OMB director voices opinion about who should get coverage under health care bill
The director of the Office of Management and Budget sparked a reaction after a comment about who should not be covered by the GOP health care plan.
According to the Boston NPR affiliate, Mick Mulvaney spoke on Friday at a Stanford University forum. He started off responding to a statement by late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, whose newborn son recently underwent heart surgery. Kimmel told his studio audience shortly after the surgery that no parent should have to decide if they can afford to save their child’s life.
Mulvaney said he agreed, but added, “That doesn’t mean that we want to take care of the person, or should be required to care of the person who sits at home, drinks sugary drinks, and doesn’t exercise, and eats poorly and gets diabetes.”
The American Diabetes Association said in a statement that it was “extremely disappointed” by his “misinformed” comment.
In the statement by the ADA posted on its website, the organization said Mr. Mulvaney’s comments “perpetuate the stigma that one chooses to have diabetes based on his/her lifestyle.”
The statement continued, saying, “We are also deeply troubled by his assertion that access to health care should be rationed or denied to anyone.”
The ADA said it looks forward to working closely with the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services to dispel the erroneous stigma around diabetes and 30 million Americans living with diabetes.
Diabetes is a disease in which the body’s ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin is impaired, resulting in abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates and elevated levels of glucose in the blood and urine.
