An Illinois lawmaker says he’s pulling legislation that would have required those who are unvaccinated to pay for their own COVID-19 care after he says he was targeted with homophobic deaths threats.
State Rep. Jonathan Carroll, who is straight and married to a woman, introduced HB 4259 on Monday. The bill sought to require people who choose to remain unvaccinated to pay for their own medical costs out of pocket should they wind up in the hospital for virus care, even if they have health insurance.
Related: Washed up comedian/gay joke apologist Jim Breuer goes on batsh*t crazy anti-vax tirade
Carroll said he hoped the measure would help increase the state’s vaccination rate, which is currently just above 60%.
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“When we see over $5 billion has been spent on health care costs related to the unvaccinated, those of us that are vaccinated are frustrated,” he told local media. “We followed the course of action and others haven’t.”
But instead of inspiring people to to get their shots, the well-intentioned Democrat only seems to have succeeded in pissing off anti-vaxxers. So much so that they now want him dead.
Related: This video of Lindsey Graham being heckled by anti-vax constituents is deeply cathartic
“It turned into really a free-for-all of name-calling,” he said. “I was called things like the N-word. I was called derogatory terms for homosexuals. I’ve been called a Nazi. I’ve been called a communist. My staff has been called all of those things.”
While he still believes it’s important to have conversations about vaccines, Carroll now says his family’s safety “will always come first” and so he was withdrawing the bill. He also says he passed along the threats he and his staff received to Illinois State Police.
In a statement posted to Twitter yesterday, he wrote: “Based on feedback and further reflection, we need to heal as a country and work together on common-sense solutions to put the pandemic behind us.”
My Statement on HB4259 pic.twitter.com/nEbyHeXFM0
— Jonathan Carroll (@repjcarroll) December 9, 2021
Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
Heywood Jablowme
Depressing. Nothing gets thru to these people except DEATH, and sometimes not even that, and even then their relatives still want the expensive workarounds like monoclonal antibodies.
Openminded
It’s the expensive injections that burn my @ss. I’ve had more than a few anti vaxxers tell me they would just “opt” for the injections IF they acquired the virus, which makes me want to choke them and tell them that that should be reserved only for those who actually made the attempt to protect their health.
daddytop
Openminded: 1. The vaccine is free. 2. A vaccine is completely pointless AFTER you contract the virus.
buckhill2
@Heywood I agree with your DEATH comment. The other thing they listen to is the almighty $$. They should be surcharged on their health insurance because being unvax’d is a choice, just like smoking. My insurance has a smoker surcharge & Delta Airlines is hitting the unvax with $200/mo surcharge. Paying their fair share of the risk is the American capitalistic way and demonstrates taking responsibility for ones actions. Aren’t those the Republican mantras? Self responsibly & down with socialism (keep in mind the government infrastructure $$ flowing to the states isn’t socialism when Republicans spend it).
Jaquelope
“Paying their fair share of the risk is the American capitalistic way and demonstrates taking responsibility for ones actions. Aren’t those the Republican mantras?” They may be saying that, but ever since the Orange Cheeto came on the political scene, their actions have belied their words, as everyone seems to know, but none of them seem to want to admit that that’s how they are today.
It is a distinct possibility that the political party of Mr. Carroll may have something to do with the rancor shown to the idea.
I fear that this separation will get even worse as time moves on until we will have to change the country’s name from The United States, to the Untied States of America.
Kangol2
Buckhill2, you’re making great points but I’m going to have to disagree because you’re assuming rationality when it comes to those surcharges, but I can easily foresee the unvaxed folks blaming Biden/Obamacare/insurance companies/hospitals/doctors/Fauci/Hillary you name it. They demand freedom but when they’re asked to pay the price for it, either by getting sick and then requiring health care or by paying for not being vaxed and thus driving up the costs, the incidence of infection, etc. they don’t want to hear it.
Also, paying one’s fair share is just a slogan; quite a few billionaires, millionaires and numerous corporations pay little to NO federal taxes, and far less as a percentage of their wealth than innumerable far less rich Americans, despite reaping all the benefits of this society and its economy. (Cf. Don the Con, Amazon, etc.) Anyways, I know several unvaxed people who no amount of rational argument can get through to. It’s tragic and I’m always praying they don’t get that Delta variant, because then all bets are off.
Openminded
I think the bigger question is, Why aren’t we citizens paying for our own Covid treatment anyway? Not that I want the expense, but this is the first medical issue that I can remember where the gov’t foots the cost of treatment and prevention. I’d bet if these anti vaxxers had to pay for a single in-patient Covid treatment their billfold would make them realize the importance of vaccinations.
I agree with everything that was proposed in this bill with the exception of making you pay if you have insurance. A person pays the price of insurance for the assurance that medical care can be provided and afforded and I believe that should be for all diseases. Using his logic on Covid, one could twist it to say that anyone who acquires HIV from unprotected sex should have to pay all of his medical costs, insured or not. Honestly, unprotected sex is equally as reckless as Covid anti vaxxers.
daddytop
Openminded: Logic fail. There is no vaccine to prevent HIV infection. And what on earth does HIV have to do with covid?
Fahd
I agree with incentives to encourage the apathetic and resistant to just get vaccinated already, but if we are going to have a post every time homophobic name-calling is used against well-meaning people, the writers at Queerty won’t be able to focus on anything else. Maybe interns or some other way to refresh the site.
Den
It is unfortunate, but undeniable at this point, that the right is unable to understand the social contract that underlies all civilized societies. They think only of themselves. This is particularly damaging where public health policy is concerned, as it requires people to truly understand what personal responsibility means. It requires people to acknowledge (in reality) how their actions affect the health and safety of others. All the right is seemingly capable of understanding is how the actions of others affects their myths and dogma.
Even where reproductive choice is concerned, their actions show clearly that they care nothing about life in general, but only about how, when and why people should have sex and their myths about “babies in the womb”.
Mack
I absolutely believe if you’re not going to vaccinated to help prevent yourself from catching a deadly expensive disease, then yes you should pay a premium.
Dijonaise
Backing down only encourages these cretins. There should already be a national mandate to pay for your medical bills if you refuse to get a vaccination.
Doug
It’s pretty appalling to read the long series of comments from this guy’s consituents over his tweet. They’re all playing victim, blaming the dangerous vaccination but fully expecting the country to pay for their health care if they contract covid. I really am reaching the point of having no sympathy for any of these people anymore. It’s amazing how incredibly paranoid – not to mention stupid – people have become.
Openminded
At a bare minimum, the unvaccinated (barring those who have legit health reasons not to be) should be last in line for ICU beds and/or ventilators along with all other medical services for Covid treatment. I’d even go so far as discharging existing unvaccinated patients when a vaxxed patient arrives needing a bed. It’s simply not fair to give or continue to give treatment to someone who ignored the warnings while someone who has followed recommendations is out in the hallway hoping to get treatment.
I liken this to bikers who refuse to wear helmets. I’m not concerned if you choose to enjoy your life riding without head protection. I can see where that might be more enjoyable. I am, however, concerned when you have a head trauma and have the ER staff busy saving your life while I’m waiting for life saving treatment from this same staff for injuries or sickness that I didn’t contribute to.
Everyone should be free to live, but with that freedom comes the freedom to die also.
Kangol2
First, most physicians and other medical professionals would not violate basic ethics by denying or delaying treatment to people based on their behavior. If you smoke and get lung cancer vs. you just live your life and get lung cancer, no oncologist worth their degrees and licensing would punish the former and give the latter priority. We’ve had this when it came to race and medicine and to some extent when it comes to wealth and medical access in the US, and both are abhorrent, so our aim as a country should be not to ever go that route again.
The main issue behind this current crisis is disinformation and misinformation. We experienced this from internal (Don the Con and his maladministration, the GOP, anti-vaxxers after the vaccines were developed, etc.) and external (Russia? etc.) sources, and overcoming this remains a problem. Just think how different things might have been had Don the Con not at every step screwed things up so badly, through his lies, incompetence, complete f•ckery, and so on. We most certainly would not have had 610,000 dead Americans by January 31, 2021 had the past administration alone done a better job, mainly by following the science and alerting Americans to the safest practices, as soon as it knew how to proceed. Instead, as Don the Con admitted on those Woodward tapes, he lied and spread disinfo and misinfo, and we’re still suffering from the consequences.
daddytop
And yet DOLT45 still isn’t in jail. WHY? No one is above the law.
LegionKeign
And by withdrawing the bill, the anti-vaxxers win, again.
I will say this about fascist republican politicians, they have more balls when it comes to passing “unpopular” bills.
Dems need to grow a spine.
SFHarry
I’m thinking that maybe a requirement for being a law maker is being single so that a few threats to your family won’t stop you from passing legislation.
Invader7
Actually the best way to get rid of these ass clown anti-everything republithugs is for to get Covid and DIE DIE DIE . That way there’ll be LESS of the butt heads…
GrizzleyMichael
Someone is just jealous