost of organic foods? Last time I checked, we live in a capitalist/free enterprise country. Obamacare is just another socialist policy by progressive politicians. Socialism does not work. Look at what is happening in Venezuela now. The gov. took over food production, and now there is a food shortage for all, not just the poor. The gov. should focus on reform that helps the uninsured get insurance, and stay out of the insurance of the others that do not want gov. intervention in their health care decisions or needs. Although I don’t always agree with Hannity, I do in this case. Obamacare is unpopular, and the taxpayers in this country are not stupid. Obamacare will be on anvil on the backs of many taxpayers, who may already be struggling to put food on the table, for many decades to come. Obama is a socialist. I am a Cuban American who knows a lot about communism and socialism. Trust me, this is now what we want or need in this great country of ours.
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March 19th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
If your uncle had his injuries covered by the “government,” then it was he was because he was poor enough to be covered by Medicaid. If you’re poor enough, you’re covered. If you’re wealthy enough, you can afford medical care, whether or not you have insurance. It’s the people in the middle who are caught. Yes, you can have medical care if you don’t have insurance, but it will likely send you (and your family) into bankruptcy. What a choice! We need government intervention, and it looks like we’re going to get it. Glory hallelujah!
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March 26th, 2010 at 5:43 am
What David Frum said the other day was priceless, and so scary. He essentially said that they used to believe FOX News worked for them; now, he said, we work for FOX News. He also thought that health reform passage was the Republican’s “Waterloo.”
I haven’t heard anyone talk about his recent intentions, though. He’s no dummy. He sees where the Republican party is headed and would like to distance himself quickly. Switchin’ sides, as they say!
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April 1st, 2010 at 12:49 pm
[...] of her interviews. … Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website. Sitemap …Sean Hannity Would Rather See 15 Million Americans Die Than …R. Jackson MacCoy Says: August 19th, 2009 at 1:11 pm. Who are these people who are only uninsured [...]
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July 14th, 2010 at 2:51 am
Every one has to serious on that issue
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August 1st, 2010 at 2:47 pm
I can’t believe some of the propaganda I see on this site.
1. 22,000 people die from lack of health insurance? I was not aware that the lack of health insurance is a terminal illness.
2. 44 million people do not have health insurance. Out of those 44 million, how many choose not to purchase health insurance?
3. Regarding the biblical quotes – please come up with one that says that Caesar or the Pharoah should take from one subject to provide for another. I would dare say that Sean Hannity gives more to help those in need than most of the people posting to this forum.
4. “NO HUMAN BEING SHOULD BE DENIED HEALTH CARE FOR PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS” – this individual has no idea what “insurance” is. Insurance is protecting you against the possibility of an eventuality in the future. Just as you cannot buy auto insurance to cover a car that you just wrecked and you cannot buy homeowner’s insurance for a house that just burned down, you cannot purchase health insurance for a disease that you already have.
It is sad that people have health problems, and my heart goes out to them. But it is not my responsibility to care for them. I may do so if I please, but I should not be forced to pay for their care.
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August 4th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Hey, Grandpa!
1. Lack of health insurance is terminal if you need it to get treatment to save your life.
2. Doesn’t matter what the reason–everybody needs health insurance.
3. Regarding any biblical quotes, suffice it to say, “What would Jesus do?”
4. Are you suggesting that human beings SHOULD be denied health CARE, whether for pre-existing conditions or any other reason? This statement says health CARE, although one way or another, if everybody is provided with health care (which has never been denied, except for extraordinary cases in which #1 here applies) society is going to pay for it one way or another, whether through public health insurance or increased health care costs (including private insurance costs), regardless.
I’m relieved that public health insurance is on the horizon.
It is our responsibility as a civilized society to care for those who are unable to care for themselves. Other countries have been doing it for years. It’s time we did it, too.
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