Dr. Romney has a prescription for sick Americans: Go to the emergency room!
The Republican presidential nominee reiterated his claim that uninsured Americans can find the health care they need in emergency rooms and that people do not die or suffer simply because they can't afford care.
“We don’t have a setting across this country where if you don’t have insurance, we just say to you, ‘Tough luck, you’re going to die when you have your heart attack,’ ” Romney told theColumbus Dispatch.
"No, you go to the hospital, you get treated, you get care, and it’s paid for, either by charity, the government or by the hospital," he added. "We don’t have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don’t have insurance."
Romney's remarks come as his running mate, Paul Ryan, will face Joe Biden in the first and only vice presidential debate on Thursday night in Danville, Kentucky. Both Romney and Ryan have called for repealing Obamacare.
On Thursday's Hardball, msnbc host Chris Matthews said Romney seems to think "we don't need Obamacare because we put people in the emergency room."
When Matthews asked former Republican National Chairman Michael Steele if Romney's remarks was representative of the GOP health care plan, a testy Steele declared "No."
"He's giving an example that we are a caring people, that we do not leave people on the streets to die," Steele insisted.