While a single visit to an emergency room can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars (often paid for by the government), a call to a poison center costs the government only $30 or $40. A study in the Journal of Medical Toxicology estimated that the poison centers saved the State of Arizona alone $33 million a year. Louisiana eliminated its centers in the 1980s but restored them when it realized how much money they saved.

Again republicans are pushing blind ideology over verifiable reality.

Poison control centers actually save the government money in hospital visits. How does this reconcile with their claim to be about fiscal responsibility? Who the hell knows, but if I had to guess they would probably say something like the government shouldn’t pay for emergency room visits either. Even though emergency room visits are the crux of their healthcare platform.

Pro-life? Bullshit.