State Senator Mary Jo Wilhelm of Cresco calls on Governor Terry Branstad to apologize for Medicaid remarks

State Senator Mary Jo Wilhelm of Cresco is calling on Iowa Governor Terry Branstad to apologize for remarks he made about Medicaid recipients in Iowa.  Branstad compared expanding Medicaid to another 150,000 Iowans who do not have health insurance to having an open bar or a cash bar at a wedding.
 
Said Wilhelm, "That statement is just so wrong, I don't know where to start."
 
In remarks made on the floor of the State Senate, Wilhelm said, "Governor, I worked in a health care clinic in Cresco for 7 years.  I worked with many Iowans who did not have health insurance and struggled to get health care.  I will never forget one woman who came to the clinic.  She had a lump in her breast.

She worked part-time and she couldn't afford insurance.  So she waited, and she waited before going to the doctor. She lived with that lump in her breast, knowing it was likely cancer, for months she had it before she came to the clinic.

She waited until she finally qualified for health care insurance.  And when she did get it, it was too late.  She died, Governor Branstad.  She is no longer with us.

Governor, Iowans don't have too much health care.  They don't have enough. 

There are plenty of Iowans over the age of 50, who lost their jobs in the recession, and are now hoping they don't get sick before they qualify for Medicare.

Governor, expand Medicaid so they can go to their doctor when they are sick."