--- title: Health Care Bill: Raul Labrador Says Nobody Dies Over Access description: Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) came under fire Friday after he said that "nobody dies" from a lack of health care coverage canonical: https://time.com/4769830/raul-labrador-gop-congressman-nobody-dies-health-care/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-06T20:06:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:47:22.435Z article:section: Politics og:title: GOP Congressman: 'Nobody Dies Because They Don’t Have Access to Health Care' og:description: A town hall audience immediately booed him og:url: https://time.com/4769830/raul-labrador-gop-congressman-nobody-dies-health-care/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte661b7527e6bb6ae/698697883bc99956291a413c/raul-labrador.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: Raul Labrador og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: GOP Congressman: 'Nobody Dies Because They Don’t Have Access to Health Care' twitter:description: A town hall audience immediately booed him twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte661b7527e6bb6ae/698697883bc99956291a413c/raul-labrador.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # GOP Congressman Raul Labrador: 'Nobody Dies Because They Don’t Have Access to Health Care' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=aaf3873c-4143-4e57-9032-2ca6b981ad42&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 6, 2017 8:06 PM UTC  Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, is interviewed by Roll Call in his Longworth Building office on February 4, 2014\. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, is interviewed by Roll Call in his Longworth Building office on February 4, 2014\. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) Tom Williams—CQ Roll Call/Getty Images by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 6, 2017 8:06 PM UTC Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) came under fire Friday after he said that “nobody dies” from a lack of [health care coverage](http://time.com/4768740/democrats-health-care-vote/) at a town hall at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. Labrador made the remarks the day after the House [passed a Republican-sponsored health care bill](http://time.com/4768216/health-care-bill-ahca-hillary-clinton-fight-back/) that, if passed, would repeal and replace significant parts of Obamacare. The Congressman, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, was replying to an audience member who was speaking on concerns about the bill’s potential impact on Medicaid recipients. “You are mandating people on Medicaid accept dying. You are making a mandate that will kill people,” the audience member said, before Labrador interjected. “No one wants anybody to die,” Labrador said. “You know, that line is so indefensible. Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care.” His comments prompted an immediate outcry from audience members, who began to audibly boo, according to clips shared on social media. > [](https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/860893649382539267) The backlash carried over to the internet, where a number of users lambasted to Congressman on social platforms like Twitter. The new bill, dubbed the American Health Care Act, is now awaiting a vote in the Senate, where many expect the legislation to face [tough opposition](http://time.com/4769420/ahca-health-care-senate-vote/). It’s not yet clear how many people could stand to lose health insurance under the ACHA, but a 2009 [study published in the American Journal of Public Health](http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/09/new-study-finds-45000-deaths-annually-linked-to-lack-of-health-coverage/) before Obamacare became law said that 45,000 deaths in the U.S. were linked to a lack of health insurance. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4769830/raul-labrador-gop-congressman-nobody-dies-health-care/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4769830/raul-labrador-gop-congressman-nobody-dies-health-care/"},"headline":"GOP Congressman Raul Labrador: 'Nobody Dies Because They Don’t Have Access to Health Care'","datePublished":"2017-05-06T20:06:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:47:22.435Z","description":"A town hall audience immediately booed him","url":"https://time.com/4769830/raul-labrador-gop-congressman-nobody-dies-health-care/","keywords":["Health Care","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte661b7527e6bb6ae/698697883bc99956291a413c/raul-labrador.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte661b7527e6bb6ae/698697883bc99956291a413c/raul-labrador.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Raul Labrador","caption":"Raul Labrador","creditText":"Tom Williams—CQ Roll Call/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health-care/","name":"Health Care"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4769830/raul-labrador-gop-congressman-nobody-dies-health-care/","name":"GOP Congressman Raul Labrador: 'Nobody Dies Because They Don’t Have Access to Health Care'"}}]}] ```