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Today's breathtaking, tone-deaf, quote.
I remember back in the 80's when Ronald Regan increased the nutritional value of school lunches by defining ketchup as a vegetable - viola' every hamburger now comes with a serving of vegetables.
In this great republican tradition of fixing problems by changing the meaning of common words words comes this doozy from John Goodman, who helped McCain craft his health policy:
"Anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort..... So I have aSo in a nutshell, McCain's plan is: do nothing and let the taxpayers foot 100% of the bill for uninsured Americans. But it's even worse than that, by proposing that emergency-room care be considered a primary form of "health care" - John McCain ensures that those without insurance will not be able to receive care until it becomes an emergency: THE MOST EXPENSIVE POINT at which to address health issues, and most likely to result in death.
solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The
next president of the United States should sign an executive order
requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any
American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau
should categorize people according to the likely source of payment
should they need care."
Anyone who thinks Roe vs. Wade is the biggest issue in this election is CRAZY! Read the whole article, it's almost heartbreaking to think this guy might be setting policy next year.
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Comments (21)
Ha! I think I have just solved unemployment!
Seriously, though, this is a big issue. The sheer stupidity of this "plan" is breathtaking. Hopefully we can get it out in the open.
"John McCain has a plan to reduce the number of uninsured people to 0 by the end of his first day in office. This is achieved by erasing the number 47,000,000 and replacing it with the number 0. No, this is not a joke. John McCain's health plan is that you can go to the emergency center and therefore effectively have insurance."
August 28, 2008 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
This almost dips into "Nobody would believe they're that stupid" territory!
I'm starting to think that we need to get more repetitious. i.e. keep posting these things every so often. It seems that lots of stuff flits by so quickly and people don't want to be seen as spamming so they don't keep after it.
August 28, 2008 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think he knows that "emergency rooms" provide most of the non-emergency care for uninsured people. They use the emergency room, whether it's truly an emergency or not. Some insured people do, too.
August 28, 2008 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's true, but they are still more(as in extremely)likely to wait until a problem becomes serious/physically painful before seeking help. The insured people who go to the emergency room for care generally fall into this category also - but the government isn't their "payer of last resort".
There is probably a decent savings to be had by convincing those insured emergency-room-goers to take a more proactive approach towards their own health. I imagine that insured folks are more expensive(and likely to have serious problems) if they play it this way just like uninsured.
August 29, 2008 1:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Don't even joke about this! In my country the conservative party HAS "lowered" the unimployment rate by redefining the meaning of the word. No joke!
And they lowered the number and the cost of government employees by letting those same employees privatize their services. Of course these services now cost a lot more, but the one spending measure that "really matters" has gone down.
(I'm starting to think that it might possible to solve most problems, short of death itself, by the simple and inexpensive means of redefinition of meaning and shifting the viewpoint. Elect more conservatives and soon most of the world's problems will be gone, hooray!)
August 28, 2008 3:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
That happened in 2001 and now we have a 482 billion dollar deficit.
August 28, 2008 6:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Absolute, breathtaking stupidity. This makes GW Bush look like he has half a brain. That Goodman said this in public is living proof (added to Phil Gramm's comments) that McCain can't be trusted anywhere near the White House. "My friends, George Bush just started the systematic rape of the American public. Just wait until I am done with you..." (Sickly yellow smile that scares small children)
August 28, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
For Republicans its just a game of spin, PR and playing games with numbers, and lives.
'The government' does not 'foot the bill' for emergency room visits.
The hospital and doctor eat most of uninsured unpaid by patient emergency visits as a loss. The patient gets minimal care and no follow-up unless they can pay up.
Bush/McCain wanted to cut the measly gov't payments for doctors in June by 10% which eventually would cause the collapse of veterans Tricare and also Medicare for seniors.
August 28, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
For Republicans its just a game of spin, PR and playing games with numbers, and lives.
'The government' does not 'foot the bill' for emergency room visits.
The hospital and doctor eat most of uninsured unpaid by patient emergency visits as a loss. The patient gets minimal care and no follow-up unless they can pay up.
Bush/McCain wanted to cut the measly gov't payments for doctors in June by 10% which eventually would cause the collapse of veterans Tricare and also Medicare for seniors.
August 28, 2008 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great post, but disagree with " ...it's almost heartbreaking to think this guy might be setting policy next year."
It IS heartbreaking. I have no doubt that if McCain is elected (shudder), our country and society may be weakened beyond repair.
Thanks. Rec'd.
August 28, 2008 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Long Lines at Nations Hospitals as President McCain's HHS Tells Uninsured They are Covered by Government Paid Care in Emergency Rooms
The Republican solution to the millions of uninsured Americans - another disaster brought to you by folks who do not have a clue how to run a health care system or a government.
August 28, 2008 1:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
And remember what Michelle Obama's job at the Univ of Chicago Hospital was??? Setting up regular **appropriate** clincs in the neighborhoods for on-going coverage because of the PROBLEM of too many people coming to the hospital's ER.
I don't want to think of her becoming another intruding-into-policy First Lady like HRC, but boy I bet she could steer them toward some really good quotes and facts and figures on this topic!
How do they say these things with a straight face? Or sleep at night?
August 28, 2008 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder if Goodman's position shouldn't be debated seriously. When we were battling Walmart, we used the cost of treating uninsured Walmart workers at the local emergency room as an external cost of having Walmart in our neighborhood. I wasn't aware that the federal government picked up any of that cost.
August 28, 2008 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm speechless. I can't believe the mindset. I had to search for an article I read on NPR about a man who DID have insurance and almost died due to ER negligence, here's an excerpt and link:
I told a young receptionist, "I think he's dying … probably having a heart attack."
She pulled out a paper form and started asking questions: "What's his name? Social Security number? Does he have insurance?"
It seemed possible that he might die, right then, while she rattled off her list of questions. She couldn't seem to understand what "emergency" meant. Never before or since that afternoon have I felt like seriously threatening another person physically. But I had to try something extreme.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93809839
August 28, 2008 5:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dang, here's a link to the original content:
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/25/6/1664
August 28, 2008 5:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Lady, if you let him die here, you’re going to be the second person to die in this emergency room this afternoon!" - from the article.
Bottom line is McCain has or will have the usual long list of Republican cranks, nitwits, delusional crackpots along with the Karl Rove lie and spin machine.
They don't care about you, your family, or the future of this country, they only want power to enrich themselves. The government is just a tool for them to use in this endeavor. They sure as hell don't care about or know how to improve our health care 'system'.
August 28, 2008 6:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's funny is Ronald Reagen led to the (domestic) failure of Bush 41's presidency while Bush 41 led to Clinton's domestic triumph.
August 28, 2008 6:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep, that John McCain -- he's really a genius. Do you know how the old Soviet Union got rid of Typhus (a diseas spread by fleas)? They prohibited its diagnosis.
So McCain declares anyone who shows up at an ER by definition must have insurance, ergo no one DOESN'T have insurance.
Welcome to the gulag americano -- compliments of our brother in lock-step: John McCain.
August 28, 2008 9:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
And when Joseph Stalin was told it was genetically impossible to produce a perfect socialist man in a single generation, he banned the study of genetics. Authoritarians are authoritarians, left or right. What we're really fighting here is the authoritarian need for certainty and clarity. They cannot handle ambiguity or change. If the repukes had their way, we'd be permanently stuck in 1955 with the cameras banned from showing Elvis Presley's undulating hips on the Ed Sullivan show.
August 29, 2008 5:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is just more of the (Mc)same. After all, early in W's first term we learned from the White House that, essentially, "the truth is what we say it is". (And, even back then, no one asked Ari to define "is".)
August 29, 2008 10:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
We all know that most complaints about not having health care and a crappy economy are psychological in nature. If we tell people they have health care and the economy is great they will stop whinng and get back to work.
Sincerely Lindsey Graham
August 29, 2008 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
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