Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D., Texas) made headlines this week for claiming that health-care repeal means “killing Americans.” In an exchange with National Review Online at the Capitol tonight, she used China as an example of universal coverage. From the tape:
JACKSON LEE: I was with a Chinese delegation in Texas on Sunday, and one [visitor] came up to me and said, ‘What is this debate about health care? We think this is something everybody should have in China.’ That’s what this person said to me; he was baffled. Of course, their system is different.
NRO: They’re communist.
JACKSON LEE: They consider themselves in the 21st century — I’m not arguing their politics. I’m just arguing that their thought was . . . they were just very surprised by this debate. I’m not even asking to have that kind of health care. I’m just saying, countries around the world, many people, take health care for granted because their systems are different.
NRO: Britain, for instance, has universal health care…
JACKSON LEE: And I’m not using those as examples for America, I’m just saying that it is something that a lot of countries have.
Indeed.