Joni Ernst Jokes Again About People Dying Due to Trump’s Medicaid Cuts
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) doubled down on Saturday on her flippant remarks about people dying due to Medicaid cuts in a new Instagram video that appeared to be recorded in a cemetery.
During a town hall on Friday, Ernst was pressed about President Donald Trump’s tax bill, which would slash Medicaid in order to help fund a new round of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. The legislation is expected to force 10 million people off Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans.
When an audience member shouted, “People are going to die,” Ernst responded: “Well, we all are going to die.” Her unfunny joke drew headlines around the country, and was featured prominently on the front page of The Des Moines Register on Saturday.
In a video posted on her Instagram story on Saturday, Ernst, who is up for reelection next year, decided it was wise to mock her constituents who do not wish to die due to a lack of health insurance.
“Hello, everyone. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize for a statement that I made yesterday at my town hall,” she says in the clip, which features gravestones in the distance behind her. “See, I was in the process of answering a question that had been asked by an audience member, when a woman who was extremely distraught, screamed out from the back corner of the auditorium, ‘People are going to die.’ And I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we are all going to perish from this Earth.”
“So I apologize,” Ernst concludes, “and I’m really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the Tooth Fairy as well. But for those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I encourage you to embrace my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin said in a statement Saturday, “Thoughts and prayers have a new meaning for the Republican Party with Joni Ernst doubling down on her cruel words. It is immoral and un-Christian to do nothing to prevent people from dying but unfortunately, Trump, Ernst, and the Republican Party are hellbent on putting their own constituents at risk.”
Ernst had tried to defend the Medicaid cuts on Friday as necessary to ensure that undocumented immigrants are not on Medicaid. It’s a favorite Republican talking point, but this is a blatant lie: Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for Medicaid. Of the 10 million Americans who are expected to lose Medicaid under the Republican tax bill, none of them are undocumented immigrants.
The Trump tax bill would force millions off Medicaid by imposing work requirements on so-called “able-bodied” adults, demanding they work or volunteer at least 80 hours a month. One problem with this idea is that many Medicaid recipients cannot work but have not been approved for disability benefits, which is an onerous process. Those beneficiaries will lose their insurance.
The Medicaid program also contains strict income caps that require beneficiaries to earn exceedingly little money. Taken together, Republicans are effectively demanding that Medicaid recipients work low-income jobs in order to maintain their health insurance, and the added bureaucracy will certainly result in many eligible beneficiaries losing coverage.
Ernst pledged Friday that the Republicans are “going to focus on those that are most vulnerable,” adding that “Medicaid is extremely important here in the state of Iowa.”
Ernst made a post on X thanking people for coming to her town hall. “I always enjoy hearing from constituents and sharing my work to cut government red tape for you,” she wrote. The post has 270 likes and 2,000 comments.
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