When you're hell-bent on stripping people of their healthcare, things can get awkward. Take last night, for example. At a CNN debate on healthcare between ideological antitheses Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz, a woman with multiple sclerosis asked Cruz to promise her that she would not lose the Medicaid she depends on—and qualified for through Obamacare's Medicaid expansion—when Republicans repeal the law.

Cruz's answer was...inartful:

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Multiple sclerosis patient on Medicaid asks @tedcruz what will happen to her coverage w/repeal.

Cruz: "Congratulations on dealing with MS." pic.twitter.com/13jC26k1tK — Omar Ghabra (@omarghabra) February 8, 2017

Congratulations on having a debilitating chronic condition? "Congratulations on your struggles"? This is what a space alien would say. Regardless of why he considers suffering an inherent good (for other people, not him or his family—Cruz has gold-plated healthcare paid for by taxpayers), the Texas senator revealed one thing for sure: He has no realistic interest in relieving said suffering.

Cruz went on to explain that Medicaid simply must be done away with. "Medicaid is a profoundly troubled program," he said, "And so it may be working well with you, but I'll tell you nationally, the health outcomes under Medicaid are really poor." PolitiFact rates this claim false, just as it did when Cruz made it in 2013:

Medicaid patients tend to have worse medical outcomes than those with private insurance, but that's because they tend to be sicker and wait until the last minute for care. We found several studies that show Medicaid actually improves access and quality of life for many patients — or at least doesn't hurt them.

Cruz's solution last night was some theoretical mechanism where rates for private insurance would magically be lower so all Medicaid recipients could afford it. He was similarly vague on how a Republican replacement for Obamacare—which has not been established or agreed upon in Congress—would cover pre-existing conditions:

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It was all eerily reminiscent of Paul Ryan's response to a (lifelong Republican) cancer survivor who owed his life to Obamacare at another CNN event:

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The bad optics that began Paul Ryan's town hall: Ex-Reagan campaign worker thanks Obamacare for saving his life. pic.twitter.com/bacg2Qk3TL — Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) January 13, 2017

What pervades these answers is a lack of any specific remedy for the actual problems at hand. But more than that, these responses reflect a profound disinterest in the actual suffering of human beings, and an overwhelming preoccupation with money, ideological purity, and the continuing support of insurance companies in subsequent campaigns.

Congratulations on your struggles, dear. I do believe further congratulations will be in order once we yank the insurance that helped save your life away from you.

Elsewhere today, Cruz continued to make friends:

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Ted Cruz goes after Warren's statements on Fox: “The Democrats are the party of the Ku Klux Klan” pic.twitter.com/1eAeh7LT6c — Colin Jones (@colinjones) February 8, 2017

Right, then.

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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