Name: GOP senator apologizes after staffer is caught on tape saying what Republicans actually believe on health care
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GOP senator apologizes after staffer is caught on tape saying what Republicans actually believe on health care

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RED BARBLUE BARNorth Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis — viewed as one of the most vulnerable GOP senators in 2020 — has found himself in an uncomfortable situation after a staffer’s excessively honest comments to a constituent were caught on tape.As first reported by WRAL, Bev Veals of Carolina Beach, a three-time cancer survivor, called her senator out of fear that her health insurance was at risk. She has previously faced medical bankruptcy and difficulty accessing care, WRAL said, and her husband was furloughed because of the pandemic. She wanted assurance that she’d have coverage if she lost her health insurance.ADVERTISEMENTBut Tillis’s office wasn’t helpful. While speaking to a dismissive staffer, Veals began to record their conversation, which was provided to WRAL and can be viewed above.“You’re saying that, if you can’t afford it, you don’t get to have it?” she asked. “That includes health care?”“Yeah, just like if I want to go to the store and buy a new dress shirt. If I can’t afford that dress shirt, I don’t get to get it,” the staffer explained.“But health care is something that people need!” Veals said, clearly alarmed. “Especially if they have cancer.”“Well, you got to find a way to get it,” the staffer said.ADVERTISEMENT“So what do I do in the meantime, sir?” she asked, not hiding the irritation in her voice.The response was snide: “Sounds like something you’re going to have to figure it out.”Tillis’s office has apologized after Veals came forward about the exchange: “The way Mrs. Veals was talked to by a staff assistant in our Washington office was completely inappropriate and violates the code of conduct Senator Tillis has for his staff, which is why immediate disciplinary action has been taken.”ADVERTISEMENTBut the truth is that, insensitive and rude as the staffer’s comments to Veals were, they were simply a much more honest reflection of the Republican Party’s policies on health care than officials typically admit. But the truth isn’t hard to see. The Trump administration is currently arguing that the Supreme Court should overturn all of Obamacare, throwing millions of people off their insurance and invalidating protections for pre-existing conditions, along with other provisions that protect patients.The unofficial Republican Party policy, though, is to lie about this fact. Trump is constantly telling voters that he protected pre-existing conditions — even though he has done nothing to ensure they’re covered — and that he’ll continue to keep these protections in place, even though he’s trying to destroy them.ADVERTISEMENTThe Tillis staffer, apparently, didn’t get the message. He has imbibed the attitude at the heart of the GOP’s policy preferences. His mistake was being honest with a member of the public about the policy.Veals, for one, doesn’t seem deceived by the office’s apology. And that’s because she still hasn’t gotten the original answer to the question she called about.“We need our legislators to listen to us and help us solve this problem because it’s not just my problem – not being able to afford health care,” she told WRAL. “It’s the problem of hundreds and thousands of North Carolinians.”ADVERTISEMENTNorth Carolina is one of 12 states in the U.S. that has not adopted Medicaid expansion, a policy that would help cover people like Veals if they lost their insurance. Tillis opposes Medicaid expansion.In a statement to WRAL, Tillis dishonestly defended his position:“When he was Speaker of the House [in North Carolina],” the statement continues, “Senator Tillis inherited a Medicaid program that was mismanaged and plagued with overspending and inefficiency. Expanding Medicaid at the time would have been a promise that the state wouldn’t have been able to keep, requiring cuts to the program that would have harmed patients that states like New York and California have already been forced to make. Instead, Senator Tillis worked to strengthen the state’s Medicaid program to deliver quality health care to patients, and the reason the North Carolina is in a position to discuss expansion is because of Senator Tillis’ leadership.”These claims are in spectacularly bad faith. Medicaid expansion has been wildly successful across the United States — it can even save states money. And claiming to be concerned about “cuts to the program” that harm patients is absurd when patients like Veals can be left with no coverage at all. It’s even more pernicious, though, because the recent stressed on state budgets in the wake of the pandemic come from the Senate Republicans’ refusal to provide recovery funds to state and local governments, as Democrats have sought to do.ADVERTISEMENTIt’s these comments — far more than a staffer’s rudeness — that should be the real scandal.… then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has cut advertising rates in half, and we need your help. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire and uncovered White House efforts to . We’ve revealed , and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by . And unlike other news outlets, we’ve decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.Raw Story is independent. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.We need your support in this difficult time. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us. , or… then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has cut advertising rates in half, and we need your help. Like you, we believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire and uncovered White House efforts to . We’ve revealed , and efforts to harm workers exploited by . We need your support to do what we do.Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us in the future. , orReport typos and corrections to: .CNN's political panel Wednesday night wondered if President Donald Trump would lie to them about a hurricane the way that he did about the coronavirus. But CNN reporter Abby Phillips noted that's exactly what Trump did when he drew a new path for a hurricane on a NOAA map. "If you think about," host Anderson Cooper said. "If this had been a foreign invasion coming -- as the president said it was. If this had been a hurricane coming and the president had said, you know, at the time to Bob Woodward, I don't want to panic anybody about this hurricane, so I'm just going to say it's a category one or a tropical storm and not really, you know, have the potential to really grow. No, we don't do that. We -- people are informed about what the potential is and people, again, rise to the occasion. Do you think it makes any difference? So many times the president faced controversy without political consequences. Do you think it will be any different this time?"Former lawyer to President Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, noted that he watched his client lie his way to endorsements from top white Christian Evangelicals. In an wide-ranging interview with CNN's Don Lemon, Cohen went into great detail about where Trump spilled his guts. But it was the close of the interview with Lemon where the host wanted to know about the way Trump has manipulated Christians. &nbsp; In a Wednesday interview with CNN's Don Lemon, former Donald Trump lawyer, Michael Cohen, addressed the recent revelations included in the book by veteran reporter Bob Woodward.Lemon addressed the allegations by the White House that Cohen is a liar, but Cohen explained that nothing he has said has been disproven by other sources. He noted that Trump's niece, his sister, his friends, Woodward, and others who have interviewed Trump essentially confirmed everything that Cohen has alleged."I spent quite a bit of time with [Jared Kushner] over the years," Cohen continued. "Yes, Jared is pompous. Once he decided to become a special adviser, I remember sitting with Jared and Ivanka and Mr. Trump in the office. I said I don't think the two of you should go in. You have issues with nepotism. And you should go to Washington if that's what you want to do and spend time with dad and make sure he's okay. At the end of the day, you shouldn't work in the White House. There are reasons that there are rules."&nbsp;&nbsp;Comments:

RED BARBLUE BARNorth Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis — viewed as one of the most vulnerable GOP senators in 2020 — has found himself in an uncomfortable situation after a staffer’s excessively honest comments to a constituent were caught on tape.As first reported by WRAL, Bev Veals of Carolina Beach, a three-time cancer survivor, called her senator out of fear that her health insurance was at risk. She has previously faced medical bankruptcy and difficulty accessing care, WRAL said, and her husband was furloughed because of the pandemic. She wanted assurance that she’d have coverage if...

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GOP senator apologizes after staffer is caught on tape saying what Republicans actually believe on health care

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