Gaetz: People On Insulin Should Just Lose Weight

Mother Jones reports:

On Thursday, the House passed a Democratic-sponsored bill to cap the price of insulin at $35 a month for most Americans, an effort to crack down on price-gouging by drug makers who have raised the price of a lifesaving product used by millions of Americans by almost 500 percent in recent years.Among those voting “no” was Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), the GOP’s leading troll, who has come up with perhaps one of the most offensive justifications for GOP opposition to the popular bill.

In his newsletter Friday, Gaetz told his constituents that he opposed the bill because fat people, not Big Pharma, are responsible for driving up the cost of insulin. He suggested that Type 2 diabetes, which is often linked to obesity, could be cured if only people would workout more and lose weight, at which point they wouldn’t need insulin anymore and the drug costs would fall without government intervention.

Read the full article. The newsletter is there. Mother Jones notes that at least 25% of Gaetz’s home state is clinically obese, including its most famous resident.

Matt Gaetz told his constituents that he opposed the bill because overweight people—not Big Pharma—are responsible for driving up the cost of insulin. https://t.co/6WC7y97j9Q

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) April 4, 2022