If death and taxes are the only certainties, Joni Ernst is here to cut one and fast-track the other.
“We all are going to die,” she said.
You might think that’s a line from a nihilistic French play. Or something a teenage goth said in Hot Topic. Or an epiphany from your stoner college roommate after he watched Interstellar at 3 a.m.
But that was actually the Iowa Senator’s God-honest response to concerns that slashing Medicaid to achieve President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” would lead to more preventable deaths.
The full exchange at a May 30 town hall included one audience member shouting at the stage, “People will die!” And Ernst responding, “People are not — well, we all are going to die, so for heaven’s sake.”
Joni Ernst apology video recorded in a graveyard
That’s not a healthcare policy — that’s a horoscope for the terminally screwed.
As you can imagine, the internet didn’t love it, because losing your health should not trigger the equivalent of a shrug emoji from someone elected to serve the public good.
But rather than walking it back, Ernst leaned in, filming a mock apology in a graveyard because nothing says, “I care about your future,” like filming next to people who don’t have one.
Ernst’s comments aren’t just philosophical musings. She’s justifying policy choices that cause real harm. If passed, this bill would, according to the Congressional Budget Office, remove health coverage for up to 7.6 million Americans. That’s not just “we all die someday” territory. That’s “some people will die soon and needlessly.”
What makes this even more galling is that the people pushing these cuts have access to high-quality, taxpayer-subsidized healthcare. Congress gets the AAA, platinum, concierge-level government plan. Meanwhile, millions of Americans are told to try their luck with essential oils or YouTube acupuncture tutorials.
Joni Ernst town hall comments more performance art than policy
Honestly, it felt more like performance art than policy: “Sorry about your grandma getting kicked out of her assisted living facility. Please enjoy this scenic view of her future! LOL!”
We’re not asking you to defeat death, senator. Death is both inevitable and bipartisan. But there is a broad chasm between dying peacefully at 85 and dying in your 40’s because your Medicaid plan disappeared and your GoFundMe didn’t meet its goal.
Fundamentally, governing is about priorities. A budget is a moral document. When a lawmaker tells you “we’re all going to die” in response to a policy choice, they’re telling you “I’ve made peace with your suffering as collateral damage.” And if a U.S. Senator can stand in a cemetery and joke about it, you have to wonder — who do our federal legislators think those graves are for?
This isn’t just about one comment or one bill. It’s about a mindset that treats healthcare as a luxury rather than a right. If death is inevitable, then access to healthcare you can afford is what helps determine how long you have, how comfortably you live, and whether you get to watch your kids grow up. Healthcare isn’t about escaping death. It’s about dignity and quality of life while we are here.
Ernst got one thing right: death will come for us all. But leadership, real leadership, is about helping people live as long and as well as they can before that day comes.
You want to make jokes, Senator? Fine. But if your punchline is “You’re all going to die anyway,” don’t be surprised when your constituents realize the joke’s on them.
Kristin Brey is the “My Take” columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ernst said we’re all going to die. Can we get decent health care in the meantime? | Opinion
Reporting by Kristin Brey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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