Two Nevada Assembly members blast Angle’s autism stateme
Two Nevada Assembly members blasted GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle today over statements she made about autism during a 2009 tea party event.
Nevada State Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, and Assemblyman James Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas, called the former state legislator's comments about children living with autism "callous" and said Angle believes that those children and their families don't deserve health insurance.
Democrats last week emphasized Angle's opposition to mandating insurance coverage for autism and pregnancy by using a video of her at 2009 rally.
In the video, released last week by the Nevada Democratic Party on YouTube, Angle speaks against a recently passed Nevada mandate for insurance carriers to cover treatment for autism.
"Take off the mandates for coverage in the state of Nevada and all over the United States," Angle said. "But here you know what I'm talking about. You're paying for things you don't even need. They just passed the latest one, is everything that they want to throw at us now is covered under autism," she said, using her fingers to make quotes in the air while she said the word ‘autism.' "So that's a mandate that you have to pay for. How about maternity leave, I'm not going to have any more babies, but I sure get to pay for it on my insurance. So those are the things we want to get rid of."
Her comments regarding autism coverage refer to Assembly Bill 162, which passed with sweeping bipartisan support in the Nevada Legislature in 2009. Only two Nevada legislators voted no on the bill: Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa, Churchill, Esmeralda, Lincoln, Mineral, Nye counties, and Assemblyman Don Gustavson, R-Sparks, Humboldt, Lander, Washoe counties. The bill passed 60-2 in both houses with one legislator absent.
"Sharron Angle's mocking of individuals and families living with autism is cruel, offensive, and downright disturbing," Buckley said. "Angle's comments present not only a total misunderstanding of both autism and the legislation, but an alarming lack of compassion for those living with such a frustrating disorder. Furthermore, as she did on so many other issues considered in the State Assembly, Angle stood virtually alone in her extreme position, flying in the face of medical experts, public support, and basic human decency."
"Ms. Angle's pandering to her far-right base illustrates her profound misunderstanding of public health, child welfare and the insurance industry," Ohrenschall said. "I am proud to have worked cooperatively with parents, educators, insurance providers, and public health officials to pass coverage for autism in Nevada in a bipartisan fashion. If Ms. Angle cannot even cooperate with the members of her own party who worked with me to improve the lives of so many of Nevada's children, how are we to take her seriously about anything else?"
The day after the video showcasing Angle's comments was released; campaign spokesman Jerry Stacy released the following statement defending her position:
"Sharron believes that anyone affected with autism deserves the best medical coverage and treatment, and she speaks out against these expensive government mandates which falsely label other symptoms as autism because it creates this huge cottage industry that drives up health insurance cost while diluting the needed coverage for those patients affected by autism...and nobody is buying Senator Reid's latest despicable attempt of trying to distract voters from his failed record."