Red States Have the Largest Numbers of Uninsured. They're Also Opposed to Healthcare Reform. Why?
By Susie Madrak Wednesday Sep 02, 2009 4:00pmVia Katiebird, this not-so-surprising news.
Once again, we validate the "Iron Law of Birtherism":
Reporting from Washington - Wyoming, with an economy marked by farming, ranching and small businesses, has a disproportionate number of people without medical insurance. And by that measure and others, its people are among the likely winners if Congress approves a healthcare overhaul.
But if Republican Sen. Michael B. Enzi was expecting a pat on the back from his constituents for working with some of his fellow senators to seek bipartisan agreement on the issue, he was disappointed.
Last week, Enzi held a town hall meeting in his hometown of Gillette. And when he told the 500 people in the audience that he believed both sides could eventually strike a deal, it turned out that wasn't a popular thing to say.
A state legislator even stood up and demanded that Enzi pull out of the congressional talks altogether, and was widely applauded by the audience.
The scene in Gillette was replicated in towns across the U.S. last month, as screaming taxpayers filled TV screens with criticism of healthcare proposals. The clashes dramatized a conundrum faced by lawmakers such as Enzi who are seeking compromises.
Some of the most vociferous opposition to the proposals before the House and Senate comes from residents of rural states that could benefit most if the present system is revamped.
"The states that tend to be more conservative have a higher rate of people who are uninsured," said Ron Pollack, executive director of FamiliesUSA, which backs a healthcare overhaul. "As a result, healthcare reform is going to provide a disproportionate amount of resources to those states."
And of course, they're the people who have been regularly told that taking any help from the government is "socialism" - although Medicare does seem to have slipped in under the radar.
Login or Register to post comments.
As an Oklahoman I can tell you that the main reason for the big opposition is because you can only get conservatively biased news here. As a result the people here are just brainwashed into thinking that the crazy talk that they get from various wackos like Limbaugh and Beck is true. My God, I would just about give anything for liberal radio to set up a station around here, or at least some publication that gave an alternate opinion! My only choice is to subscribe to XM Radio, and to get on the net and look for other perspectives. Who else is going to do this? People are too lazy! So they are fooled into thinking that "Obama-care" is going to turn us all into communist, instead of saving our economy.
many don't even get MSNBC on their cable but they get Fox for free and all the rightwing radio they can stomach. They are brainwwasheed because they don't have a choice of healthcare or what the heaar on the radio or see on TV.
Football NOT A TENNIS BALL!
but we need to have sharp talking points---using the words that will get reactions--not lengthy explanations that cause people to trun off.
A trigger would give Insurances Cos FREE REIN FOR 3 YEARS!
A trigger would NOT CONTROL COSTS!
A trigger would NOT PROVIDE COMPETITION Till the Companies are proved to be abusive in court!
A trigger is a financial windfall to the Insurance Co's, Hmo's and Big Pharma! 46 million new custumors and NO negotiations on drugs!
A trigger is the republican DO NOTHING SOLUTION!
A trigger is a copout by Blue Dogs and repubs to their Corporate donors!
hooray for you, but for all those who chose
ignorance, they deserve what they get for burying
their heads up the asses of those who lie to them.
they don't want health reform, then let them keep
the high costs health insurance they have or no
insurance even when the public plan is passed.
why should the rest of us pay for stupidity?
retorical question.
but i can guarantee you when health reform passes
with the public plan in it, they will be the first
to come running and push all of us out of the way to get it.
The republican leaders want the health reform to fail...
And if it does not have a single payer or public option IT WILL and Obama and the democrats will fall right on the a.. as the republicans are pulling and hoping for.
I can not believe that Americans gave Obama and the democrats so much authority in the senate , house and the presidency and they are throwing it all the window , because of their arrogant stupidity..
They are becoming what the American citizens voted out of office in 2006 and 2008..
If Emanuel was not so d... arrogant about moving the democrat party to what he calls the center while recruiting all the republicans to run and be elected on the democratic ticket there would be no problem.
But Emanuel is a first class a... and just as he arrogantly took credit for the success of Dean in building a 50 state program , he is arrogantly killing the left , progressive democrat party...
Notice the statement coming from Emanuel is that we should pass any bill now without s single payer or a public option ,, which we can do later..
WHY NOT RIGHT NOW.... Because Emanuel does not want it in the bill...
Emanuel is known to keep using his hand with the missing finger on persons ,,to get his way.. Just look at what happen to Howard Dean..
I was going to lambaste the educational systems in place for the woeful lack of knowledge of these folks. While that is true, the solution, other than a huge gerrymandered forced secession (in case Utah didn't want to go to the cartels) is to use a previously successful model of information dissemination.
During the cold war Radio Free Europe dispensed news and propaganda to those in totalitarian states that had only right wing media. If private interests could raise the capital to get progressive radio broadcast over these expanses of freedom from democracy, then at least there would be a choice in the message..
Of course anybody with a PC already has choice, so then it reverts back to evolution being the only fix for stupid.
Stupid is as stupid does . . .
Ya' Kay-n't Fix Stoopid!"
Think about it. The people needing the most help are the uniformed and less educated. And less connected. Ask yourself the simple question. Why would they be against it? Because they are dumb, stupid, morons, idiots. You could tell these fucks that fish fly and birds swim and they'd be dumb enough to buy it. We do live in a dumb country. Insensitive and dumb.
Sometimes I think we'd be better off if we just gave these states the boot and moved on. At the very least, I think the more progressive states of the Northeast and West Coast should think about joining together to provide universal health care and forget about the rest of these people. That's probably 80% of the population and that ought to be enough. Then we could just pull the plug on Medicare and they can have all the privatization they can stomach. Of course, if we tried it this group would suddenly find that the Federal government does have a vital role in our lives; telling us we can't do that. Just like with emission standards, food safety. etc...
The GOP and their radio henchmen have succeeded in getting a vast number of people to back positions that are contrary to their best interests.Through scare tactics and appeals to "real Americans", they've managed to link patriotism, faith and rejectionist views as one. They've also managed to foment armed unrest and cast veiled threats against the President and sell it as consistent with the constitution as intended by the founding fathers. Secessionists are now minute men and Obama is King George the 3rd. The Red Scare is child's play to this group of GOP guerrillas.
... as in ... maybe Lincoln should have let them go when they tried to leave?
Everybody might be happier if that had happened. We wouldn't have them sucking up all our hard-earned tax dollars for one thing.
*
Ah... maybe because they are so f
uckin stupiduninformed.Texas could be the "mother ship" of idiots. They relish in their ignorance. They pride themselves in stupidity. It is a tough race to the finish line who claims the most ignorant per capita. Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, etc. We, from Texas, are glad we have Alabama and Mississipi to keep us steps from the bottom dwellers. When I think I have heard it all I see congressman Gohmert (mine) displaying his moronic self on national TV. He hangs with fellow idiots in congress. It must be contagious.
. . . maybe Lincoln should have let them go when they wanted.
*
These "red states" have: 1) the highest high school drop out rates 2) the highest divorce rates 3)The highest murder rates 4) the highest teen birth rates 5) the worst economies 6)the most obesiety in the country. 7) the lowest hospitalization care. Plus a 25% incestual rate. It's simple how they would want to shoot their own foot. It's that damn 5th grade education. And the "south will rise again"? Oh puh leeese.....They oppose any dynamic that causes change.
It's the same kind of "weird fear and misunderstanding" like the guy who yelled out..."keep your government hands off my medicare"(medicare is a government program).
They consider themselves to be the most religious and patriotic of all Americans. Their myopia may be meth induced or grain alcohol influenced but information and evidence are lost on these creatures who prefer their truths to be simpler and unencumbered by inconvenient facts which refute their stubborn beliefs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zfFjcgu8MM&fe...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeguOPBE-vs
The parts of the country that have no other opinions than those they get from the hateful liars on the right are once again going against their own self interests. It is sad but redstaters are being dumbed down to a point that they are hurting themselves and their families because they believe the hate they receive in enormous doses and they are not intuitive enough to ask questions or investigate to find the answers. It is a sad thing to observe.
It’s sad but it seems that there won’t be real health care reform this year. Just another corporate giveaway (a so called reform to cover a fraction of the uninsured and make Private Health Insurers be more “understanding” in the process, make them, after dropping the government option and reassuring them of Congress’s total belief in their private sector/for-profit health care as the way to go!), a reform that after being finalized, will still create the worst “universal healthcare” of any modern Western nation. It will be far from being “universal.” If anything, the only thing “uniquely American” about it is how truly pathetic and heartless it is going to be. Read on: http://www.newsmediatube.com/2009/09/02/has-r...
Perhaps caused by a third high-rate factor in red states... Nah, don't even need to say it.
As I recall there's an amendment in the House (Kucinich) and a bill in the Senate (Sanders) that allow each State to adopt a Single Payer Option.
If the "Red States" prefer buying Health Care thru the blood-sucking Health Insurance Leeches and Big Pharma Vultures - then by all means LET THEM.
Dennis Kucinich; Exciting Single Payer Healthcare Update
Any state-by-state plan messes up one goal of health care reform - moving from state A to B could cause one to lose the good plan one had in A.
More reason to stay in a state with bright enough people to have such a system.
BUT, I have to agree that it wouldn't be ideal. In Canada health is a provincial responsibility but has to be funded in part by the federal government. Healthcare is almost always the main issue in both provincial and federal elections.
But why not a coalition of states? The states that would support this have a most of the population.
.
Good things happen to good people! This is a good country! There will be a "Public Option". So let it be written, so let it be done!
By the looks of it i think you're right - there is little to fear and lots to be gained by including the public option. Without it they're just rearranging the furniture.
"And of course, they're the people who have been regularly told that taking any help from the government is "socialism" - although Medicare does seem to have slipped in under the radar."
Oh, and dont forget subsidies to the faming and cattle industries. They're not socialism either apparently
Just ask them if they are going to refuse to take social security when they are old enough and watch their heads explode.
Wonder how they feel about all them fur-i-ner doctors?
Because competitive dogma is based on winners and losers. Red States obviously would "stick out" from the rest of the pack.
A lot of these people would rather cut off their own nose than to provide "undeserved" health care to people they feel are inferior.
Are there any correlations between minority population size and health-reform opposition?
Has the "welfare" code word for race lost its meaning and now can refer to trailer-trash?
Do states that have small minority populations fear that health-care reform would encourage the wrong type of people to move to their state?
and realize that the GOP is holding them back and has been lying to them.
They also have the worst statistics on education - it's not a coincidence - it's a contributing factor.
*
they are so used to getting lied to by their politicians, that they expect it?
Or perhaps these people actually realize, there is no reform going on. Insurance company bailout. Nothing more.
Why ? Because they are the most backwards , uneducated and ignorant people in the country , plain , simple and true . The dumbest and the most easily deceived .
thay don tolrate no younuns. They are the last stop for our manufacturing jobs before they head offshore.
... screaming taxpayers filled TV screens with criticism of healthcare proposals
should read
... screaming right-wingers filled TV screens with criticism of healthcare proposals
All I can talk about is me when it comes to health care reform I was denyed coverage because of the fine print in the policy. I paid in for years and I had to listen to their insurance lawyer tell me "Just because you have been paying your premiums it dosn't mean you are covered".
That is what we risk if let this chance for reform get away and I hope that there will be people who are opposed to reform will read this and ponder this question, "Are you really covered with your private health insurance"? Or do you have any insurance? How much will you lose if you get really sick and have to sell everthing to pay the bill?
I lost everything because of the fine print don't end up like me.
You've heard of Poe's law (No matter how bizzare, outrageous, or just plain idiotic a parody of a Fundamentalist may seem, there will always be someone who cannot tell that it is a parody)....well, I propose a new law- Coe's law, the conservative version of Poe's law. There is no lie too outrageous or ridiculous, when spoken by a Beck or Limbaugh, that a Republican will not mistake for the truth. Face it folks, we are an idiocracy run by corporations. These people really are that stupid....certainly stupid enough to vote against their own interests.
Everyday I see new examples of the ignorance of the American public. It's truly amazing.
Most of the people disrupting the townhall meetings don't even know why they're there, much less what they're talking about. They only understand a few basic concepts they heard from Glenn Beck:
Obama = bad, Democrats = evil, Republicans = good, Fox = fair and balanced, healthcare reform = bad.
So once the health reform bill is done, wouldn't it be great to see Obama push an education reform bill ? The right would positively go ballistic. "Keep your government hands off my kids. The constitution says we can be as stupid as we like !"
Dumb question. They've been told to.
There was a video clip on C&L last week wherein someone said they were educated by Glenn Beck, Hannity and either Savage or Levin.
Beck said recently that no one in his family had an educaion, and Hannity said that he had dropped out of school three times. I'm not sure about the other two.
But getting your education from Beck and Hannity is frightening enough
fuck anybody thinks we have a shot in hell at being here as nation in 100 years is beyond me.
I won't see it, but I now doubt our continued existence past the next 2-3 generations.
Too much stupid. Not enough smart. And many, many people who despise the idea that anybody would think they offer less value to a conversation because they didn't finish high school.
Add to that a government that likes a stupid, unhealthy populace and we are on a fast train to nowhere.
I wonder what this land mass will be known as in 2109.
United States of Canada, and Jesusland if I'm not mistaken. I foresee Jesusland being a 3rd world country worse off than even central Africa.
Not only they oppose health care reform, but they are also the largest recipients of the federal budget, taking in more money than they contribute. Now, to the question: why they oppose reform although they have the largest number of uninsured? Because democrats are just damn lousy ande spineless at putting their message forward. The way Obama is handling the issue reminds me of a president on the last weeks of his presidency. He should have predicted that republicans would play the fear card to get health care reform to find opposition, and fear is a powerful weapon. Now combine the sheep mentality, lack of education and fear, what do you have: Republicans.
We need to go on offense
Too long has the President been 'passive', just recently turned 'assertive', but that is not enough to win and beat those
mobstersanimals. He needs to get 'aggressive'.To borrow some psychiatric terms.
The next big plague to hit so I can see what kind of tune they'll be dancing to.
This is great news. The southerners will die out raising the average I.Q. of Americans by about 5o points. Lincoln made such a huge mistake in not letting them secede.
Haven't you seen Idiocrisy? Their women are nothing more than people factories, pumping out more kids than smart people are. For each one that dies, they have at least 3 idiot spawn to rise up in their place.
Because they are full of people too ignorant and bass-ackwards to know when someone is shitting in their mouth and calling it birthday cake. "Dyin' from cancer at 50 was good enough for my Daddy, it's good enough for me!"
I can't believe I'm the first to use this quote, it's so fitting here!
It cannot be said too often that what is going on here has nothing to do with health care, and everything to do with having an African-American president. "I want my country back!" couldn't be a lot clearer.
So what else is new? Red Staters gripe about excessive taxation, yet most of the donor states are blue states and most of the recipient states are red states. They talk about the evils of abortion, yet they have a higher rate of abortion in the red states than in the blue states. They scream against gun control laws, yet lead in murder over most other states with strong gun laws. I guess free-dumb really isn't free.
The public and especially people in red states have been brain washed for 30 years that the government is the enemy. That is where it starts. You can say anything, but as long as the government is involved some people will be against it.
This hatred for the government is a complete joke, given how much the government provides for people everyday. There is a good track record both in the U.S. (Medicare) and in every country around the world of the government doing a pretty good job of managing healthcare.
People cannot see beyond the end of their own nose. They are selfish and think I got mine so why should I help anyone get theirs. The fact of the matter is that if healthcare is reformed over a long period of time it will make the country stronger and make them stronger too.
Maybe even longer than 30 years. I'm of the opinion that this country has never gotten over the Civil War. Hatred and distrust of the government among the Red Staters has been given a pass and been allowed to fester and grow for generations. Their ideas about labor and race lead right into the South's ideas about slavery. Their 2nd Amendment fanaticism is all about the South rising again in an armed insurrection. They really are like our own version of Muslim extremists--the Muslims never got over the Crusades and the South never got over the Civil War.
Login or Register to post comments.