Health care activist Patrick Kennedy got over four minutes on CNN
prime-time to air his glee over ObamaCare being upheld on Thursday. Host
Piers Morgan simply let the former Democratic congressman expound on
his father Ted Kennedy's fight for health care and praise the Supreme
Court decision.
CNN is no stranger to the Kennedys, having lauded [1] Ted Kennedy as "American royalty" and given his son Patrick an exclusive one-hour special [2] on his struggle with alcoholism and "a new beginning."
Morgan gave the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) a fond introduction, airing a clip of Nancy Pelosi eulogizing his fight for health care. "I knew that when he left us, he would go to heaven and help pass the bill and now I know he was busily at work until this decision came down, inspiring one way or another," Pelosi gushed.
"Patrick, how do you think your father would have felt today?" Morgan asked his first softball question.
[Video below. Audio here [3].]
The second, and last, question, was simply "Were you shocked that
Justice Roberts, Chief Justice Roberts, was the deciding vote today?"
Kennedy went on to say many will "sleep a little bit better" now that
the law has been upheld.
"And I think the Supreme Court upheld really the truest vision of what
is in the best interest of this country today," Kennedy gushed.
A transcript of the interview, which aired on June 28 on Piers Morgan Tonight at 9:12 p.m. EDT, is as follows:
PIERS MORGAN: Patrick Kennedy is a former congressman. A health care
activist. And of course the son of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, who
called universal health care the cause of his life. Listen to what House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said today about the senator.
(Video Clip)
Rep. NANCY PELOSI (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader: He called it the
great unfinished business of our country, of our society. I knew that
when he left us, he would go to heaven and help pass the bill and now I
know he was busily at work until this decision came down, inspiring one
way or another. And now he can rest in peace.
(End Video Clip)
MORGAN: I'm joined now by Patrick Kennedy. Patrick, how do you think your father would have felt today?
PATRICK KENNEDY (D), former U.S. representative: Well, I think he would
have been thrilled that not just members of Congress have guaranteed
health care anymore but that all the constituents that elected them now
have access to health care that members of Congress are fully happy to
have.
My father saw it as simply a matter of hypocrisy that these people who are criticizing
health care take government funded health care themselves. And he just
thought it was a matter of fairness. And he thought it was a moral
issue. It was about whether we wanted to treat others the way we
ourselves would want to be treated. And I recall that what made him
really so passionate about this was when my brother Ted had bone cancer
and my father and mother had to worry about whether he was going to
survive.
But they didn't have to worry about whether they could pay for him to
get the health care he needed. But they saw other families go through
the heartache of not only hoping that their loved one got better but
they were worried about being bankrupted in the process. And I think
that's what rubbed my father so against his sense of compassion and
social justice, and it's what fueled his effort to fight for this, for
his whole lifetime.
And keep in mind, Piers, he worked with Senator Hatch. Of course he did
work with then-Governor Romney in Massachusetts. He was always anxious
to work across party lines because he really felt this was in the best
interest of the nation. And I think that it is in the best interest of
the nation, as much as it's a polarizing issue right now as Governor
Patrick said earlier.
I think everybody will benefit because that you get the efficiencies of
having everybody in the system, in which case you can really implement
prevention and population-based health care, which today we don't have a
health care system. We have a sick care system which means people only
get care when they get sick. And that's not really both cost effective.
And it's certainly not humane if we – if we look at the system as it is
today.
MORGAN: Were you shocked that Justice Roberts, Chief Justice Roberts, was the deciding vote today?
KENNEDY: I was shocked that he was just the deciding vote. And that
Kennedy also didn't join him. It was obviously something that was a lot
of commentary. But process is what it is. At the end of the day, I think
it's individual families who get stuck in jobs. Who don't want to
change jobs because they're worried about losing their health care. Or
who are really on the margins. Who are trying to get health insurance
but can't because of a pre-existing condition.
All of those families are going to sleep a little bit better knowing
that in the future this is one less worry. Now I understand, you know,
my former colleague, Rick Santorum before me said, that you know people
are going to be -- you know, have this worry about government-run this.
Well, I mean, it was the insurance industry that's unregulated that was
running people's health care lives before.
And I don't know how many people feel really good about HMOs. That as
much as they paid for their premiums whenever they needed health care,
insurance companies' business model was to say "no." And I think that's
the real issue here. It's not a question of, you know, whether people
are going to pay, because they're paying already for health premiums.
And those health premiums are going up.
What this is about is let's get people the coverage that they're paying
for. And right now, it's about government stepping in and making sure
that insurance companies aren't going to continue to profit off of other
people's misfortune. And when they need health care, denying them that
health care because that's how they make a profit.
I salute the President for standing up for the – really, the largest
mass of American people who, you know -- who are worried every day about
getting sick because they're worried about it bankrupting them.
President Obama didn't have to worry about health care. My dad never had
to worry about health care. Mitt Romney doesn't have to worry about
health care. It's the average American who's worried because they're
worried about a catastrophic illness putting them in the poor house.
And I think that's not American. And I think the Supreme Court upheld
really the truest vision of what is in the best interest of this country
today.
MORGAN: Patrick Kennedy, thank you very much indeed.