Obama Has It Backward
We know, we know … we’re supposed to be writing about the great national health care debate or some other meaningful topic, but in all fairness to our political incorrectness this gem of a quote came from a reporter’s question about health care … so it sort of counts.
At a press conference earlier this week, U.S. President Barack Obama took a few questions from Jake Tapper of ABC News, a.k.a. the suckmeisters who gave Obama a free prime time audience to promote his government-mandated health care plan last night.
After Tapper asked two direct follow-up questions of Obama, a momentarily-befuddled President actually said this …
“I got it. You’re pitching. I’m catching.”
That’s funny, because we thought it was the other way around …
(ba-doom-ching)
Let’s face it, people. Whether it’s giving or receiving, the mainstream media loves it some BBD … err, BHO.
Comments
By randal on June 25th, 2009 at 7:52 am
I get it , too. We got the best health care system in the world–so let’s destroy it!
By Pat Hendrix on June 25th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Randal,
By no standard is our health care system the best in the world. Try reading on the subject before posting.
By sinbad on June 25th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Yeah Pat,
Our health symptom is a travesty! Why else would billionaire Saudi princes come to the USA for their health care?
Yea, Pat, why don’t you go to the CDC. It’s in Atlanta. You know, the capital of Georgia. Yea. That’s where the brightest I.D. (infectious disease) doctors work and treat the most arcane diseases in the world. Obama Care will gut R and D and dissuade our smartest from going into medicine.
Perhaps you should leave the sticky, Charleston air and take a little jaunt to the operation, right?
Put down your (morbidly obese multi-millionaire) Michael Moore’s propaganda movies and take a real road trip.
By dirtbogger on June 25th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Heres the deal, Nothing has Changed for the better with Obama. He was elected to stop the wars but he is expanding the wars. This proves that we have very little representation in government. If people understood how folks that sit on the boards for companies like Haligburton also sit on the boards for ABC, Fox, and CNN they would under stand that we are lead into war based on lies. Haligburton is a war profiteer and they get to make campaign controbutions. I know that Bush took us there but, but their is plenty of blame to spread around, for government complicity! Their was never a link proved between AL-Quaida an Sadam or weapons of mass destruction only a confession due to torture, but Jesse Ventura said give him a waterboard and an hour with Dick Chenny and he would have him confess to the Tate Murders! Some people say that Sadam needed to go to justify our actions because gassed a few thousad of his on people, but we have killed close to a million Iraqies so far and the number of dead american troops is close to that which we lost in the world trade center. If we really want change in america we need to stop funding the war machine, quit policing the world and mind our own buisness. A huge chunk of americas Tax burden is to fund our impire. We need to chang our intire forgin policy and try to become a free country once again. A Republic which is for individual liberty not the mob rule of Democricy or the Fascist cuntry that we really are.
By Pat Hendrix on June 25th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Sinbad, if the totality of our health care system was based on the preferences of Saudi billionaires and the CDC, we would be in total agreement. It isn’t. By any standard our system is broke. Double digit inflation, a lower life expectancy than almost every developed country, above average infant mortality, 50 percent higher cost per patient. Five percent of Americas account for 50 percent of the total cost of health care – that seem like an effcient system?
All that’s being proposed is a public OPTION. I put it in caps because you numbnuts are too lazy to read the details without throwing out the lame Michael Moore, Acorn, birth certificate, teleprompter nonsense that unburdens you from the difficulty of using your brain. Let me explain it: If you have a good plan, great, stay on it. Nobody is forced to go on the public option. Want to switch, okay, go ahead. If the private sector is so much better, than it should be cake walk. What’s there to fear?
I’ll wait for your conspiracy theory, peppered with references to teleprompters.
By sinbad on June 25th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I have a relative who lived in Norway, a relatively wealthy country due to its vast gas reserves. She presented to her physician with obvious neurologic symptoms. Her doctor explained that since she was over fifty, any imaging studies would require a 6 month waiting period.
She asked her doctor if there were any other options, he said no. She immediately boarded a plane to the US and within 72 hours of arriving she received an MRI which showed multiple brain lesions. Thankfully, she has responded well to her treatment of her MS by her AMERICAN physicians.
If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it is free!
(this isn’t a made up story to score a cheap political point)
By Pat Hendrix on June 25th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
I’m glad to hear she’s doing well, but the details of an antecdotal story about Norway is beside the point. Nobody has advocated constructing a system remotely close to Norway, or even England Canada for that matter. It simply doesn’t apply.
It’s a public “option” not public mandate. In any event, you can just as easily read about Americans going to other countries to have surgery because of expense. That’s a form of rationing, too.
The devil is in the details. Pretty much everybody is in agreement that our system is bad shape. How to fix, and doing nothing is not really and option when 20 percent of GDP is consumed by health expenses, is the real debate.
By vennie on June 25th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Wouldn’t it be cool if the doctors formed a union?
I know the Democrats are just in love with unions!
(I know, the Hippocratic Oath thing may compel some docs not to join a “medical union” but, hey, abortion is also prohibited by Hippocrates, and it’s a billion dollar industry which our dear government subsidizes.)
By dirtbogger on June 25th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
I agree with Vinnie about abortion and the hippocritical Pro-Life / Pro-War so called Christian right I guess it ani’t wrong to kill people as long as they are brown skinned. Yes I am Prolife and Antiwar If thats possible in this media controlled country. Cost of health care has a lot to do the fact that any time the Federal Reserve prints more money to fund war, bail out their buddies and nationalize the banks and auto industry, all the extra printed money dilutes the econimy. Like when there is too much water in the coolade and you can barly taste the coolade the same thing happens to what savings you have in the bank and the buying power of a dollar goes down. If the Dollar was based on gold and we had a peacful forgin policy health care would be more affordable.
By James the Foot Soldier on June 25th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Pat-
Your answer to “Double digit inflation” is a public option that does NOTHIGN to control healthcare costs but will likely increase that rate of inflation?
Your answer to above average infant mortality because of an epidemic of crack-addicted mothers is for me to pay for their healthcare so they can continue spending $1,000 a month on crack?
Speak the truth: Your answer to 50 percent higher cost per patient is to RATION care. It’s higher because we as Americans EXPECT the best and we have it.
Five percent of Americas account for 50 percent of the total cost of health care – that seem like an effcient system? That seems like a benevolent and CARING system to me – found in just about every single hospital in this country since they ALREADY take any patient that shows up at their doors regardless of that person’s ability to pay.
It also sounds like a system that values life to the very end (I know it’s hard for all you pro-choice liberals to value life).
Tell you what – since you’re so fond of foreign health care move your ass to Canada and don’t come back to the U.S.A for your healthcare when you get a nasty ailment that the Canadien system won’t be able to get to for 6 months.
By Dusk Mccoy on June 25th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
I truly believe our country has the best health care in the world.
I agree that costs are high, but I believe wrong-headed but well-meaning governmental policies are responsible.
For instance, in my training as a family doc, I delivered around sixty babies. Over 90% were “Anchor Babies” from either Mexico, Guatemala, Hondorus, etc. These families hardly ever paid the hospital. However, the taxpayers and the hospitals were usually stuck with the bills. Any legitimate discussion of medical reform must include reform to address this abuse and exploitation of our hospitals and taxpayers by citizens of other nations.
I’ve been a physician for over nine years and I have NEVER turned a patient away who didn’t have the funds to pay me. Furthermore, I am not aware of any physician who has EVER turned away patients who weren’t able to pay them. ( I’m talking primary care, here, not elective plastic surgery.)
Additionally, between 60-70% of medical bills are directly related to human behavior. Healthy behavior should be incentivized and unhealthy behavior should be disincentivized. Currently, the government prevents such “discrimination” in regards to health insurance, not life insurance.
It is perfectly reasonable for a patient who does not smoke and who isn’t morbidly obese to pay lower premiums than a 3 pack- a -day smoker with a body-mass-index of 50. Life expectancy is the greatest in Japan because of a diet high in fish and low in saturated fats. So let’s encourage healthy dietary habits by enabling lower premiums for patients with lower cholesterol.
My concern is that rationing of care will be the end-point of any “comprehensive governmental plan.” Governmental algorithms will likely dictate patient care. I’ve heard testimony that in Yugoslavia, for instance, the ambulances will not even respond to the call if the patient is over 65. Costs will be the major factor in medical decision-making and our policos will make sure that every election will be about health care. The government will be the arbiter of life and death.
Let’s face it, the government is broke. We are printing “funny money” that our grandkids will be stuck paying. The government has notoriously mismanaged Medicare and Social Security which are both deep in the Red. Amtrack and our postal services are also in the Red.
Why should I trust the government with my life?
By James the Foot Soldier on June 26th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Doc McCoy,
Well written sir!
I was saving the anchor baby nitemare for Pat’s rebuttal (which never came). Apparently Pat’s moveondotorg talking point sheet is only one page.
By Wm. Griff Griffith on July 1st, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Quite honestly, anyone that would argue our system is the “best” or even “better than average” is not looking at all the facts. That does not mean, however, that Congress might not make it worse. Many of Dr. McCoy’s comments were right on, even though I don’t agree with some of his thinking. We need good bipartisan participation, part of the reason I’m for dumping Pelosi, whose presence makes it more difficult.
By Laura Campbell on August 24th, 2009 at 8:44 am
Regarding health care or any other issue, it’s too bad America did not have the “take back our government” mentality during Bush administrations that is being displayed now that Obama is President.
Were it not for the 2 wars funded by the Bush baffoons, there would be no need for the funny money being printed or our government quickly shuffling around to fix all of our broken systems.
As for crack babies and America’s infestation of drugs, our government isn’t responsible for any drugs being put on the streets, is it? Nor for sending our jobs overseas and bringing in Mexicans for cheap labor. Nor for starting wars in the Middle East in the name of oil while we have alternate sources of energy.
One fine example of our government saving money in health care is by refusing, and I mean refusing, veterans dental care until they receive 100% compensation if they’re disabled. Most veterans receive 100% about a year before they die. And of course no veteran has ever suffered from Agent Orange or Gulf War Syndrome related diseases.
Keep remaining divided by religion, race, nationalism, social stratification, and the works, people. Our government, repulicans, democrats, fascists, socialists, and everything in-between is loving it and living large.