Inevitably, the conversation turned to “Obamacare” and the demand from fringe groups to pull Texas out of the terms of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Pitts told them that there is a state study pending on that issue: Mandated by House Bill 497 last session, he said that its purpose “is to get out of it” – the “it” in question being the Federal health care reform.

A crowd member then asked Pitts what that would mean for a friend of his suffering from a brain tumor and receiving support from Medicaid. Pitts responded:

I’m going to tell you that we’re looking into getting out of Medicaid, not have Medicaid program in the state of Texas.”

The crowd member asked Pitts a very simple question: What will his friend with cancer do? Pitts’ answer was blunt and to the point.

The legislature’s gonna have to determine who will be eligible for certain things. The problem that he is having today is the Medicaid reimbursement rates to our doctors are so low, it’s lower than the Medicare rates, it’s typically about 80% of our Medicare rates. We’re losing providers for our Medicaid.

Again, the obvious question: If Medicaid goes away, what happens to the victim of cancer? Will he be thrown out on the street? Pitts’ answer:

If we do exactly what we’re doing today, we wouldn’t be throwing him out on the street. But if we have any savings in getting out of Medicaid, we will have to throw some people out in the street. And I’m not telling you that your friend will be, but the eligibility to receive state benefits will go down. Let me make sure that I said that right. Fewer people will be on our Medicaid rolls if we get out and have some savings.
–Austin Chronicle

Well, at least House Appropriations Committee Chair Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie) is an honest Republican and apparently has no problem openly admitting in front of humans and cameras that he’s more than willing to throw poor people who happen to be sick and in need of medical care they can’t afford “out in the street.” They are rarely so willing to reveal how very little they care about the welfare of citizens in their state or country. So kudos for such honesty, but … what an ass!

Care to hear it from the horse’s mouth yourself? The juicy bit quoted above starts at about 3:00.

The rest of his townhall meeting can be viewed here, if you feel like doing so. I find I can’t really listen to what anyone has to say once they have stated they have no problem throwing dying people out into the streets for not having money enough to pay for treatment. Yup, that pretty much puts them firmly on my EVIL BASTARD list.

On a side note, I am growing weary of the term “man-up” and wish it would die a hasty death. Maybe we could throw it out into the street instead of the poor and sick?