Washington:Â A first-term congressman who spent three decades as a physician - and is now part of a group of Republican doctors who have a major role in replacing Obamacare - is facing backlash after saying that poor people "just don't want healthcare and aren't going to take care of themselves."
Representative Roger Marshall, Republican of Kansas, a member of the GOP Doctors Caucus, said comments he made to Stat News were not meant to suggest that poor people take healthcare for granted. The comments were published in a story last week about his burgeoning role in the fight to replace the Affordable Care Act.
More World News Videos
- Video duration
- 01:25
Republicans unveil bill to repeal ...
Republicans unveil bill to repeal Obamacare
Republicans in the US House of Representatives unveil the long-awaited legislation to repeal much of the Obamacare healthcare law, including its expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor.
Up Next
Italian bridge collapse kills two
- Video duration
- 01:05
- Video duration
- 01:05
Italian bridge collapse kills two
Italian bridge collapse kills two
A motorway bridge in Ancona, Italy collapsed on top of a car as it was passing underneath, killing two people.
Up Next
Republicans work overnight to fast-track healthcare bill
- Video duration
- 01:06
- Video duration
- 01:06
Republicans work overnight to fast-track ...
Republicans work overnight to fast-track healthcare bill
House Republicans worked into the early hours of the morning, forging ahead with their plan to replace Obamacare despite not yet having a key report on how much it will cost.
Up Next
WikiLeaks to work with tech companies
- Video duration
- 01:11
- Video duration
- 01:11
WikiLeaks to work with tech companies
WikiLeaks to work with tech companies
In order to help defend them against the CIA's hacking tools, founder Julian Assange says WikiLeaks will work with tech companies.
Up Next
Spicer: Assange 'undermined' national security
- Video duration
- 01:06
- Video duration
- 01:06
Spicer: Assange 'undermined' national ...
Spicer: Assange 'undermined' national security
Refusing to comment on whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be in prison, White House spokesman Sean Spicer gives a press conference on US national security issues.
Up Next
Wild boars roam radioactive wasteland
- Video duration
- 01:00
- Video duration
- 01:00
Wild boars roam radioactive wasteland
Wild boars roam radioactive wasteland
Hundreds of wild boars have descended on Japan's deserted seaside towns which were vacated after the Fukushima nuclear crisis six years ago.
Up Next
Paul Ryan's PowerPoint presentation
- Video duration
- 01:33
- Video duration
- 01:33
Paul Ryan's PowerPoint presentation
Paul Ryan's PowerPoint presentation
Bringing it back to basics, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan rolls up his sleeves to give a PowerPoint presentation about healthcare reforms.
Up Next
Trump dodges WikiLeaks question
- Video duration
- 00:28
- Video duration
- 00:28
Trump dodges WikiLeaks question
Trump dodges WikiLeaks question
During a meeting with small bank CEOs at the White House, President Trump declines to answer when a reporter asks a question about WikiLeaks.
Republicans unveil bill to repeal Obamacare
Republicans in the US House of Representatives unveil the long-awaited legislation to repeal much of the Obamacare healthcare law, including its expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor.
"Just like Jesus said, 'The poor will always be with us,' " Marshall said in response to a question about Medicaid, which expanded under Obamacare to more than 30 states. "There is a group of people that just don't want health care and aren't going to take care of themselves."
He added that "morally, spiritually, socially," the poor, including the homeless, "just don't want healthcare."
Related Content
"The Medicaid population, which is a free credit card as a group, do probably the least preventive medicine and taking care of themselves and eating healthy and exercising. And I'm not judging; I'm just saying socially that's where they are," he told Stat News, a website focused on healthcare coverage.
"So there's a group of people that even with unlimited access to healthcare are only going to use the emergency room when their arm is chopped off or when their pneumonia is so bad they get brought the ER."
The comments immediately drew criticism from Medicaid advocates in Kansas, with some saying that Marshall mischaracterised and misunderstood people who are on the program.
"These are people who are out there, working hard, paying their bills, and to have their elected member of Congress pointing their finger at them I'm sure is disappointing," David Jordan, executive director of the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas, told the Kansas City Star.
In response to the backlash, Marshall, who was elected in November, said he was trying to explain that a national health care policy around "one segment of the population" does not work because groups of people have varying medical needs and use different health care resources.
"I was also saying that Obamacare has increased premiums on working, middle-class families by almost 200 per cent in some places, and with deductibles of over $US10,000, many don't actually have access to healthcare," Marshall said in a statement. "Coverage means nothing if you can't afford access."
He added: "When I said, 'the poor will always be with us,' it was actually in the context of supporting the obligation we have to always take care of people, but we cannot completely craft a larger, affordable healthcare policy around a comparatively small segment of the population who will get care no matter what."
Marshall is not the only House member who's had to clarify his comments about healthcare and the poor.
"Americans have choices, and they've got to make a choice," Representative Jason Chaffetz said on CNN on Tuesday morning. "And so maybe rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and they want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own healthcare."
Later that day, Chaffetz was on Fox News clarifying his remarks. "Maybe I didn't say it as smoothly as I possibly could, but people need to make a conscious choice," he said. "I believe in self-reliance, and they're going to have to make those decisions. We want people to have access to an affordable healthcare product."
A new healthcare bill unveiled by Republicans as a replacement for Obamacare is now making its way through Congress. The American Health Care Act replaces federal insurance subsidies with individual tax credits and grants to help states shape their own policies. It also preserves two of the most popular features of the ACA: Allowing young adults to stay on their parents' insurance until they're 26 and forbidding insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
After 18 hours of debate, the bill passed 23 to 16 in the House Ways and Means Committee before dawn on Thursday.
Washington Post