Rep. Thomas Massie shared a Wednesday tweet criticizing “Medicare for All,” which quickly garnered attention for lacking context.
The Kentucky Republican said, “Over 70% of Americans who died with COVID, died on Medicare, and some people want #MedicareForAll?”
Over 70% of Americans who died with COVID, died on Medicare, and some people want #MedicareForAll ?
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) February 9, 2022
Users quickly jumped on the tweet, criticizing the congressman for not acknowledging that most Medicare recipients are senior citizens, who are more likely to die from COVID-19 as is.
By 2:00 p.m. EST, roughly two hours after the tweet was published, Medicare was the No. 3 trending topic on Twitter.
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Reporter Brian J. Karem was quick to point out Massie’s fallacy. “Post Hoc. Ergo Propter Hoc,” he wrote. “Weak minds … often jump to this logical fallacy.”
Post Hoc. Ergo Propter Hoc.
Weak minds @RepThomasMassie often jump to this logical fallacy. https://t.co/5G24GxXKxG— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) February 9, 2022
Massie’s colleague in the House, Rep. Ruben Gallego, responded, “Because Covid severely impacted the elderly and the elderly are on Medicare.” He also suggested repercussions for the author of the tweet: “If you paid someone to come up with this tweet fire them. If you came up with this tweet you should hang your head in shame.”
Because Covid severely impacted the elderly and the elderly are on Medicare.
If you paid someone to come up with this tweet fire them. If you came up with this tweet you should hang your head in shame. https://t.co/EZdYNz2X3Q
— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) February 9, 2022
Television producer Franklin Leonard implied that Massie knows better, pointing to his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “He knows this logic is nonsense,” Leonard tweeted. “He just thinks his constituents are too dumb to know better.”
.@RepThomasMassie has an undergraduate and masters degree from MIT.
He knows this logic is nonsense. He just thinks his constituents are too dumb to know better. https://t.co/0JEM8FNAqm
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) February 9, 2022
Cambridge Health Alliance doctor Adam Gaffney replied that Massie’s statistic applies across many causes of death. “Not only that, a disproportionate share of ALL deaths occur among Medicare-eligible individuals,” he wrote. “Really makes you think.”
Not only that, a disproportionate share of ALL deaths occur among Medicare-eligible individuals. Really makes you think
— Adam W Gaffney (@awgaffney) February 9, 2022
Roughly 62.6 million people were enrolled in the Medicare program in 2020, about 18.4% of the U.S. population. So far, over 74% of all COVID-19 deaths have been among those aged 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
