It's hard for us cats to read stories like the one about free medical care in southwest Virginia and not be furious.
Not because we don't believe people deserve healthcare. Au contraire: We believe that it's a human right, and the fact that the United States doesn't provide it — unlike every other leading democratic government in the world — is, in our view, a shame and a scandal.
But it's maddening to read about 2,000 people lining up for care at the Remote Area Medical Exposition in Appalachia when you know that if they voted last year, they all went for Trump.
Said a physician volunteering at the site: "The people of this area have been told by the politicians and President Trump that coal is coming back. They believe that. They’ve been told that Obamacare is no good. They believe that. They believe that Trump’s going to bring them Trumpcare."
Well, Trump very well might. The awful Senate healthcare bill, as we know from the headlines, is far from dead. Which means the Republicans may still be successful in decimating the one thing under Obamacare that could help the people of southwest Virginia, if the GOP-run legislature in Richmond would only allow it: an expansion of Medicaid.
All this drives us absolutely crazy.
Not every patient at the Exposition was buying the Trumpcare lies. As one belatedly told the visiting Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe: "I really think the only thing that could help the country is single payer."
Sorry, guy — you're not going to get that with the crowd of traitors and haters that you sent to Washington. No, it's Democrats who agree with you on that, and you should have voted for us. So, too bad. And good luck trying to pick up your kids with a nerve-damaged shoulder, inject yourself with a broken insulin pen, and eat with no teeth.
(PHOTO: Mike Belleme for The New York Times)
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