Bush on Health Care: It's All Your Fault
By John Amato Monday Jul 09, 2007 5:15pmPaula in North Hollywood sent over the video. Bush spoke in Ohio today and blames YOU for lawsuits on doctors, not choosing the correct health plan, being in poor health...it goes on and on. His new talking point is the "Federalization of health care." The medical industry is freaking since Moore's movie just came out. They need you dumbed down and Bush tries to do that for them. Having a health savings account won't help you when your HMO refuses treatment or won't let you see the doctor of your choice. Sorry, I shouldn't bother trying to discuss the merits. It's a waste of time...
(The servers are undergoing some changes so I'm using Youtube right now)
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Damn! I tried but I just can't listen to that fucker!
FRIST!
:(
DOH!
Sheesh! I guess Iraq and illegal immigration are also my fault.
My bad, folks!
Strip these fuckers of their wealth. That is the biggest punishment they'll ever receive-having to live in a trailer park with no AC and no health insurance (including DENTAL).
This guy just never stops. What a co*ksucker.
This is going to be an ugly, ugly fight that will only end one way -- “Federalization of health care.”
Period.
Extend Medicare to all American citizens. The insurance companies can compete for the supplemental dollars.
Have to agree that there will be socialized medicine very soon. Thank you Michael Moore.
And speaking of waiting - has anyone gone to the emergency room and been seen immediately. Has anyone tried to make an appointment with their doctor and the only available one was one or two months later. Has anyone had their health insurance deny a medical procedure.
Seriously, if Bushynutcakes is going to talk about health care, I'm going to talk about quantum physics. And what I know about quantum physics is a hell of a lot more that that idiot knows about ANYTHING! Whoops, sorry about shouting. It's just that I want to beat my head on a cement wall whenever I see a picture of him or hear his voice. I swear, every day I open up my browser and hope there will be a run on pretzels.
Dubya is one goofy bastard...and the reichwingers all supported him at one point in time...what does that say about a winger?
Along these same lines, CNN's Sanjay Gupta just apoligized for quoting false numbers in his hit piece on Michael Moore "Sicko". Apparently Moore was right, CNN doesn't do their homework.
We ALREADY know what GOVERNMENT has the best healthcare system on the planet.
Call the damn French and have them send us some consultants and COPY THE FRENCH SYSTEM.
Its so damn easy.
Ah here we go the Bush Cons are rallying to go after Moore in force.
"The majestic equality of the law forbids the rich as well as the poor from sleeping under bridges, begging in the streets, and stealing bread."
--Anatole France
When the rich need health care, they can go to emergency rooms, as can the poor. Where's the inequality???
It's as simple as that in the Chimpster's mind.
So according to Bush: "Federalizing" liability insurance for Doctors is good, but "Federalizing" health insurance for American citizens is bad. Negligent doctors should be protected by the government, sick Americans should repent for their sins? Interesting logic our Decider has.
I think that it would be in all of our best interests to avoid using the phrase "socialized medicine" - that's right-wing framing. Just call it "Medicare" -- the program exists, everyone's familiar with it, and it worked just fine until the Thugs let the insurance companies and Big Pharma gut it and steal the money. Time to take it back.
GOD, WILL THAT SHITHEAD PLEASE GO AWAY!!!!
Bush's religious and corporate cronies are sucking away tax dollars we've already paid for health and education. This latest Bush LiarPalooza will be as successful as the three month tour to try to tell us that Social Security in fifty years was the biggest problem facing us. The tour was extended a month because no one was buying it.
Now it's lawyers that are keeping us sick and ignorant? Not the fact that $12 billion a month is going into the black hole called the Iraq warm huh?
Not the fact that people are being deprived of health care and educational services because those offices are being stuffed with religious bigots.
He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and cannot relate to the everyday struggles of average people. He will preach all day about the sanctity of life when it comes to abortion, but will deny Americans universal health care that can save lives.
I mentioned before that I love my health insurance--Medicare. (I was a fool however, for getting a chronic illness; it seemed like such a *good* idea at the time).
I don't have any horror stories--just the chronic illness--but last time I was waiting to see the eye specialist, a man there was going blind. He was self employed, had had 2 previous brain tumors, and had neglected his health because he had no health insurance. And he was going blind.
Gary Neaderman @ 12:
The delivery system is in place now. It's called Medicare/Medicaid.
Gupta screwed up CNN's Michael Moore hit piece, (just keeping them honest).
Who the fuck thinks a health savings plan is a good thing? You could put into it for years and then get hospitalized and it'll be gone. One stay. Has anybody in this administration even looked at a hospital bill? Probably not.
how did they manage to get all of his supporters in one room at the same time?
miss_kitty @ 21:
Indeed. Keep it simple.
Extend Medicare to ALL American citizens.
Keep repeating it.
They actually got this shit faced drunk to go out and talk about health care?
My oh my what a miracle.
I'm currently being treated for leukemia. In six months, i'm at half a million dollars of medical expenses that has fortunately been covered by insurance. I'm 27 years old, and I will be cured of APL leukemia in 18 months. How the hell would I get approved for a health with bushes new system? I'm working part time now while recieving chemo so that I can keep my health insurance. Ironically I'm getting chemo as I type this. Its Trisenox for those interested. I'd get a 15,000 tax deduction on my income of 20,000 dollars, which dwarf my insurance costs.
This plan makes the assumption that everyone starts healthy. This is not true, ever seen a kid go through leukemia?
http://www.spockosbrain.com/uploaded_images/r3481168912-743498.jpg
L.A. Confidential @ 13:
I hope so. When readily available facts are on your side, the other guy tends to look like an asshat. Just ask CNN.
Sorry to hear that rick, so sorry, please get better.
As if we expected anything reasoned, wholesome or decent from Bush? He does death the best.
The only way to make healthcare viable is to illiminate healthcare insurance. This should be a wholly governmnent run system in America, except that it should be run by the French government.
Sorry Rick; I'm glad that you will be cured soon.
So I am supposed to save up enough money in a health savings account to cover $100,000-plus medical bills? I am supposed to just have that money sitting there just in case of an accident or emergency?
We are not going to get socialized medicine soon or easily. Tyrants never give up their power willingly or without a big fight. The criminals in charge don't want anything happening to suggest that the people have any real power here as if the people start thinking they can make a difference, then they might start demanding things be fixed elsewhere.
Hypocrite.
I'm pretty sure the government pays for Bush's health care (as well as cheney's). It has been for decades now. Yet, it's a bad idea for the government to cover the health of the regular citizens.
"people have access to healthcare in america, after all, just go to an emergency room"
Jeezus. That alone should disqualify him from commenting on healthcare.
The whole "its your own fault you're sick" is definitely a conservative meme being pushed. Yeah, you're to blame if you get cancer, get hit by a car, fall, etc...
As for "shopping" for the best price. Hard to price shop when you're lying on the ground after being hit by a car, writhing in pain.
OMG. Is he serious? He wants Americans running around shopping for the best price on health care? Yikes.
L.A. Confidential @ 28:
No that is not a beer.
Freaked-Out Canadian @ 37:
CEO Bush
You're absolutely right Smack_dab.
Sometimes I get so depressed about this country I think nothing's ever going to change. With that 30 percent who support Bush hell or high water I need psychiatric care just thinking about them.
"Safe from snoopers!"
Oh, the irony. It burns! It burns!
This country allowed the elimination of whole industries including manufacturing jobs in the auto, steel, lumber, clothing, textiles, etc. Why is the insurance industry a sacred cow?
Rick on your word, I will personally mug an insurance CEO and get you some money.
Like everything else Republicans push. Health Care is a "Product"
"We have a product for all of life's needs."
I've never been ashamed to be an American until this knuckle dragging chimp and his his puppetmaster THE DICK came to power. EFF them!!! January 20th 2009 can't come quick enough. (If we don't have a "terrorist" attack before then. If they declare martial law, you won't be able to dislodge the vermin with nuclear weapons.)
I think there's still a place for insurance and health savings accounts when it comes to wellness visits, elective procedures and anything else that Medicare would not cover (even France doesn't cover 100% of what people want/need). Universal coverage and "insurance" are not mutually exclusive.
Demand equal access to the same kind of healthcare that Bush and the congress critters have and let him 'splain that.
Hey, more bullshit coming out of Bush's mouth! Who would of guessed it?
Jo @ 1:
Amen! (November 2008 can't come soon enough.)
I am not for the government taking over health care. They are such a pack of liars who will promise the stars and produce/give nothing. And, if something like this would happen it would be a 2-tiered system; the best money can by for the ruling elite and the bare minimum for the rest of us. Look at the retirement system they have enacted. Most politicians get more in their retirement days then the average working person gets when getting up and going to work every day and compare that to the amount people get from social security. Most get very little back in return for what they "invested".
Bush talks to every audience as though they were a group of five-year-olds.
This has always been the case and, as far back as 2000, should have been the first hint that there were problems to come.
You SOB...why don't you go back to Crawford and [Deleted. Please do not advocate violence on this site, even if it involves self-harm-Sitemonitor]
The management of Medicare is privatized, and there doesn't seem to be a problem with that.
P @ 15:
I am sick and tired of this absolute lie that lawsuits drive up the cost of healthcare. Just like the rest of the lies, this administration believes that if they say it enough times it becomes true. In our current healthcare system doctors do not get reprimanded or punished when they are negligent (at least not by the healthcare community) that leaves the citizens only recourse is a lawsuit. Yes lawsuits are filed but they have no correlation to the price of healthcare. The sudden and rapid increase in liability insurance the doctors pay can in no way be attributed to our legal system. I don't know how to say it any clearer.
Bush talks to every audience as though they were a group of five-year-olds.
That used to bother me until I realized that that's how his handlers must talk to him.
We are at the mercy of our government and the med mafia. They will determine what we can die of based on the support of the industry involved.
[...] Link to Article youtube Bush on Health Care: It’s All Your Fault » Posted at Crooks and [...]
I can't believe how hard these neocons fight to save their ill gained riches at the expense of millions of Americans. Its inconcievable that somebody's wealth is more important than somebody's life or health. Capitalism is NOT the panacea for everything and Businessmen DO NOT make the best political leaders. We have enough rich people. We REALLY need to move this country toward a more Socially concerned nation with a more Humane personality.
Thank you John ...
... the more we respond to their positions as the inevitable behavior of a thug rather than the creditable behavior of a decent person that needs consideration ... the better.
Clearly what he is saying doesnt involve reason. His rhetoric is motivated by his ZSSD (Zero Sum Social Darwinist) objectives - power and wealth. Its the objective, not the rhetoric that matters. You (as I think you understand) cant 'discuss' issues with these people on merit. Rhetoric to them is a ploy/diversion/pacifier.
We need to identify their major moves in blocking reaction to Moores movie and derail them.
Jewel @ 50:
You need to read a book written by Drs Himmelstein and Woolhandler. All the myths used to scare us about universal health care are debunked. All the answers are there. And, Medicare/Medicaid is not run by a bunch of liars and they have been doing a decent job for quite a while.
Many E.R.'s require a police detail since 2000.
It must suck to be a conservative and know that the damn French have a better health care system than us. One big biter pill to swallow.
I used to think that the size of my future SS checks was going to be a major problem in my life. Now I can only hope that's the case - loss of healthcare and economic devastation (due to war, national debt, etc.) loom larger.
Thank you repugs..
One gaping hole in Moore's movie was his not mentioning the status of the mentally ill in this country. Some privatized prisons have a 50% mentally ill population, the lack of parity for mental illness, and of course there are the homeless.
So don't let Bush drive you crazy.
I agree with the very first comment. And I also wonder about the audience - were they frisked? body searched? checked for Kerry buttons? checked for W04 lobotomies? It is amazing that that many true believers can still be found in one little state, which happens to be faux-red too...
When the average hourly wage is $9 an hour, how the hell are people suppose to afford the insurance W is talking about?
After all these years, when I see a video like this, I still can't believe that f%cking idiot is President of the United States. No wonder the country has gone to hell. He's living in an alternate reality and hasn't a clue what's going on in this country.
This is misleading bullshit.
News Flash from Canada:
When I go to my doctor I am getting PRIVATE treatment. My doctor, like virtually all Canadian doctors, is SELF-EMPLOYED. He doesn't work for a federal agency, a provincial (state) government, a HMO or a corporation. His practice is a private business, which he can sell to another doctor if she retires or leaves the profession.
It is the insurance system that is PUBLIC. It is extremely efficient and cost-effective. Overhead cost in provincially-run single payer systems runs to less than 2% of the cost of health care in Canada. Everybody is part of the same insurance pool. There are no bureaucrats whose job it is to exclude sick people with pre-existing conditions to maximize private profit.
The complaint about excessive government bureaucracy in single payer care is absurd. I have never in my life had to get approval for treatment from a bureaucrat, medicare officer, or any other gatekeeper. There are no gatekeepers. Everybody pays the same insurance rates.
Bush, the rightie think tanks and the US insurance lobby keep talking about the inefficiency of government in comparison to private insurance - when the reverse is true. Health outcomes and mortality are the same or better than in the US, and everybody is insured - even though Canadians spend roughly half what the US does on health care.
Beware of the words "socialized medicine", used universally on the right as a term of derision. Interestingly, conservatives never bother to define what "socialized medicine" actually means. Personally I don't consider what we have in Canada to be socialized medicine. To me, it means a system in which everything is owned and operated directly by the government - like the NHS in Britain, which owns the hospitals and employs the doctors.
Most public health systems allow for supplemental private insurance for those who want and can afford it (Canada is pure single payer). Is that "socialized medicine"? I call it Public/Private health care. Call it what you will, it works.
Even the British commodities brokers and junk food producers are jumping into the act and ordering their media scribes to counter.
Obese survive heart attacks better
AP - 1 hour, 27 minutes ago
LONDON - While being fat increases your chances of a heart attack, some studies suggest a puzzling paradox: Obese people seem to have a better chance of surviving one.
Lots of diseases are caused by poor environmental quality. And this idiot is degrading the environment left and right. And this is supposed to be our fault?
Molnardian @ 65:
Work three or four jobs to "make ends meet". Or work a job just to have health care. A uniquely American phenomenon.
Where do they find these dumb assholes that will just sit there and applaud like trained monkeys? Can't someone out just snap out of their malaise and tell that idiot off! Damn it, I am so sick of our fearful leader not going up against anyone with a different opinion!
So says the f*ckhead who drank alcohol and snorted cocaine most of his adult (i.e. man-child) life!
The fact of the matter is that total legal expenses (lawyers, courts, insurance, and everything else) account for 2%-5% of the total cost of healthcare.
Now let's discuss one Bush's good friends, Dr. McGuire, who is chief executive officer of UnitedHealth Group Inc., one of the nation's largest health-care companies. He draws $8 million a year in salary plus bonus, enjoying perks such as personal use of the company jet. He also has amassed one of the largest stock-options fortunes of all time.
Unrealized gains on Dr. McGuire's options totaled $1.6 billion, according to UnitedHealth's proxy statement released this month. Even celebrated CEOs such as General Electric Co.'s Jack Welch or International Business Machines Corp.'s Louis Gerstner never were granted so much during their time at the top.
Dr. McGuire's story shows how an elite group of companies is getting rich from the nation's fraying health-care system. Many of them aren't discovering drugs or treating patients. They're middlemen who process the paperwork, fill the pill bottles and otherwise connect the pieces of a $2 trillion industry.
What's come of this $8 million a year, plus an estimated $1.6 billion in stock options? Think how many extra people could be covered a year with that $1.6 billion. Especially when the company also did this:
The Arizona Department of Insurance on Friday ordered United Healthcare to pay civil penalties totaling $364,750 — the largest fine in the department's history — for violations of state insurance laws. State regulators said United Healthcare illegally denied more than 63,000 claims by doctors without receiving all of the information needed to accept or deny a claim. The company also failed to follow state laws for promptly notifying doctors and patients about about decisions and appeals, the state said. United also violated a 2002 agreement to correct previous violations, the state said.
Freaked-Out Canadian @ 37:
Actually you can do this online in at least one state and i think it's a great idea. Here's a link to a site that actually compares pricing between hospitals
http://www.comparecarewv.gov/
"Health Savings Accounts"??? Save what? Most folks are living paycheck to paycheck. What gall.
I'm sure Dr Gupta is saying that Bush has a point here as all MSM is probably doing the same.
Hell Man Bush Kills Me. LOL. Aw Hell man he kills everyone.
Its not his fault....Its yours cause you didn't impeach his ass... C'mon man... you all voted for him and the war. Its Congress fault. Yeah man its them the democrats man they did this cause the republicans keep blocking everything they try to do. So yeah man its the Democrats fault man.
Damn Democrats fault, yeah man thtas the ticket...
If the Republicans were still running everything the country would be all better by now.
Yeah. Cause Bush is smart man he didn't mess up anyhting man. Its not Bush's fault that the Republican senate is blocking everything the democrats try to do.
Its all our fault for not getting rid of more Republican scum so they can do something.
Yeah, helping your own countrymen, all fellow citizens get affordable health care is bad man. Yeah Bush must be right if they can't afford it, Fcuk'em let'em rott in the gutters where the ambulance drops them off man. Thats the America I want to call home. The kind of America the KKK & the Nazis love. Yeah i hate those people that can't afford health care.
Cause its all their fault. Right Mr. Preznit?
My brother in law is a Doctor. He got out when the Insurance Companies started telling him how, when, where, and why he was going to practice medicine.
What the fuck is he rambling about? What a fool… and voted twice into the most powerful position in the world!! Homer has a higher IQ than this idiot.
And those clapping zombies… I ‘m surprised they aren’t in uniform.
Knowing that just one critical illness or just one accident can cause the loss of everything -- house, car, family, job -- all gone -- must also be included in the mix. Stress can cause poor health and the stress we have suffered under this administration, oy, vey, it is a wonder we aren't all the walking wounded.
Right, and who has enough money left over after paying all their bills to put into a health savings account, let alone enough that would cover anything? What total morons.
Look what they feed you during a hospital stay. Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Jello, Canned Fruit, Some plastic meat or something rejected by the airlines.
Then look at the bill.
What an idiot!! He's totally clueless. It's the working and middle class that get totally screwed when it comes to healthcare.
I wonder how many "clappers" they planted in this audience.
L.A. Confidential @ 82:
LOL!!!!
Be patient all, "The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth" These bastards don't realize whats commin to them!!!
He's WRONG! It's CLINTON's FAULT!!! Everything is Clinton's Fault. From the Extinction of the dinosaurs to the rise of the Third Reich, it's all CLINTON's Fault! The fact that I don't have any fucking money to PUT into some kind of "savings account", which could never accrue fast enough to pay a fucking hospital for 3 seconds of hangnail surgery ...it's all CLINTON's FAULT! The fact that Bush has wasted enough money on this frigging I'm-better-than-my-daddy war to provide health care for every one of the 40 million of us who can't afford insurance is CLINTON'S FAULT!
They'e all crooks. To hell with it---vote for ME!
Tom @ 74:
Tom -
Question for you: if you were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer or a neurological disease, would you choose your treatment on the basis of price?
If so, good luck to you.
Actually, it's a trick question. Aside from a limited number of non-essential procedures (e.g. cosmetic surgery and optical laser surgery), doctors are generally not allowed to compete with each other on the basis of price. It's against professional rules.
Did he actually say we need private health savings accounts in order to give ourselves financial incentive to stay healthy? Wouldn't a better incentive to be no account and no plan at all, so that if we get sick we're up shit's creek without a paddle? I'd sure feel motivated to eat my veggies.
Jo @ 85:
It's true if the Doctors don't kill you the food will.
Perturbed @ 89:
With our food supplies dominated by China imports the past 16 years we're screwed no matter how look at it anyway. They aren't going say your dying of anti freeze or melamine poisoning.
How is it he was let to ramble on and on in such an awful way? Who took him off his leash? He's a national embarrassment. No one with any sense whatsoever would believe one word of this BS - he's saying the most idiotic things.
*
Hey---try this. Go to any hospital and tell them that you would like a quotation on some surgery---say, an appendectomy. In WRITING, with all the additional stuff like anesthesia and the 12-dollar aspirins...See what they tell you!!!!
And they aren't going to say your dying from sweating away making your boss rich under unhealthy conditions either.
Your going to get a bill. As in an avalanche of bills. If you can't pay that you damn well can be sure they are going to come after your house and everything else.
Thats the game today.
Republicans---the party of responsibility. If something goes wrong---someone else is responsible.
And Check out the Nursing Students they are cranking out these days.
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v78/210/102/82400376/n824...
The Chimp grew up in gilded cage, groomed and pampered by worker-chimps. He hasn’t a fucking clue what challenges face the average American family. That scattered speech is a perfect example of how out-of-touch he is with the rest of us.
The Chimp - “We HAVE healthcare, any person can walk into an emergency room.” (May not be an exact quote, but there is no way I am going back and listen to that senseless slack jaw mispronounce and trip over his rambling speech again to get it right)
Who the fuck walks into an emergency room for primary care? Let me rephrase that, who the fuck walks into an emergency room for primary care that pays for that care out of their own pocket actually has to pay for the care out of their own pocket?
“Treat me for this sinus infection.”
“OK, that will be $400.00. Cash or credit card?”
What a silver-spooned piece of shit.
Freaked-Out Canadian @ 37:
He's a complete and utter idiot.
If he had even half a brain - he'd never give voice to such irretrievably inane drivel.
I have a theory on why the GOP worked so hard to demonize the French though - not because of their health care program - but because the French had a revolution where they beheaded all their elite class - not just the monarchs.
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L.A. Confidential @ 96:
In case you ever wonder why they can get a needle stuck in you without 10 tries to draw blood. Or the Doctor took off your balls instead of an appendectomy.
Meander @ 7:
This sounds good - but if they don't want to do this - I'll settle for the same health benefit package congress gets from the federal government.
Either one guys - toss a coin.
*
I really get a kick out of him when he tries to act like the teacher of the citizens of this country.
" Hea, Hea, Yeah did you ever get a bill for something that some one else is gonna pay for and then try to figure if something else is cheaper cause you didn't pay for it some one else did. And bye the way the technology in that new hospital y'all got here in Cleveland. Wow that some nice looking machine S-H-O-O-T YEAH! Now if your not paying for something that you should be paying for and you can't afford it well then why didn't you save some money in case sumpem like this might happen. So there are some people in DC think that the government outta pay for it if you can't afford it. Well hello ????we all ready have that and its called M-E-D-I-C-A-I-D read my lips here people.
Everything is so simple in my mind and the only way for you to get health care is to have a special health care savings plan which offers i-n-s-e-n-t-i-v-e-s OKAY. That way you want to save money for that because there is an insentive. And that is not Federalization
Its called more seperation between you and economization of your health care stituation
that can only be handled by free maket nationalization of a private health care nation.
That way you have saving account for your retirement a savings account for you and your families health care and a savings account for taxes and you'll have a special savings account so you can afford to go to work to buy gas because if you don't have that none of can go see a doctor. APPLAUSE!!!!
I have to believe that these people were told a really bad comedian was performing. So, they had to applaud politely, horrified at just how bad and seemingly drunk and ignorant the comedian was. Either that or they were the zombies that President Mcfuckface and his handlers travel with every time their circus hits the road.
Remember when healthcare started to gain traction at the end of the 2004 campaign? Bush wheeled out the same arguments about medical savings accounts, electronic records, etc. But once re-elected he did NOTHING do implement these. Instead, his little willie was all hard to privatize Social Security, which had NOT been a campaign position. He only brings out these tired canards when momentum builds to do something about the horrible scandal that is our healthcare (non) system in America. Bottom line: for him and his friends, the system works just fine, generating record profits while millions delay or forego necessary treatment.
I have some of the best insurance available and I can't get an appointment to see a Dr. for TWO MONTHS. They say 'go to the emergency room' - which then charge you up the ass and which insurance only covers a percentage of, minus the deductible.
Let's see - $10 dr. visit copay or $250 deductible, plus a percentage of thousands of dollars for an emergency room visit? HMMMM.
I can only imagine what it's like for someone without health care - currently of which there are nearly 50 million people in the U.S. - 1 out of every 7 citizens.
Bush jabbering on about this stuff is like a 10 year old talking about nuclear physics - and I think the 10 year old would make more sense.
Man o' man, I'm as pasty and sullen (as long as these clowns are in the WH) as the next fella, but LOOK at that pasty, sullen, Fox-target-demographic audience. What do they do, grow GOoPers from pods? E-frikkin'-gad.
Gregorio @ 23:
I'd bet no one in CONGRESS has ever looked at a hospital bill either.
They're the other part of the problem.
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L.A. Confidential @ 99:
[Bonkers reflexively crosses both hands over his crotch]
Bush = Merchant of Death
Is it just me or is anyone else really really sick of that lying, corporate sucking , slimeball sack of shit yet? Fuck ! he makes me sick to my stomach and im not even American. Just another one of his cue card, townhall , handpicked crowd ,bullshit sessions.
I am covered very nicely thank you by the public health system in Tokyo, where I live. No insurance in the US. Three years ago visiting family, I got a staph infection that didn't respond to oral antibiotics. Ended up at the emergency room for a three day stay getting antibiotics IV. I could have done IV as an outpatient, but w/o insurance, that wasn't covered, so I had to stay in the hosp. Lovely people, lousy food. The cost: 12,000+. Was able to negotiate that down to about half with the hosp. asking them what the medicare rate would be. The nice Catholic sisters who run the place even let me pay it off over the course of a year interest free. Still, no small burden at all, in fact a horrifying cost to have three days of IV, no surgery no nothing.
I didn't ask the price of things ahead of time. Which was good, because if I had, I don't think I could have brought myself to get the treatment I needed and may have lost my arm, or my life.
You mean Bush is not taking responsibility for something he didn't create in the first place?
Excuse me Mr. Amato, but as much as Bush is a complete idiot and the biggest danger to America since Hitler, please don't expect someone to take responsibility for something they didn't create.
In this speech Bush is not "blaming" anyone. What he is saying is that in order to improve healthcare, it is up to each and everyone of us. He is saying what a President should be saying, and that is a service like healthcare should be placed into the hands of its citizens.
Now, having said this, this does not mean that this is what he is really doing nor does it mean this is what he is really making his government focus on. If he was really interested in doing this, he would get his muddy paws off of healthcare in its entirety. He would ban the mandatory monopoly medicaid and medicare programs and allow people to choose for themselves. He would also have a legitimate investigation into the insurance industry to prove fraud is taking place. Moore's movie does not prove fraud is going on. But as President, he is caught in a bind, because he is living in a country where the majority of people have become complacent in educating themselves and have become dependent on government more than any other generation in the past.
Mr. Amato, the American citizenry, if they are going to be able to continue to compete with the rest of the world's economies and raise their standards of living, MUST take more responsibility in how to live their lives, and this includes taking more of a role in handling important issues like healthcare. What I mean by this is that our country needs to stop whining about things we think we have no control over. We also need to stop complaining that the government should be doing this or that for us. We need to make our lives better by ourselves.
If you want to place blame on anything, place the blame on the Federal Reserve that, in league with the government, has continually printed new money and in so doing systematically and slowly impoverished the poor and middle class over the last 84 years. Also blame this in its role, and along with other government programs, to completely destroy the American productivity sector that has all but disappeared. A less industrious nation is less able to deal with the less well off among us.
What will eventually happen is that all sick people will have to ask their relatives to hold fundraisers to cover the cost of critical care. I see this all the time in my area already, with people who are seriously ill and HAVE health care. It's their fault they just don't have the right health care plans, according to Bush. I guess it's their fault they're sick! Blaming the victims is what compassionate conservatism is all about.
I hope Michael Moore keeps on talking about this issue. He has the administration shaking in its collective boots.
What is this, Dubya on the Comedy Club? Access for everyone to good healthcare at a reasonable cost! Course he has that, and everyone else in the federal government has "federalized medicine."
So OH is just as crazy as ever. What is wrong with people in this country?
Gigi Gryce @ 102:
Hmmm, never thought of that. They're just the traveling cast.
Trittydi. Right on
This walking talking abarition of man and all who back this plan need to understand. Invest for years like a 401k get appendicitis be in and out of the hospital in 5 hours and it would all be gone and your back at ground zero with nothing and then a child gets really sick. All this Asshat can think about is forprofit companies and how he can help them and fcuk the rest of you. You want free health care join the military so he can use your life to profit his and his cronnies.
I tried. I really tried to watch the whole clip but just can't take trying to figure out the current waltz he's doing.
He likes private insurance? Like the one that told me they wouldn't cover another pregnancy for five years after I had my first child? Like the one that wouldn't cover any well baby care? I know--my baby just needed to quit smoking and exercise more. You're home free if you just keep to a healthy lifestyle. Does Cheney know this?
We've got him now!!
L.A. Confidential @ 78:
Now that's scary. So, the people who are left must be the totally unprinicipled doctors?
Fucking clowns
Thatta-boy, George! Keep em scared and ignorant, and afraid of their own government!
But seriously, DID I HEAR HIM RIGHT?
Somewhere in the midst of all that fumbling, bumbling, conflation and obfuscation he said that Congress should create FEDERAL LIABILITY INSURANCE for doctors? So, DOCTORS should get government assistance in paying for their own insurance (Savings and Loan style), while PATIENTS can fend for themselves when it comes to paying the doctors for their healthcare. Brilliant.
Do you know what the saddest part of this is? That it took MICHAEL MOORE to kickstart a debate on how horrible the health care situation is in America, and that NOT ONE American politician (with the possible exception of Howard Dean) has shown any leadership or cojones to mention this during the twenty years that American health care has been deteriorating. They were all too afraid of being called names by the right wing flying monkey squad, or having their 20K campaign contribution from United Health yanked to actually speak the truth in the best interests of regular Americans.
According to a study by Dartmouth College that looked at malpractice premiums and payouts through 2005, jury awards in malpractice suits increased 1.6% a year since 2000. Awards are often reduced in order to avoid an appeal or to comply with the doctors' maximum coverage amount. However, malpractice insurance premiums have soared since 2000, and increased 20-25% just in 2002. Obviously, factors other than jury awards are driving up premiums.
http://insurance-reform.org/StableLosses2007.pdf
I posted this on another thread, but the myth that "socialized" medicine will deprive us of our "freedoms" is an old one. Reagan worked for the AMA in 1961 and made a record that was distributed to the Ladies' Auxiliary of the AMA. There is a write-up about this here:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/9/101017/6837
There is a link included in the write-up that allows you to hear the recording. At the end, Reagan, with no shame whatsoever, intones, "...behind it (Medicare), will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have known it in this country, until, one day...we will awake to find that we have socialism." Reagan concludes by stating that we will have to tell "our children, and our children's children" about what it was like "when men were free". BS then, BS now.
http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/reagan1.mp3
He's really sweating. Maybe impeachment's around the corner.
Annoyed Canuck @ 68:
WEll, this administration has shown Americans how effective privatization is. NOT!
kaT @ 117:
He didn't want to be a Doc in the Box.
The Rich and Wealthy go to private hospitals. They have 5 star luxury accommodations at these places.
"Having a health savings account won’t help you....."
Health savings accounts are bullshit; just another tax loophole for the well off. People in this country are drowning in debt, and the ones who aren't are barely getting by. They have no money to put into health savings accounts. Shit! Most people can't even sock away a few bucks in their bank accounts, but they're supposed to be able to put away money to pay medical bills??!! Oh yeah, I see how that works: "If I set aside 5% of my paycheck, by the time I'm 90 I'll have just enough to pay for that cancer treatment. Of course, I'll have to cut back on luxuries - like food, but what the hell! hey! I can luck out and die before I scrape up enough cash". Health savings accounts - yeah, great idea Georgie!
Six years at the helm and this moron has sailed this country back to the doubtful time of Secession and a divided nation. In two more years this deranged mental midget will have allowed us to be mortally butchered into the haves and the have-nots.
I hope Chimp, Cheney and their cabal will be taken from us in the Rapture soon. ( I’d wish worse, but the Secret Service frowns on it.)
Is my hearing going out on me, or did that idiot really say "People have access to medical treatment, just go to an Emergency Room". (Takes deep breath) George, listen very closely to me: People are already going to emergency rooms because the have no health insurance. THAT,S ONE OF THE THINGS DRIVING UP THE COST OF HEALTHCARE YOU STUPID FUCKING FREAK!!
It's one thing to encourage personal responsibility - it's another entirely to legislate it. Not everybody with lung cancer smokes, and not every obese hypertense man eats KFC 6 times per week, so stop telling people that their health system requires personal accountability.
Jesus H Christ did I actually read this correctly??!! I can't decide whether I want to fall out of my chair from hysterical laughter or bang my head against the keyboard until I can no longer think.
Who in the 9 scarlet hells let that moron chimp out of his cage and forgot to give him his happy drugs before allowing him up in front of a podium?? Carla Rove and Dickhead Cheney should be horsewhipped for sheer stupidity alone!
I said in one of my other posts that the Chimp should have had a banana stuck in his mouth. What's wrong with his handlers for not keeping a steady supply of bananas for him?
I thought I had heard every bit of stupidity I could ever hear come out of the mouth of Amerika's worst appointed preznit until now.
People, it has reached a point now that I will be following thru myself with the same advice I'm about to post here.
1. Take whatever money you may have left after paying bills, etc, and buy up any and all medical supplies(OTC, herbal, first aid kits). Every chance you get.
2. Pay yourself first before paying bills. Even if it's only $5. Each and every time. Please don't tell me that it can't be done, it's too hard to do, etc. I have only $100 every month to work with, and a year or two ago I would have said that saving is impossible. It's not. I've been using the cash envelope system since January of this year and know for a fact that this is one simple system that works. As of this month, I have $135 saved, both in paper currency and change. I will still have to pull $50 from the Pets envelope to pay for an appointment for a vet bill coming due this Friday when one of our cats will have to go in. It's hard to describe the feeling of empowerment ever since I decided to become pro active about money. Saving can be done.
3.Stock up on emergency disaster foods, water, etc. if you haven't already.
4. Be ready to defend hearth and home, because we are only a breath or two away from martial law being declared, and when that happens will be when the goons will start rounding citizens up wholesale and carting them off to the detention camps they have ready and waiting. Sound like tin foil hat crap to anyone? Google "detention camps" "concentration camps" and see what you come up with.
It's going to be a long, hot summer.
The health care situation in this country is a genuine crisis. People are losing their lives to benifit Insurance companies bottom lines. People are losing their homes because they can't pay their medical bills. It's awful - we all have personal experience with this - some of it so painful we can't even talk about it.
But what I don't understand this - why don't the kids have insurance? THAT'S truly a national disgrace. Isn't that the place to start?
If we could shame them into giving free universal coverage to kids? Then it's not a big jump to cover everyone else. And this is the most egregious part of the US health care system - that kids die and/or go without necessary health care in the F**KING USA. The most innocent - the most vulnerable and helpless among us.
Or are they supposed to have their own health savings accounts too? Government issued piggy-banks? In GOP red, white and blue?
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LMAO
Bush, the rightie think tanks and the US insurance lobby keep talking about the inefficiency of government in comparison to private insurance
I've worked in the private sector my whole life, while my wife works for one of the larger healthcare organizations in Canada. That whole inefficiency thing is crap. I've seen my wife's IT department in action, and compared to them the private companies I've worked for were rank amateurs. Of all the pernicious lies spread by the right, this is one of biggest.
I remember reading about some company that signed their employees up to a new HMO and it turned out the only doctor the people could see was something like 40 miles away. I can't remember where I read it though, but I was astonished.
kcrusher Says "Bush jabbering on about this stuff is like a 10 year old talking about nuclear physics - and I think the 10 year old would make more sense.
(Snorting with laughter) Thank you for the most excellent visual! After reading this jaw dropping headline tonight, that's exactly what I needed to help keep me focused.
It is so difficult to listen this this despicable liar speak for more than 30 seconds. That's my breaking point.
But I forced myself. Who are these people in this audience giving him applause? Are they paid extras?
I can see the Bush junior library, crayons and baby books.
I cant even listen to this man talk anymore.
Do I understand Bush correctly on his healthcare plan? Lets use this scenario as an example –
If Senator David Vitter got a case of the crabs and ruptured sphincter from the DC Madame, and also passed the crabs to his wife, who then passed those critters to her pastor, who passed them to the non-union church janitor; would everyone have medical coverage except the janitor?
As someone who is working in the healthcare profession, and has chosen to work in preventitive medicine, so that I may help control healthcare costs, I would just like to offer my point of view. I disagree with all of what president bush is saying. There needs to be a multipronged strategy to this very complex issue. The system we have right now is INEFFICIENT!!!
1) Emphasis on Preventitive medicine - Primary medicine is in sad state in US, with fewer percentage of graduates in medical schools going into primary care specialities such as Family medicine, Pediatrics, internal medicine etc. due to lesser pays (some medical students i know have loans of 200,000 just before they graduate medical school) It is easy to see the incentive of why many of us go into specialities. We must learn from the europeans who have better health outcomes: They spend a lot of their Health care money on Preventitive medicine projects such as Tobacco cessation, etc...
2) Covering the uninsured - There needs to be a health care safety net for all americans who cannot afford it. It is indeed doable. It will be much cheaper in the long run in providing access to health care to a person by helping them control their diabetes and blood pressure, rather than just waiting to treat them in the ER for their heart attack. It is also unethical (in my opinion) to deny such care (again... preventitive medicine and access to care).
3) Malpractice insurance companies and HMOs - Have to be controlled, same way evil tyrinnical corporations have to be controlled. I want to some old fashioned "trust-busting" taking affect. Malpractice insurance companies sometimes jack up the insurance rates even if there have been no claims. God forbid, there is actually a law suit. There needs to be some kind of reform against FRIVALOUS law suits, where the plaintiff may be punished somehow for bringing the law suit into court, if that law suit is blatantly absurd. For those of you who don't think this doesn't really affect medical costs, i beg to differ. It indeed changes the way mordern medicine is practiced. Where "Defensive medicine" or "cover your ass" medicine is the main stay of medical practice. I have seen doctors simply order unnecessary expensive tests in a "shot gun approach", just so they don't miss anything, no matter how improbable it may be. It does a great disservice to the patient who sometimes get footed with the bill.
4) Demoralized physician - This kind of distrustful atmosphere is not good for doctor-patient relationship and DOES impact the quality of care. Physicians in this country feel psychologically threatened by everything around them. By patients (frivolous law suits), by HMOs (refusing to pay for the services rendered), and Malpractice insurance companies (who keep increasing the costs of insurance regardless of the claims). It is a very hostile world to practice medicine these days. Unfortunately, if a physician is so stressed, it WILL affect the care they render to the patient.
We NEED to make some drastic changes in our system and learn from other countries who have done it better than us.
I just wanted to give a persepective of someone working in the profession, and still idealistic enough to believe that I may one day make a difference :).
I'd be more healthy if, like Bush, I didn't bother to read or do my job, exercised for 1-2 hours a day, and effectively took every 3rd day off (he takes a lot of vacation time).
Oh, and if I were filthy rich.
I have intractable epilepsy that I've had since 1983. Once every few months I drop unconscious and if I'm outside someone will call an ambulance on me.
This happened to me a few weeks ago. A seizure knocked me off a bicycle onto the side of the road, and I woke up in the ER with a huge bill. This has been my experience for years and years. Several times a year I wake up trapped in an ER, unable to leave until I get a super-expensive epilepsy diagnosis from some doctor who shows up after 12 hours to tell me about a disease I've had all my life.
An ER is not a good place to recover from a seizure- they don't let you have water or aspirin or anything. If you do get an aspirin, you'll be charged $20 for it. They'll physically strap you down to a gurney and leave you there completely immobilized on your back for hours, no matter how nicely you ask them to loosen the straps, so you have to hope you don't get nauseous and drown yourself in your own puke which has almost happened a bunch of times. Going to an ER is the best way to ensure a long and painfully slow recovery.
In theory I could leave the ER at any time, or tell them in the ambulance to take me home, but that would be "Against Medical Advice" which automatically means you eat the entire bill yourself and you pay double because of price collusion between health care providers and insurers. (Price collusion on the part of private corporations is OK; "price fixing" on the part of government is socialist and bad and gets snickered at under a president's breath.)
I am fully insured but since it's Blue Cross they always find some technicality and I end up making phone calls for months every time this happens. Once you wake up in an ambulance, you're trapped in the system and have to go through the motions with the ER, the insurance, the bills, etc etc etc. Once you do something Against Medical Advice you're bankrupted. Frankly I don't really need treatment for epilepsy at this point in my life anymore and I would RATHER BE LEFT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. I'm getting a medical alert bracelet that says "EPILEPSY - Do NOT call 911" but I don't think anyone will read it. Basically if I don't want to get financially ruined by the American health care system, I have to remain a prisoner in my own house.
This giggling spoiled brat thinks I have great health care because I wake up in an ER don't I? All I need is an "incentive" to change my lifestyle. I can be "born again" without epilepsy I guess.
not stupid @ 135:
Personally, I think the Bush Library will consist of three copies of "Guns and Ammo" and 2 well worn issues of "Juggs" magazine
With absolute honesty and no cheap partisan shot intended, I would now give more credibility to the statements of a crack-head homeless bum thief than I would give to George W. Bush.
I mean that most sincerely.
Hmm, let's turn health care into an experience like a trip to the DMV with a bunch of C student doctors because no one will want to go into a strictly controlled mediocre field. Does the government do anything well? Just look at our failing public schools, dishonest politicians, FBI that spy's on American citizens etc. You think you're screwed when your HMO denies coverage for something? Just wait until everything is federalized and we can't afford things like bypass surgery because of the budget deficit. Has anyone looked at what Canada is going through? Some posters above are bordering on delusional.
swats @ 138:
Great post. Very informative. Why is the practice of preventative medicine such a low priority?
Why?
Millionth Monkey, what a nightmare. Even one visit to an emergency room can be horrific.
Hope this isn't a stupid question but have you done any research on aide dogs that are trained to warn of oncoming seizures?
SwingingJay @ 145:
I think I have the answer to my own question. Because the people given the authority to make our life and death decisions are nothing more than accountants with ZERO medical training.
Even if they did make sound decisions regarding the heath of their clients, they would be fired and replaced immediately.
Yeah. I hate the DMV. Visits to the ER are so much more pleasant.
Especially the ER at a private hospital. You can practically feel yourself being rejuvenated by the free enterprise.
SwingingJay @ 145:
Thanks for your comment. From the physician's point of view, the percentage of medical students going into the primary care medical fields is much lower because of comparatively much lower pay. I think the number I saw in the news was that pay difference is 300 times more or something ridiculous like that. This difference is far lesser in countries like England, France.
Frankly, I don't understand why Government doesn't put money into primary care and preventative care... there in lies the idea of giving access to the uninsured... and therefore "Universal healthcare". People need access to proper screening of issues like high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, so that we can prevent heart attacks.
For example, Smoking is the #1 preventable cause of death and I simply don't think the government is doing enough. I think tobacco lobbyists may be playing a role. I know from experience that is very hard to access even the government established Smoking prevention programs for the uninsured. Smoking prevention will save a LOT of health care dollars - cutting lung and cardiac deaths. THAT is what i mean by primary care and preventitive medicine.
Goon @ 136:
A lot of people are saying that on this thread.
I think most of us feel that way, and I think the reason is that this issue - health care - touches us at our deepest core. While we are all disgusted with what is going on in this country - on this issue - we feel pain.
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