Sen. Coburn, let’s talk about ‘world’s best health care’
Here’s an exchange on CNN, in which a desperate woman tries to explain her plight to U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., at a health-care town hall meeting. Watch it:
“Senator Coburn, we need help,” she says. “My husband has traumatic brain injury. His health insurance will not cover him to eat and drink. And what I need to know is, are you going to help him, where he can eat and drink? We left the nursing home, and they told us we were on our own.”
Those words, written on the page or screen, do not convey the anguish in her voice or in her heart. Based on her description of the situation, an insurance company is rationing care. It is denying him the assistance that he apparently needs to live, a decision made and confirmed by insurance company bureaucrats and lawyers, not by the man’s doctor. Those bureaucrats and lawyers, you might say, constitute what some might call a “death panel.” This, in a country where supposedly no one goes without health care, where we have the best health care in the world.
The reaction from Coburn, a physician and probably the most conservative member of the U.S. Senate, is telling, as is the astute observation at the close of the segment from CNN anchor Rick Sanchez.
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517 comments Add your comment
Brad Steel
August 25th, 2009
1:41 pm
Coburn’s contribution to the health care plan: Better Plan to Not Get Sick
George American
August 25th, 2009
1:42 pm
HAS HE TRIED RUBBING DIRT ON IT???
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator :-) You Whine :-(
August 25th, 2009
1:45 pm
We do have the best health care in the world, better than anything the government has in mind for us.
Equality to a lib means that we ALL suffer.
getalife
August 25th, 2009
1:50 pm
Obama starved her disabled husband.
Stan
August 25th, 2009
1:52 pm
I can’t see the video while I’m at work, did the woman explain what level of coverage her husband has/had before he got his “traumatic brain injury”? Could they have been better covered in case such an injury were to happen?
Not to be heartless but keep in mind that personal responsibility does come into play here in these discussions.
Chris
August 25th, 2009
1:53 pm
Senator Coburn (to a big round of applause): “Government is not the solution.”
He went on to recommend that neighbors need to step up and help each other. But Coburn doesn’t seem to understand that in a democracy (or a republic, if you prefer), WE are the government. By asking our representatives in Washington to support health care reform and, at the very least, to provide a government insurance option–that IS neighbors helping neighbors. Helping neighbors, in part, is what government (i.e. us) is for (read the “general welfare” clause of the Constitution).
Wyld Byll Hyltnyr
August 25th, 2009
1:53 pm
Hey, this took place in the old Liberty bank lobby in OKC and you can see the historic Skirvin Hotel in the background. Ol’ Wyld Byll, when he was on the street, put to gether the equity investment that mad The Liberty the only one of the 20 largest banks in the sothwest that did not fail in the mid-80s.
That said, Senator Coburn was exactly right – and, not surprisingly, the loser on the news desk forgot that Senator Coburn is this woman’s neighbor in OK – that the community must come together to help its own.
From my point of view the woman looked to be some astro turf plant from an ACORN style liberal group that was trying to disrupt the senator’s town hall meeting and prevent constructive dialogue. I frequently turkey hunt in Oklahoma and we have purchased a number of Mr. San Peppy mares there, and everyone knows that to speak with Senator Coburn, one must only call his office. This sort of disruption does nothing to advance democracy and the healthcare debate.
Scooter
August 25th, 2009
1:53 pm
getalife
Taxpayer
August 25th, 2009
1:55 pm
Well, he IS the government and that is at least part of the problem, not the solution. Like Rick said, is he going to help all of us or do we do as he recommends to all the rest and go door to door with cup in hand, “Brother, can you spare a dime.”
Taxpayer
August 25th, 2009
1:57 pm
We have the best sham, Wow!, in the world.
getalife
August 25th, 2009
1:58 pm
How about this Scooter?
It’s her husband’s fault for not taking personal responsibility for his head trauma.
Not to be heartless but ……..
Mrs. Godzilla
August 25th, 2009
2:01 pm
Thanks Tom….you’ve done a great service to the cause of The American Option.
RW-(the original)
August 25th, 2009
2:07 pm
as is the astute observation at the close of the segment from CNN anchor Rick Sanchez.
I certainly saw nothing astute about his government/non-government observation if that’s what that means and it was clear to me that he would be happy to help on a constituent services basis, but why is a news anchor giving his political opinion in the first place?
Scooter
August 25th, 2009
2:07 pm
getalife, I guess the poor guy should have known???????
Time to pull the plug.
getalife
August 25th, 2009
2:07 pm
tom is admitting the corrupt Senate does not help Americans.
There is no money in empathy.
itstrue
August 25th, 2009
2:08 pm
We do some stuff right when it comes to care. We’re the best in the world when it comes to cancer, for example. That doesn’t mean we can’t do a whole lot better. For starters, what has your private insurance company ever done for you? Do they provide any real, valuable service? Do they make any money by actually paying out your claims? Why defend these guys tooth and nail?
Does the rest of the industrialized world live under some malevolent socialist dictatorship? Did the Soviets win the cold war when I wasn’t looking (or not watching Fox)?
It’s just insurance. It’ll cover what we negotiate it to cover. Even if it’s just the government doing it, we can build in a consumer appeals process. Where did people get the idea that our government is some all-powerful Wizard of Oz that wants to destroy us? We’re in charge. If we get angry about how it works, we can vote the bums out. Hard to say the same thing in the near-monopoly private insurance market.
People like Medicare. Yes, its costs are going up at about twice the rate of inflation, but private coverage is going up at three times the rate. Care’s expensive because we have a stupid system.
Now the same guys who called Medicare socialist back in the 60s don’t dare touch a popular, successful way to finance care for the oldest and sickest among us. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s easy to understand, and works great.
Well then, which is it? Black and white, just as you like things: is it [socialized] Medicare, or send us shopping? Are you for it or against it? Why?
In any case, none of that is even on the table– all the plans in the house and the senate are basically subsidies for private insurance, along with some regulation on what they have to cover, and who has to have insurance. That’s all it is.
To borrow from the Whine guy,
Equality to a lib means we ALL get Medicare. Sign me up. If it’s good enough for grandma, it’s good enough for me.
Scooter
August 25th, 2009
2:09 pm
Thanks RW
Road Scholar
August 25th, 2009
2:11 pm
IRYW: In keeping with the repub mantra…but is is “the best healthcare in the world” cost effective?
Normal
August 25th, 2009
2:13 pm
I frequently turkey hunt in Oklahoma. WYLD BYLL)
————–
This sort of disruption does nothing to advance democracy and the healthcare debate.
BYLL: This statement is true for both sides. Let reason Prevail…
Night Train
August 25th, 2009
2:15 pm
I don’t consider “helping”, with the threat of fines or jail if I don’t, to be the solution.
People will “help” when they can and as they can. It’s my decision, not yours or Obama’s decision to make about how or when.
Unless ALL government employees use the same ‘one payer system’ why should I use it?
Citizen of the World
August 25th, 2009
2:16 pm
The government exists to allow us to accomplish, through government, what cannot be handled through private enterprise. That’s why we have public schools, DOT roads, and fire departments, police forces, parks, etc., for which we all pay, and from which we all benefit, even if we don’t personally use them.
The time has come for a public option for insurance. If that ultimately leads to single-payer government health care in the future as some fear, it will only be because the private for-profit insurance model continues to be an inadequate solution for what people need.
Why are these for-profit insurance companies so afraid of competition? Why not let the marketplace decide?
Songbird
August 25th, 2009
2:17 pm
Her husband needs to be fed thru a tube in his stomach. I guess one of her neighbors is going to help her with that. Ugh, probably not unless they are trained to do that, i.e., nurse or doctor.
My guess is after this video gets seen all over the world, the cheap bastards at the insurance company will pay up like they should have done in the first place.
Normal
August 25th, 2009
2:17 pm
Pretend I’m George American…IT’S ALL OBAMA’S FAULT. EVEN GEORGE BUSH IS OBAMA’S FAULT. WORLD WAR TWO IS OBAMA’S FAULT. EVERYBODY KNOWS HE INVADED HAWAII, HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE SAYS SO…BLAME OBAMA NOW!!!
Stan
August 25th, 2009
2:20 pm
I would be afraid of the competition because in order to have fair business competition the field must be equal. A government run system does not have to make a profit to stay in business. A government run system gets to set all the rules on the field and change them at any time they choose. A government run system is about control.
itstrue
August 25th, 2009
2:22 pm
“A government run system is about control.”
…by the tax payer, not the shareholder.
AmVet
August 25th, 2009
2:23 pm
That laughably stupid Okie was your typical do-nothing but talk Republican.
Neighbors helping neighbors??? I’m surprised these f&ckups didn’t promote that REALLY CHEAP CURE years ago!
BRILLIANT!
Yeah, like I want Wyld Byll, or White Andy diagnosing and treating ANY problem ANY of their neighbors have!
And I for sure want Bud Wiper performing physical therapy on that man.
These corporate owned fascists are NEVER going to have the integrity or balls to take on their moneyed masters at Pfizer and Aetna.
Because we the people are NEVER going to make them.
And that poor schmuck of a woman is not NEARLY profitable enough for them, or you, to care.
And we all know there are literally hundreds of thousands of her in this nation.
Working their asses off their entire lives to get treated like so much chattel by the plutocrats. And to lose everything because some dickhead in some office in Chicago, or pick a city, decides, “Nope no soup for you!”
And the American Mussolinis in Washington are so emboldened they no longer even PRETEND to represent real people.
But those dolts in OK will likely send that “come see me (but not the guvmint!)” scumbag right back there again and again for yet more abuse and neglect.
So go ahead and keep shucking and grinning for the status quo. Or at least “changes” that are so insignificant, they mean nothing to the average, decent American worker.
Way to go conned, you are getting ever closer to making ours a government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations…
Marc
August 25th, 2009
2:23 pm
Jay did you check and see what their coverage was? Did they pay for this kind of care? You don’t know but you sure can point fingers. Will Obama plan cover this? Coburns answer was PERFECT!!!
jt
August 25th, 2009
2:24 pm
Health Care Anguish Level—————-Code Pink.
Deficit Threat Level—————————-Code Red
Second-Hand Smoke Level remains constant.
Smug Warning over Middle New England.
Public Option or No Bill
August 25th, 2009
2:24 pm
The collective statements in the last two years by Drs. Price, Camed oburn, and Gingrey make most sorry these 3 were ever admitted to med school. They illustrate that if you’re an MD and a Republican congressman, you have little concept of how healthcare is working in the US today and you’re a total pawn of the insurance companies. Georgia has more of these MD whackjobs than any other state which says something about the educational system in Georiga that’s ugly.
Congressman John Tanner from Tenn. is typical of the scumbag Blue Dog’s who are on the payroll of pharmaceutical and insurance companies big time. He is critical of the public option. Ah wonders why–could it be Taniner knows anything about the horrible milieu of healthcare ruined by the insurance industries today?
Of course not. It’s about Tanner’s being a street whore like all the other Blue Dogs–Evan Bayh’s wife takes $400,000 per year for sitting on Well Point Boards and she has no job.
Tanner received:
$128,697 from Insurance Companies
$96,999 from Pharmaceuticals (Ain’t that close to $97,000 some of you math majors?)
Lawyuhs $60,531
Nursing Homes $59, 500
Tom
August 25th, 2009
2:24 pm
Indeed there are millions of horror stories/truths occuring daily resultant of today’s U.S. healthcare nightmare. Welcome especially to the years of Missing-Link BushDrunk & all his GOP goose-stepping supporters. All of them typically terrified of truth and reality.
Little People, all.
david wayne osedach
August 25th, 2009
2:25 pm
This woman did the right thing taking her case to the public. One way or another she will get help for her husband.
Bosch
August 25th, 2009
2:26 pm
So…….he says to come see him (the government) – then the government is not the solution (translated, you can come see me, but we aren’t gonna help you) – and that the answer that no one talks about it that we should all help our neighbors.
So, he’s basically telling the woman that she needs to ask her neighbors for help.
That’s about the most retarded response to this debate I’ve heard yet.
thomas
August 25th, 2009
2:26 pm
Citizen of the world,
Or those insurance companies could fail because our government has shown they have no problem operating in the red and that a profit, much less a reasonable loss, is not a matter they are concerned with.
Therefore would it not be more honest to say that some pivate insureance companies would be forced out of business because, the government can offer free health care to some and very cheap to others.
You know the same way those other government ran insurance providers have been losing money for years.
HEALTHCARE IS NOT A RIGHT, IT IS A RESPONSIBILITY.
Don’t settle for sub-par coverage, do the research. Understand that if you have a cheap package of insurance, you will also recieve cheap coverage.
Bosch
August 25th, 2009
2:27 pm
Ewwww. Normal – don’t you feel the need for a shower now?
Public Option or No Bill
August 25th, 2009
2:28 pm
We have one of the worst infant mortality rates in the world by any criteria. We have some of the worst overall healthcare in the world by any criteria. I have a dog who reads more medical literature in an hour than Andy has read in his life. Of course Andy has no statstics to back it up and I have one zillion studies.
OpinionsMatter
August 25th, 2009
2:28 pm
If Coburn’s suggested solution is for neighbors to step up and help, then how about he be the first to give up his cushy health care plan (government-run, paid for my taxpayers like you and me), so that the next time he or his family experience a life-altering medical emergency, he can see what it feels like.
itstrue
August 25th, 2009
2:28 pm
“Don’t settle for sub-par coverage, do the research. Understand that if you have a cheap package of insurance, you will also recieve cheap coverage.”
…and if you can only afford a cheap insurance package, don’t look to Coburn or the GOP for help.
Doggone/GA
August 25th, 2009
2:30 pm
“A government run system does not have to make a profit to stay in business.”
And why would that be any different from the situation that would exist if someone decided insurance could be better…and started up an non-profit insurance company?
Mrs. Godzilla
August 25th, 2009
2:32 pm
Stan
Pfui!
Did public libraries wipe out Barnes and Noble?
Did next day air service at the Post Office force Fed Ex and UPS to fail?
Did public colleges and Universities take down all the private schools?
We need The American Option to keep the insurance companies honest.
Doggone/GA
August 25th, 2009
2:33 pm
“HEALTHCARE IS NOT A RIGHT, IT IS A RESPONSIBILITY.”
and we aim to change that.
thomas
August 25th, 2009
2:33 pm
itstrue,
So it is the governments job, or responsibility to help or provide insurance care for you?
Or should we focuse more on actual reform of the insurance companies, like incentives for good health.
If it is the governments job to provide health care, then would it not be logical to say they should feed us all as well?
Do you think there are that many people who are too stupid, ignorant, or disabled that they would require the government to take care of them?
I for one have much more faith in the capability of my fellow Americans.
Bosch
August 25th, 2009
2:33 pm
And if something doesn’t get done soon – and as the Boomers get older…….
And some of these town hall yellers have the audacity to talk about grandmas getting euthanized if this plan goes through. If something isn’t done soon, that will be a reality – old people will die from neglect by the scores.
Doggone/GA
August 25th, 2009
2:34 pm
Mrs G…very good!
thomas
August 25th, 2009
2:35 pm
No, they did not Mrs. Godzilla.
But not a great argument since last time I check its kinda tough to get a NEW book at the library.
So are you saying we can expect dated and used equipment and proceedures from a government ran system?
Doggone/GA
August 25th, 2009
2:36 pm
“If it is the governments job to provide health care, then would it not be logical to say they should feed us all as well?”
but no one is proposing that the government provide healthCARE…what is proposed is that the government provide healthcare INSURANCE. And, BTW, if it becomes necessary for the government to feed people because they have no other option, then yes the government should feed “us”
Doggone/GA
August 25th, 2009
2:37 pm
“So are you saying we can expect dated and used equipment and proceedures from a government ran system?”
Again, no one is proposing a government run SYSTEM…only government backed INSURANCE.
Normal
August 25th, 2009
2:37 pm
BOSCH, yeah, I do itch some…
Dusty
August 25th, 2009
2:39 pm
There are just too many questions about this particular incident. The truth is that you can have the very best paid for governement supported insurance health system in the world and somebody is going to have a hard time with it. So Bookman found one at a political rally. Of course.
Why was this woman at a political rally when she claims no one is helping her with a disabled husband? He’s by himself?
Why did the nursing home remove him? What kind of insurance did he have?
Did they have too much income to get on Medicaid?
Did she talk to a medical counselor which every hospital has and find out any available help sources?
How did Terri Schiavo stay in a nursing home for years? Who paid her expenses? Why did Bookman not cite her case?
As I said, there are too many questions about this case, real or not. But Bookman only goes for the tears and sympathy.and accusations. And, of course, a few points for the government to take care of all your problems.
Bosch
August 25th, 2009
2:41 pm
thomas,
When is the last time you stepped foot into a library?
Mrs. Godzilla
August 25th, 2009
2:41 pm
Thomas
I always call ahead and reserve the book….it’s one of the great services the Public Libraies offer.
Where does one get a “NEW” kidney or heart…..? Aren’t all the transplanted organs used?
pssst…don’t tell anybody ….HCR calls for no sterilization of
scalpels and the like when operating on conservatives….dirty hands
make for liberal election wins!
Sunshine and Thunder
August 25th, 2009
2:42 pm
It’s hard to believe that this is what Jay considers a NEWS report. This is a highly biased reporter picking out one lady in all of the hundreds of townhall’s and using her plight to advance the reporter’s agenda. Not only that what does she mean “help her husband eat”? Is she talking about a feeding tube? If he’s on a feeding tube how was he released from a hospital?
This whole thing smells.
Bosch
August 25th, 2009
2:42 pm
thomas,
To answer your question, you can get new books at the library – you just can’t keep them.
mm
August 25th, 2009
2:42 pm
Yep, we have the best 37th ranked healthcare in the world. I think we are even behind Slovania.
And most of this great, state of the art medical equipment we use comes from (drum roll)………………..
Germany.
itstrue
August 25th, 2009
2:42 pm
Thomas,
If the government can do it better, cheaper, and more justly, why not? If food were as much of a problem as access to affordable care is in this country, then the answer would be yes, the government should step in. That’s why we have a government.
If you don’t think access to affordable, quality care is a problem, you’re not seeing what I’m seeing here in the industry.
It’s not a matter of thinking people are stupid or ignorant, it’s just whether having the state finance care is a better use of taxpayer money, which already pays for about half of all health care expenses between Medicare/Aid, the VA, and Tricare. Why is shopping for an insurance plan an intelligence test anyway?
I for one would rather see Americans be secure enough with their basic needs so they can use their intelligence to start a small business, take a risk, do the things that have always made us a special place.
We can get a lot done with reform of the existing insurance market, and from a political perspective, I think that’s the only way to go.
Doggone/GA
August 25th, 2009
2:43 pm
“How did Terri Schiavo stay in a nursing home for years? Who paid her expenses? Why did Bookman not cite her case?”
I can’t figure out how the Schiavo case bears on this subject, but you know…it took me exactly 30 seconds to get the answer. Why are you too lazy to look it up yourself? Her medical bills were payed from a fund set up from the settlement for a medical malpractice suit.
Doggone/GA
August 25th, 2009
2:43 pm
“It’s hard to believe that this is what Jay considers a NEWS report”
In case you failed to notice, this is an OPINION blog…not a news report
Taxpayer
August 25th, 2009
2:45 pm
Pray it ain’t so!
AmVet
August 25th, 2009
2:46 pm
“Or should we focuse more on actual reform of the insurance companies,…”
Reform them? I say nuke them!
Seriously, reform sounds to me like rehabilitate; a euphemism for more of the same.
“…like incentives for good health.”
Of course!
But tell that to the eight year old or his parents who had the great fortune of living in that neighborhood called Love Canal. All the trips to gym and all the healthy meals in the world ain’t gonna keep those people from getting cancer and dying horrific deaths. Thanks tons Hooker Chemical.
I know prsonally, I used to shop at a mall right across the street from there…
Randy
August 25th, 2009
2:46 pm
Where does it end? Where do we get the money?
Everyone wants something for nothing.
itstrue
August 25th, 2009
2:49 pm
“Where does it end? Where do we get the money?
Everyone wants something for nothing.”
… we get the money the same place we got the $1.8 Trillion in Bush-era tax cuts. Indeed, everyone does want something for nothing.
Mrs. Godzilla
August 25th, 2009
2:52 pm
its true
actually we only need about 1/3 the dollars……..
Normal
August 25th, 2009
2:52 pm
Taxpayer
August 25th, 2009
2:45 pm
Maybe they’ll fast themselves right out of here…
Billy Bob
August 25th, 2009
2:54 pm
I would hate to legislate healthcare for all Americans on the basis of a small number of “exception” cases like this one. I know that’s not what you’re suggesting, Jay. Or is this just a liberal ploy – probably so.
Genuine healthcare reform means freeing the market to provide innovative and risk-based heathcare solutions for America. We are not a socialist country and don’t want to be. Personal freedom and personal responsbility simply mean too much to us.
Separate health insurance from the corporations, let the employer set aside a certain portion of salary to pay health premium (obtained independently by employee) and let insurance companies compete across state lines. Better health responsiblity for individuals, innovative solutions, and lower costs.
Government control will lead to less innovation in an industry dying for such. For an example of how government or union control can atrophy an industry just take a look at the auto companies or airlines. Only the innovators succeed and provide better products and services.
There will always be a segment of the country that does not have insurance and it will be up to the government to provide some minimal level of care. That’s what Medicaid/SCHIP does. Just don’t trash the whole healthcare industry while you attempt to cover the “exception” cases.
Dusty
August 25th, 2009
2:54 pm
DoggoneGa,
So Terri Schiavo got money for her care from the lawyers who brought a case against either her doctors or medical facilites. And you wonder why doctors need tort reform.
Did you answer my other questions or just the ones you want to celebrate? How can a politician, evan a doctir, without knowing the facts of a case, help anybody? The whole incident was a show & tell performance for government healthcare.
That is what you want and the only way you try to reason.
eagle scout
August 25th, 2009
2:54 pm
Dusty … It wasn’t a political rally! Jeez, it was a town hall forum on medical insurance. Are you that dense, or as the above blogger noted so lazy you don’t know the facts before you jump into the fray?
itstrue
August 25th, 2009
2:55 pm
Mrs. Godzilla–
That’s correct, and we’d actually be saving the state and federal taxpayer big money if we abolished Medicaid, rolled everyone into Medicare, got rid of 10k/yr premiums and charged a couple percent payroll tax instead. But that’s politically impossible, sensible as it is.
Public Option or No Bill
August 25th, 2009
2:55 pm
This article published in one of the most prestigious surgery journals Annals of Surgery completely destroys the ignorant myths proferred by the pubotards like Andy here. It’s statistics were gathered by the Mt. Sanai School of Medicine which is NYU’s medical center located in Manhatten. Manhatten is located in the American state of New York, and is the largest city in the United States. Mt. Sanai is one of the best medical centers in the country, and is an epicenter of world class specialists who have researched this article to proove that the US ranks poorly in every category of clinical care and zeroes in on the myths that Andy promulgates here.
Fact and Fiction: Debunking Myths in the US Healthcare System
Umut Sarpel, MD; Bruce C. Vladeck, PhD; Celia M. Divino, MD; Paul E. Klotman, MD
http://www.minnpost.com/healthblog/2009/06/15/9518/debunking_myths_about_the_us_health-care_system
Published: 06/06/2008
Reprint Address
Umut Sarpel MD, 5 E. 98th St., 15th Floor, Box 1259, New York, NY 10029-6574. E-mail: Umut.Sarpel@mountsinai.org .
Annals of Surgery. 2008;247(4):563-569. © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Dusty
August 25th, 2009
2:56 pm
Good post, Billy Bob.
Public Option or No Bill
August 25th, 2009
2:56 pm
Georgia has one of the worst infant mortality rates in the US ranking 11 and it’s usually in the top 10.
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/ranks/rank17.html
New England Journal of Medicine
US Ranks Poorly in Every Criteria for Healthcare Status
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/12/1221
Mrs. Godzilla
August 25th, 2009
2:57 pm
tort reform in healthcare…….there’s your sign!
Cherokee
August 25th, 2009
2:57 pm
“Why was this woman at a political rally when she claims no one is helping her with a disabled husband? He’s by himself?”
Always interesting to read here the comments of those who loudly proclaim their Christianity.
Dusty
August 25th, 2009
3:01 pm
eagle scout,
So no politics were discussed at the Town Hall forum, right? That is why the lady told a her case to a politician? A town hall meeting as called by any other name is still a rosy politcal meeting.
Keep on pouting, eagle scout.. You’ll get a badge soon.
Dusty
August 25th, 2009
3:02 pm
Mz. godzy,
I thought you were a Capricorn.
booger
August 25th, 2009
3:02 pm
Jay, Where did you get the idea that the US has the best health care in the world? You and your posters have been saying for months that we are number 37. Now your saying were number one?
The WHO,who ranked us at 37, listed cost and accessibility as the factors which put the US so low. Seems to me this film supports that contention. Most conservatives I know feel if a healthcare plan can be designed to address these problems, rather than reforming the entire system, it might gain some traction.
vince neil
August 25th, 2009
3:03 pm
my insurance got cancelled because the clerk at the post office had to go on break and i missed my payment deadline…………….no doubt we need a safety net for people like the lady and her husband in the video….but someone PLEASE tell me when governemt is really the answer…name the liberal(read democrat run) cities, counties or states with a well run balanced budget government……choosing government to run health care is like the woman who returns to an abusive husband because she thinks he has changed…….wake up AMURICA!
Dusty
August 25th, 2009
3:04 pm
Cherokee,
I don’t get your point or did you have one?
Answer the question. Who was taking care of the woman’s husband while she was at a POLITICAL RALLY saying her husband had no help?
Dave R.
August 25th, 2009
3:04 pm
So many things wrong with that video, and so little time . . .
How’d he get the head injury? Accident at work, or irresponsible behavior (motorcycle without helmet)? One is covered by workers comp, one has consequences.
Coburn said he’d try to do something through his office. That will probably mean looking into the CURRENT government offerings that maybe she hasn’t looked into yet. In addition, there are private foundations available to help, including local churches and charities that maybe she hasn’t looked at yet, either. Which is why Coburn says that government isn’t the answer in this issue.
And Rick Sanchez is a moron. Still bleating about the lie concerning 47 million uninsured Americans. Doesn’t he even read research that others do for him? And government today has programs that make the government an OPTION, but not the first solution to a problem, which is just what you libs want. What a tool!
So yeah, Jay, we still do have the best health care system in the world, when objectivity and intellect is used, rather than Socialist guidelines are used.
Daniel
August 25th, 2009
3:05 pm
The astute observation, gimme a break! Why should I or anyone else be forced to pay. Why not let the compassion and hearts of the American citizen help out. Government is not the solution, it is the problem. No one asked what his life strategies are. All that is reported is woe is me. I have male pattern baldness, where is my hand out so I can feel better about myself
Public Option or No Bill
August 25th, 2009
3:05 pm
I would like to invite the pubotards here, who each have an awesome body of work delivering clinical medicine to patients for years to post their documentation that “the US delivers the best medical care in the world.” It’s a pure myth.
I’m pretty immersed in what constitutes cutting edge clinical care every day. That care is delivered to well insured patients, and when they get very sick, they are dropped from their plans. Their employers are being priced out of care, and are dropping their coverage in masses. 430 Georgians will be dropped from care today by 5PM by their insurance companies and every working day this week M-F, and every week remaining in 2009.
If you want to state that members of the US House and Senate and some government employees get some of the best care in the world, you’re on safe grounds there. But when we talk about all 307 million Americans (plus or minus a few) then I’ve just documented representative articles from three of the best medical journals in the world that prove that’s just not the case.
Myth 1: The US Healthcare System Is the Best in the World
Myth 2: There Will Always Be a Certain Segment of the Population That Remains Uninsured
Myth 3: The Uninsured Have Equal Access to Medical Care Through the Emergency Room
Myth 4: A Free Market Is the Best Way to Get the Highest Quality Health Insurance for the Lowest Cost
Myth 5: We Just Cannot Afford to Cover Everyone
from Annals of Surgery. 2008;247(4):563-569
AmVet
August 25th, 2009
3:06 pm
Where do we get the money?
The amount of money is NOT the problem.
WHAT and who the government spends it on is what the hullabaloo is about.
I am often amazed that otherwise intelligent people can not seem to grasp the basic difference between cost and value. Terms like total cost of ownership mean as much to the average uninformed American cheapskate as Walmart does to an aborigine.
We spend as much as the rest of the planet combined on the war machine. Think about that. More than China, Russia, Europe, Japan and EVERYBODY else put together!
At least $700,000,000,000,000.00 EVERY year. Indirect costs cause that number to go much higher.
We lose a boatload more in corporate money grants, tax breaks, give aways and subsidies. (Toss in another healthy chunk due to uncollected taxes stolen from Uncle Sam – you and me.) You know, that uber-successful trickle down theory.
According to the Cato Institute, the U.S. federal government spent $92 billion on corporate welfare during fiscal year 2006. The biggest recipients included Boeing, Xerox, IBM, Motorola, Dow Chemical, and General Electric. Throw in another $40-50 billion annually in economic development incentives and before long it si one helluve bundle.
But hey, Boeing, GE et al are paying TOO MUCH in taxes aren’t they, conned?
And that poor woman in Oklahoma is just another mooch who wants something for nothing…
itstrue
August 25th, 2009
3:08 pm
“So yeah, Jay, we still do have the best health care system in the world, when objectivity and intellect is used, rather than Socialist guidelines are used.”
…personally, I trust the ’socialist guidelines’ like infant mortality rates, or the #37 WHO ranking, or the line-ups I see across the country outside the clinics offering free or cheap care.
What a bunch of nonsense. You call something ’socialist’ and it becomes radioactive to half the country. Talk about manipulation.
stands for decibels
August 25th, 2009
3:09 pm
Genuine healthcare reform means freeing the market to provide innovative and risk-based heathcare solutions for America. We are not a socialist country and don’t want to be.
Billy Bob, do you honestly believe that Canada is a “socialist country?”
R Cagle
August 25th, 2009
3:09 pm
Yeah, let’s put those money grubbing healthcare a-holes out of business once and for all. We’ll show ‘em.
stands for decibels
August 25th, 2009
3:10 pm
You call something ’socialist’ and it becomes radioactive to half the country.
Oh, I think that’s changing real fast. Conservatives have gone to that well a few times too many.
Cherokee
August 25th, 2009
3:10 pm
I don’t know the answer Dusty, but I’ll sure try to follow up and give her a call.
Sheeshhhh
I was moved by her problem and her tears. How can anyone claim to be a Christian, then follow up with a comment like “Well why wasn’t she home taking care of her husband?”
You should be ashamed of yourself.
Doggone/GA
August 25th, 2009
3:12 pm
“So Terri Schiavo got money for her care from the lawyers who brought a case against either her doctors or medical facilites. And you wonder why doctors need tort reform”
Oh yeah…that’s the ticket. They screwed up her brain, made her into a vegetable that required constant nursing and care and it’s the DOCTOR who is the victim? Try another one, that dog don’t hunt. A case like this is exactly why we DON’T need tort reform.
stands for decibels
August 25th, 2009
3:12 pm
Should’ve included this link in my post @ 3.10…
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/april_2009/just_53_say_capitalism_better_than_socialism
(Mind you, this is Rassmussen.)
JDW
August 25th, 2009
3:13 pm
So where should a healthcare system that in number 1 in cost, number 24 in life expectancy and number 50 in infant mortality rank?
Paul
August 25th, 2009
3:13 pm
And no one in that audience had the brains for a follow-up question of “Senator, any one of us could be next, except OUR insurance companies might just DROP us as soon as we’re diagnosed. You did pretty well from medicine – you’re a doctor, you’re worth several millions of dollars and now you’re working for government wages. But many of us aren’t getting treated well when it comes to medicine. So, are you going to do anything to protect US from insurance companies who are out to make a buck or are you going to let the abuses continue?”
Oh, and Jay – we do have the world’s best health care.
Available to anyone with the money to pay for it.
Or a good employer with great benefits.
The rest of you, sorry. But hey, you just might have a couple neighbors you could ask for help…
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)--or, I got mine and if you ain't got yours it's your fault
August 25th, 2009
3:14 pm
Well, I bet if you done some checking that guy with the brain injury ain’t took a aspirin for a year. And him with the need for care and his wife fooling around at a town hall meeting. She ain’t even willing to help herself, I know she ain’t got a right to get somebody else to help her.
Anyhow, the Lord give that guy his brain injury, it ain’t for us to go getting in the way of the Lord’s work. Sometimes when He wants to call somebody home we shouldn’t stand in the way. The Lord got his own Death Panel.
We got to keep expenses and taxes down. That trumps giving care to every Tom, Dick and Harry in the U.S. of A. Maybe if this guy with the brain injury got out and took a job he would have health insurance and his wife wouldn’t be doing this shameful begging out in public.
Have a good p.m. everybody.
Midori
August 25th, 2009
3:16 pm
Normal @ 2:17:
getalife
August 25th, 2009
3:16 pm
Obama sent that socialist nazi woman to shame tom.
Dusty
August 25th, 2009
3:17 pm
Yeah, Public Option,
Grady Hospital in Atlanta is just jam packed with all those rich folks enjoying their service.
Meanwhile, you have to step over the bodies lying on the sidewalks in downtown Atlanta.. And there’s Bookman taking their pictures. Hey, Bookie, Bush did it, don’t you think?.
deegee
August 25th, 2009
3:19 pm
Isn’t it odd that Senator Coburn said that neighbors should be the source of help for people in distress? Isn’t it more natural that family members be the source of help for people in distress? I would love to see the deer in the headlights look on the face of the people protesting in these town hall meetings if their congressional representative said something honest like, “y’know, the Medicare and Social Security funds are going broke. The taxpayers aren’t going to be able to continue to pay for your health care and retirement like they have in the past. From now on your children are going to have to start pitching in and paying for your doctor visits, medications and hospitalization.” I’ll bet that would provoke some interesting conversations about rationing care.
Chris
August 25th, 2009
3:19 pm
Daniel wrote, “Why should I or anyone else be forced to pay. Why not let the compassion and hearts of the American citizen help out. Government is not the solution, it is the problem…where is my hand out…”
Anytime I hear some ideologue say that “government is not the solution”, I have to roll my eyes. These so-called conservatives are the biggest welfare queens among us, because they cheer for misbegotten wars that they don’t want to pay for, enjoy the benefits of clean air, clean water, roads, bridges, ports, and rails that they don’t want to pay for,…(I could go on forever). Give me the world’s biggest defense, purchase fighter planes that we don’t need, don’t touch my government run Medicare, subsidize millionaire farmers, but whatever you do, don’t you dare raise my taxes–right Daniel?
Like I said, Daniel’s a welfare queen of the highest order.
Dave R.
August 25th, 2009
3:20 pm
itstrue, maybe we wouldn’t have so many infant deaths if we didn’t have so many unwed or teenage mothers, ya think?
The WHO IS a Socialist organization, talking about accessibility and cost, vs. survivability rates. I’ll take our QUALITY of medicine over any country’s any time, and any day.
And that’s the ONLY way you rank heath care.
Paul
August 25th, 2009
3:21 pm
Dusty
Maybe she was desperate enough to leave him while she sought to get help from the person who’s supposed to be working on her behalf?
Dave R
How’d he get his brain injury? Does it matter?
In the past little while I’ve had two friends with brain tumors. One was described as brain cancer. They both know what caused it – they were living and got unlucky. Both had friends and church members who helped with ferrying them to the doctors and such (one went to a VA center a couple hundred miles away). The other friend had a killer insurance policy.
Good for both of them. Because without good insurance, neither would be here. No matter how much neighbors and church members offered to help.
vince 3:03
Again, no one but the wishers is talking about replacing what we have with a govt-run program.
getalife
August 25th, 2009
3:23 pm
“‘Birthers’ now want
to see Obama’s penis:
Commenters over at Free Republic struck on a revelation yesterday: if Barack Obama has not been circumcised, then he must not have been born in the United States. Why? Because they think all American-born boys are circumcised.”
Um,
Geez.
Public Option or No Bill
August 25th, 2009
3:23 pm
From Daniel:
I have male pattern baldness, where is my hand out so I can feel better about myself.
Daniel–
Could you please direct me to the literature or medical text that expounds on male pattern baldness as a disease that you need care to cure? I believe male pattern baldness is a normal part of your development, not a disease. Surely you are aware that had you sought elective castration from a urologist in your teens you would have a full head of hair. I would be happy to post a list of competent urologists in your area who can castrate you to help prevent further hair loss.
If you want to feel better about your male pattern baldness, I can also provide a list of competent psychiatrists in your locale where you can seek therapy there should you elect not to undergo castration or if it is too late for castration.
I’m always happily altruistic to aid my pubotard friends in need. I even tried to help Andy get his Flash straight by installing a free standing Adobe Flash 10 which might have helped his problem on his spiffy Thinkpad.
Dusty
August 25th, 2009
3:24 pm
cherokee,
I did not ask “why isn’t she home taking care of her husband?”
Get your facts straight.
I asked “Who is taking care of her huband while she is at a political forum saying they have no help ? Was he alone?
Try and figure it out. There’s a difference.