McCain’s Health Care Architect: I Was Joking When I Said There Are No Uninsured Americans
McCain’s Health Care Architect: I Was Joking When I Said There Are No Uninsured Americans
In an interview with the Dallas Morning News last month, John Goodman, the “Father of Health Savings Accounts” and architect of Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) health care plan, claimed that the term “uninsured” is misleading because Americans have ER access. Goodman then suggested that the Census Bureau should “cease and desist from describing any American” as uninsured.
After Goodman’s comments drew ferocious criticism, he avoided speaking to the press. Yesterday, in an interview with conservative radio host Mike Gallagher, Goodman finally commented, claiming that he was only being “tongue-in-cheek” and that anyone “on the left” who was upset had “no sense of humor.”
But he undermined this claim moments later when he agreed with Gallagher that “it’s not true” that there are “millions without health care”:
GALLAGHER: No sense of humor. And yet, there’s truth though in your tongue-in-cheek assertion because, let’s face it, there are, as you said, there’s a variety of ways that people are covered and yet the media pounds this message over and over, millions without health care, millions without coverage, millions without access to health care. And Dr. Goodman, that simply isn’t true.
GOODMAN: No, it’s not true and we’ve made it increasingly easy in this country for people to get insurance after they get sick, which is one of the reasons why we have so many people who are uninsured.
Listen here:
According to the Census, 45.7 million Americans didn’t have insurance in 2007. As ThinkProgress noted in August, Goodman’s analysis not only reflects a radical view of the state of American health care, but it also reflects McCain’s health care plan.
After his initial comments were reported, the McCain campaign attempted to distance itself from Goodman, claiming that he had only given advice on “an unpaid, voluntary basis” and that they had “requested that he not identify himself as being associated with the campaign.”
Transcript:
GALLAGHER: Recently, the group’s president, Dr. John Goodman, made some headlines. He’s a health economist and he made what I guess are considered controversial comments about the nation’s uninsured Americans. And it’s not, it wasn’t tough, it’s not tricky. Mr. Goodman challenged statistics where people say millions of people are without health coverage. And, of course this is the kind of common sense that I like from this organization. And it’s why I’m very pleased to welcome Dr. John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis to the Mike Gallagher Show. Dr, great having you on the program Dr. Goodman, how are ya?GOODMAN: I’m just great Mike.
GALLAGHER: Appreciate your time sir. We’ve got a lot to cover in a short period of time, and I certainly want to talk with you a little bit about the bailout, this controversial $700 billion blank check that the Bush administration thinks it will be the way out of the financial mess we’re in. But first let’s go to your comments about the uninsured in America. In a nutshell, and correct me if I’m wrong, but in a nutshell you said, “listen, it’s not really accurate to say we have millions of uninsured people who can’t get health care coverage. Anybody in America who has the ability to walk into the front door of an emergency room and any of our nation’s hospitals has health care coverage.” Isn’t that pretty much the gist of it?
GOODMAN: Well, what I said was that people who need health care typically get it paid for by someone else if they don’t have insurance. And one place people get health care is the hospital emergency room. One out of every four uninsured persons is entitled to enroll in Medicaid or SCHIP, which is the program for children. Many people can enroll in their employers program. And so, tongue-in-cheek I said, “maybe we should just quit counting the uninsured and instead count all the ways they’re going to try to seek money from others if they need care. But a lot of people on the left who have no sense of humor…
GALLAGHER: No, that’s true. Just ask those we’ve been talking about today, people who have been keying other peoples vehicles with car keys because they don’t like them driving around in a Hummer.
GOODMAN: That’s no sense of humor at all.
GALLAGHER: No sense of humor. And yet, there’s truth though in your tongue-in-cheek assertion because, let’s face it, there are, as you said, there’s a variety of ways that people are covered and yet the media pounds this message over and over, millions without health care, millions without coverage, millions without access to health care. And Dr. Goodman, that simply isn’t true.
GOODMAN: No, it’s not true and we’ve made it increasingly easy in this country for people to get insurance after they get sick, which is one of the reasons why we have so many people who are uninsured. Most people don’t realize it, but in the hospital emergency room, right there when they’re receiving care, people who are eligible for Medicaid can join. And if a child is eligible for the SCHIP program they can sign the papers right there in the emergency room. In fact, in Dallas at Parkland Hospital and at Children’s Hospital right next door, they sign people up in the emergency room.
GALLAGHER: Wow wow.
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48 Responses to “McCain’s Health Care Architect: I Was Joking When I Said There Are No Uninsured Americans”
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Woohoo, what a hoot, Oh he was only Joking. Oh how funny....NOT, you fcuking fool tool.
September 24th, 2008 at 9:53 amwe’ve made it increasingly easy in this country for people to get insurance after they get sick, which is one of the reasons why we have so many people who are uninsured
Stupid fcukwit is talking in circles so fast, his head passed his a$$ after making that statement.
September 24th, 2008 at 9:53 amEverything is a joke to these guys but unfortunately the joke is on us.
September 24th, 2008 at 9:59 amYeah, he was just joking -- don't you guys know a joke when you her one? What -- no sense of humor?
September 24th, 2008 at 10:01 amLying basturds.
It used to be "I misspoke" whenever somebody got caught lying their a$$ off. Now it's "I was joking"??????? WTF???
It would be so refreshing to hear, "OK -- I thought I could get away with that whopper."
And just for the record, we "on the left" have GREAT senses of humor. Which is why we don't think these lies are funny. There's way too much at stake here -- otherwise, we might laugh at the pathetic spinning efforts of the right.
September 24th, 2008 at 10:03 amAs someone who pays hundreds of dollars each month for coverage, that joke was HILARIOUS!
I've got a stitch in my side from laughing so hard!
I wonder how many people showed up at their local ER seeking care after Goodman's joke?
(wipes tears from eyes to say...)
PEACE
September 24th, 2008 at 10:04 amHil-Freaking-Larious as long as you can afford health insurance!
September 24th, 2008 at 10:07 amWhy do these people hate their fellow Americans?
September 24th, 2008 at 10:08 amYeah, my former father-in-law was like that. He'd say the most horrible things, and then would say "Can't you take a joke?"
I started doing the same to him. He didn't think it was funny.
What a whiner...
September 24th, 2008 at 10:13 amJohn Goodman Bah! Rosanne was so right to divorce him, him riding the popularity of someone with the same name. Gallagher is no better, just a prop comic.
September 24th, 2008 at 10:13 amThis ass-wipe is no funnier than John McCain. He is however as sincere as John McCain; because John McCain is the most insincere bastard I have ever heard.
John McCain, if he stepped back and was honest, would be ashamed of what he has become. I am ashamed of him. I am in awe of how he resisted those who imprisoned him during another illegitimate war of the rich but now I am in awe of John McCain for his lies and how he has become subservient to his new captors - the GOP, the neocons and the Bush administration.
September 24th, 2008 at 10:15 amGOODMAN: No, it’s not true and we’ve made it increasingly easy in this country for people to get insurance after they get sick, which is one of the reasons why we have so many people who are uninsured.
This makes absolutely no sense to me. Can someone translate this for me? Is he saying that people are uninsured because they are not sick?
September 24th, 2008 at 10:21 amOh, I GET IT NOW!! HA HA HA HA
Thousands of Americans dying because they do not have proper health insurance does make for a great laugh, doesn't it??
September 24th, 2008 at 10:24 amI have a daughter that has no health care (she works in a restaurant) and an ongoing health condition. She is one of millions of people. When she needs care, she pays it with my help. People who work in restaurants are almost always uninsured, but I bet Goodman likes to eat. I think he should ask his server next time he is in a restaurant if that person has health insurance.
These people have NO heart. They have theirs, and to heck with anyone else.
September 24th, 2008 at 10:24 amThis is how much money Republicans need for citizens healthcare..$0.00
September 24th, 2008 at 10:25 amThis is the money Republicans need from the taxpayers for their banker friends...$2,000,000,000,000.00
Can you feel the trickle down now?
Hey, John Goodman, the joke is on your shoulders. That hollow pumpkin you call a head. Hell, as often as they call their bone headed stupidity and mistakes "jokes", RepubCo should have it's own comedy channel.
Trouble is, their material is all crap. Comedy is in the mind of the beholder and their junk ain't funny.
September 24th, 2008 at 10:25 amHey McCain Putz, pick up today's NYT. It has a piece on health care debt, only its not held by big Wall Street investment houses.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/business/25health.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Two studies released Wednesday morning provide further evidence of the toll health care is increasingly placing on working families, even for those who have health insurance. And as employees are paying more medical expenses out of their own pockets, they are having a harder time coming up with the money.
September 24th, 2008 at 10:44 amWhat's actually funny is the fact that no one believes you greedy lying GOPigs anymore. And as a result, Obama is up nearly 10 points in Republican-biased polls! Now that's freaking hilarious! ah ha ha ha!
September 24th, 2008 at 10:46 amHoly living shit.
This guy isn't backing down from his original statement - he's rehashing it:
How nice! So people have access to health insurance, but only when a preventable disease becomes a life-threatening emergency. But heaven forbid we give people access to preventative care - that's evil SOCIALISM!
September 24th, 2008 at 10:46 amIgnoranceIsNotBliss Says: This makes absolutely no sense to me. Can someone translate this for me? Is he saying that people are uninsured because they are not sick?
Jibberish is the latest Republican tactic (see anything uttered by Sarah Palin in the last three weeks, and by John McCain since June).
If they make no sense, then who can tell that they are lying yet again?
September 24th, 2008 at 10:48 amMaybe it's just because I'm reading this while listening to Naomi Klein, but I can't help looking at this approach to health care as a microeconomic shock doctrine. In an emergency, people will sign whatever they need to in order to get care - they're not going to read the fine print or think about the long-term consequences.
This is becoming a pattern. Our government is increasingly being funded by emergency supplementals rather than long-term budgets. We're fixing the food crisis by throwing food at it instead of examining farm subsidies, we're fixing the oil crisis by allowing the offshore drilling ban to expire instead of focusing on clean energy. Foreign aid is increasingly focusing on emergency relief instead of emergency prevention.
There's no planning or policymaking anymore, just crisis handling. That's an inherently unsustainable way to run a country.
September 24th, 2008 at 10:55 amThe Republican way of dealing with an inconvenient problem is to deny there is a problem.
Global warming? Liberal hoax! Not happening!
Poverty? Nonsense! Theres no poor people!
US most hated country in the world? BS! Only evil people hate us!
Caught making a stupid comment? I never said that! And if I did I was only joking!
September 24th, 2008 at 11:02 amGOODMAN: I said, “maybe we should just quit counting the uninsured and instead count all the ways they’re going to try to seek money from others if they need care. But a lot of people on the left who have no sense of humor…
Maybe this is what he meant.
humor hu·mor
September 24th, 2008 at 11:02 amn.
4. One of the four fluids of the body, blood, phlegm, choler, and black bile, whose relative proportions were thought in ancient and medieval physiology to determine a person's disposition and general health.
5. Physiology
a. A body fluid, such as blood, lymph, or bile.
b. Aqueous humor.
c. Vitreous humor.
In which other subjects is Mr. Goodman able to find a rich source of humor? Degenerative nuerological diseases? Stillborn babies? Fiery jet crashes?
The struggles of the uninsured to heal their bodies is somehow funny? And we're the ones with "no sense of humor?" Here's a tip, my GOP brothers. Funny is defined as something people laugh at. No laughter, no funny. Twisted, sickly, anti-social grimacing doesn't count, not even as a smile.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:02 amJoking??? Over the past eight years, I have heard Coulter, Limbaugh, Hannity, and others less famous explain away their despicable comments by saying "I was joking" or "it was a joke". I guess that is the new way to make despicable comments, say them and then attack anyone for "not having sense of humor".
September 24th, 2008 at 11:06 amThere is nothing funny about being without health insurance. What a scumbag.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:08 am"They have no sense of humor" Damned right , I have no sense of humor when someone in my care dies because they have no access to health care. Somehow I just can't find the humor in that.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:10 amSort of reminds me of that Smith's song - Bigmouth Strikes Again
September 24th, 2008 at 11:18 amLaughing at sick people? Yep, he passes the Republican test.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:22 amThis bears repeating and is why a real change is more than just required, it is necessary:
Health care for Americans should be returned to one of the top priorities of any potential leader of this country.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:28 amCan anyone tell me what it is with the neocons and their ridiculous hairstyles?
September 24th, 2008 at 11:29 amI dont' know, the repugs have quite a track record of trying to re-write their quotes.
Just in the last week, someone who wrote a bill for a no-oversight bill for $700 billion (language specifically said no oversight other than yearly report to Congress), spent quite a long time before his Congress saying that he welcomed oversight and didn't include it in his bill as he didn't want to be presumptuous.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:39 amHa, ha, ha, hee, hee, hee--we never mean anything we say. Wait until Fox tells you what to think and Rush tells you how. Then everything will be Hunky Dory.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:41 amThis is the same stupid, tired argument that Limbaugh and the dittoheads always fall back on when he says something thoroughly stupid and easily disproven. Either he was "taken out of context", which would be difficult to claim in this case, or "it was satire" "he was just joking". "Why don't libs have a sense of humor?"
It would actually be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:42 amWhat me care? HA HA What a joke!
September 24th, 2008 at 11:48 amFred Says:
Health care for Americans should be returned to one of the top priorities of any potential leader of this country.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:28 am
______
It's so true. It solves so many of our economic and trade problems. If we really want to make the "fundamentals of the American economy" strong, and encourage productivity and innovation from American workers, let's stop pushing the cost of health care on employers, and by extension on to consumers. There's no reason that consumers should have to pay an extra $1,300 per vehicle to cover health care costs.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:48 am"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." John Kenneth Galbraith
September 24th, 2008 at 12:05 pmWhy do I hear Nelson Muntz going HaHa!!
September 24th, 2008 at 12:11 pmAs an uninsured American, I'd like to tell Goodman and McCain to f**k themselves. I've got a bum wrist because when I broke it I thought it wasn't that bad and didn't want to deal with the headache of more hospital bills. I have problems with my teeth that cause periodic pain that I still haven't dealt with because I have no idea where to go for help. I get chest pains. I have a bad back. I have worrisome moles.
An emergency room will not fix my many medical problems. A**holes.
September 24th, 2008 at 12:17 pmAh ha ha! Svlad Jelly, that is the funniest thing I've ever heard! You are a laugh riot! Chest pains, possibly cancerous moles and no health care! Har har! Stop it man, you're killing me!
September 24th, 2008 at 12:29 pmThe survivors of the 18 to 40 million that died each year, that watched the despair and illness before death due to no access to health care, I am sure do not see this as a joke.
Let the rich bastards fall... they deserve and need the journey.
September 24th, 2008 at 12:36 pmI'll be here all week.
September 24th, 2008 at 12:37 pmDid people see the news report about the mob of laid-off workers who attacked and beat the CEO to death that laid them off? Maybe we should try that here.
HEY, JUST KIDDING... IT WAS JUST A JOKE! JUST A "TONGUE-IN-CHEEK" KIND OF THING. DON'T YOU HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR??!!
September 24th, 2008 at 12:56 pm.
Can I get my teeth fixed in the emergency room...?
Can I get my eye's examined in the emergency room...?
Can I get a pap smear in the emergency room...?
Can I get a mammogram in the emergency room...?
Can I see a psychiatrist in the emergency room...?
.
September 24th, 2008 at 1:34 pmGoodman finally commented, claiming that he was only being “tongue-in-cheek” and that anyone “on the left” who was upset had “no sense of humor.”
Anyone who doesn't get a barrel of laughs out of Bush-Cheney's last 7-1/2 years has no sense of humor either.
September 24th, 2008 at 2:11 pmlaughing our f***ing asses off...
wow - you should do stand-up.
strange how the media is ignoring how a presidential candidate's advisor claims to be so glib about a plight affecting so many americans...
September 24th, 2008 at 3:17 pmOh what a funy joke...
September 24th, 2008 at 3:29 pmSounds like he's irritated that the uninsured get any medical attention. Now that's a health care policy!
John Goodman Sh##y comedian big A**hole.
September 24th, 2008 at 4:19 pm