GOP Claims Seniors Will Be "Put To Death By Their Gov't."

Rachel Maddow took on the conspiracy theory promoted by Republicans such as Representative Virginian Foxx of North Carolina, who spoke of "seniors...being put to death by their government." Maddow was joined by Senator Bernie Sanders (Ind.) of Vermont (unfortunately not shown in this clip), who commented, "These guys are talking about Democrats wanting to kill people. The reality is that 18,000 people die every single year in this country because they don't have access to a doctor when they should." Watch:

Paul Krugman countered the argument that government health care is "bad for the old":

As [Matt] Yglesias points out, such arguments weirdly miss the fact that older Americans are covered by Medicare. If you say that American health care works well for the elderly, then the part of our system you’re praising is the “socialized” part.

This is part of a broader phenomenon. Everyone’s favorite story about the evils of socialized medicine is the fact that Canadians wait longer for hip replacements. But who pays for hip replacements in the United States? Medicare, in most cases.