GOP Senate Candidate On Uninsured: "Less Sophisticated…Less Educated"

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/gop-senate-candidate-on-uninsured-less-sophisticatedless-edu

GOP Senate Candidate On Uninsured: "Less Sophisticated…Less Educated"

In audio obtained by BuzzFeed, Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy spoke at the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association’s annual meeting last week about an alternative health care plan with catastrophic insurance and HSA plans for the uninsured.
posted on March 26, 2014 at 6:25pm EDT
Andrew Kaczynski



Speaking about his health care plan, Cassidy, who is also a physician, said it “actually reflects the reality of who the uninsured are: relatively less sophisticated, less comfortable with forms, less educated.”

“That I think actually reflects the reality of who the uninsured are relatively less sophisticated, less comfortable with forms, less educated. Those are the folks that — not all — there’s a guy who goes to my church who’s uninsured, who’s middle-class but couldn’t get it because he has Type I diabetes. So it’s not all, but it is the folks who I think are going to have the hardest time reaching.”

Cassidy also said of President Obama, “you wonder if he ever worked with a poor person” and called some uninsured “illiterate,” which he said he was saying “in compassion.”

“We were fortunate growing up in the south. The president is a community organizer. You wonder if he ever worked with a poor person…Insurance people they will tell you that they will go to a company and an employer will pay for everything, and there are some people who will not sign up. Turns out, those are my patients. They’re illiterate. I’m not saying that to be mean. I say that in compassion. They cannot read. The idea they’re going to go on the internet and work through a 16-page document to put in their data and sign up does not reflect on understanding of who is having the hardest time in our economy.”

Cassidy is challenging Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu in the 2014 election. His campaign didn’t immediately return a request for comment.