Steele fearmongers on health care reform, warns of ‘health police’ who will enforce yearly physicals.
Steele fearmongers on health care reform, warns of ‘health police’ who will enforce yearly physicals.
This morning, RNC Chairman Michael Steele hosted Bill Bennett’s radio show. When a caller, who identified himself as a doctor, asked how President Obama would “mandate” preventive care, Steele declared that the government would impose a “national ID system” that would contain every American’s health information “on a grid.” He warned that this system — completely fabricated by Steele — would result in the “health police” enforcing everyone’s yearly check-up:
STEELE: Well you’ll get issued, Doc, you’re gonna issue, to your patients, a health care card that’s gonna be part of a national ID system that, you know, every time I charge something or use that card, it’s going to show up on a grid what I’ve done and what I have failed to do, according to the government plan. So the government will know whether or not I’ve had my physical at the appropriate time and then probably some health police will come knocking on my door telling me I’m now costing the system money because I haven’t, you know, gone and done my preventive care.
Listen to it:
Needless to say, no one is proposing the creation of a “health police.” Steele’s fearmongering is his latest effort to block meaningful health care reform from passing this year.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
“And then, you know, they turn me into a unicorn and I go prancing across the fields on a magical rainbow.”
They’re just randomly spinning complete fantasies now.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:02 amIs it any wonder that meaningful health care reform is proving so difficult?
We can’t address legitimate policy concerns because we can’t even get to legitimate policy concerns. The tighty-righties insist on throwing up these ridiculous fantasy roadblocks and treating them as if they were real.
… much like our trolls, might I add.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:07 amIn all honesty, I’d rather have a mythical ‘health police’ rather than the the Thought Police that the previous administration, and a certain current news network, threatens people with…
June 19th, 2009 at 10:09 amMr. Steele, I wouldn’t worry about a physical.
You need to get your ass to a Mental Health Professional for a complete Mental Health Evaluation.
1 in 5 people in the USA experience some kind of mental illness.
4 out of 5 of these people are Republicans.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:10 amNo one listens to Michael Steele anymore, that’s why he has to make more outrageously ridiculous comments. He’s become a sideshow barker, an oddity calling attention to himself.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:10 amKids say the darndest things!!!
June 19th, 2009 at 10:14 amSteele fearmongers on health care reform, warns of ‘health police’ who will enforce yearly physicals.
– - That’s correct Mr. Steele. That government proctological exam is a real doozy too. And you thought the IRS was bad when they crawled up your ass…
June 19th, 2009 at 10:15 am“Paranoia is a very comforting state of mind. If you think they’re out to get you, it means you think you matter.”
Who knew that Warhammer had such insight into the mind of Steele and his lot?
June 19th, 2009 at 10:16 amWhen do we get to hear from those people in the 21% who want their health insurance premiums to continue to get higher and higher? Maybe we will get health care reform when most of America is forced to use the emergency facilities at hospitals for their primary care.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:16 amRepublicans know how to get their agenda passed. Wait for a crisis, especially right before an election, then ram through the legislation without giving opportunity for debate.
Republicans also know how to defeat the opposing party’s agenda. Insist on debate – the longer something is debated, the more it is watered down until it no longer affectively implements the opposition’s agenda.
NOW, since BOTH parties are controlled by the RULING CLASS, don’t you think that really, we, the people, are just being played?
June 19th, 2009 at 10:16 amAs a black woman, all I can do is shake my head at him….he is such a disgrace and a total tool!
June 19th, 2009 at 10:17 amThey’re just randomly spinning complete fantasies now.
I’m trying to remember when the last time was that ‘they’ were NOT so doing, and am having no luck at all pinning down even a single moment’s worth of clear thought. Maybe when Ike warned of the emergent Military Industrial Complex? Nothing since then comes to mind that emerges from typical GOP Goppledy Goop (sotospeak).
June 19th, 2009 at 10:18 am…every time I charge something or use that card, it’s going to show up on a grid what I’ve done and what I have failed to do, according to the government plan.
Wouldn’t it be awesome if Steele really tried to stay “off the grid?” Shutting his crazy yap would be a good start.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:19 amI visited a local psychiatric hospital last week for an article I’m writing. I swear, every patient I met there is more lucid, sane, and coherent than Michael Steele. That he feels free to spew some garbage is sickening. I think it’s time for some shock therapy.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:26 amI personally would welcome a yearly physical! Right now I cannot get health insurance at a rate that comes anywhere near practical and haven’t had a physical in years, they cost too much.
Bring on the Health Police, I am waiting!
June 19th, 2009 at 10:26 amWhere do these idiots come up with this horse hockey?
June 19th, 2009 at 10:26 amWell, truth be told, if I am paying for someone’s health care, I want Health Police. I want these lazy, smoking, nonexercising, obese people who won’t even brush their teeth to be forced to take some preventative health care measures.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:26 amRepublicans hate Americans especially the uninsured. They have theirs, so too bad for the rest of us. We need national health care.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:30 amSteele is right. It kills the libs to see a black man that is conservative.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:32 amI find it ludicrous that everyone “at the table” to discuss healthcare reform has health insurance. If an appropriate percentage of that group were uninsured, we might get something meaningful done.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:33 amIronic isn’t it that Michael Steele fearmongers stupidity, has anyone checked his meds lately? As a tax payer I want around the clock reports on his intake.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:34 amThe interesting thing is that the overwhelming majority of people who are living the reality of health insurance, instead of health care, are not succumbing to this fear mongering. In fact, a Wall Street Journal poll (bound to be biased), shows that the approval of these GOP antics is down to the radical 22%ers…
June 19th, 2009 at 10:37 amSteele is right.
Except for the fact that the government already pays for his health care and there is no “Health Police” knocking down his door.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:38 amMichael Steele is some piece of work….he should have been considered a reject at the factory. Joseph Goebbels reincarnated.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:38 amObviously Repubs are not serious legislators or politicians.
They are just focus on witty quips and making stuff up to make govt look stupid and get out of the way of private enterprise.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:39 amWere all the republilcans dropped on their heads as infants ? They have no use for facts or logic. Only lies and fear. What’s worse……their followers are even more naive. They are the true threat to this country.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:42 amThe fact that it’s the Repubs who keep coming up with these disturbing, outrageous ideas should make us all even more determined to keep them from office, as they are apparently far more likely to implement their ideas.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:42 amPlease excuse the dyslexic troll. I will translate:
Jimmy Sucks Big Says:
Steele is wrong. It kills the conservatives to watch their black man who is conservative.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:42 amGawd, can you believe the stupidity of Steele and these wingnut lunatics? Its obvious these extremist Republicans are living in fear, why else would they be so morally wrong, criminally incompetent, and insanely ignorant?
June 19th, 2009 at 10:43 amThey are sick people and should not be allowed to govern. Here’s more proof all these babies know how to do is whine, blame, lie, and fearmonger. Just look at what 8 years of Bush’s conservative wingnut agenda has already done to this once great country. Fear is why they cannot come up with even one positive or constructive idea.
Jimmy Big Bucks Says:
Steele is right.
The health police are coming to get us? Really? You believe in them too?
.
Jimmy Big Bucks Says:
It kills the libs to see a black man that is conservative.
Not so much. It’s just that he’s so embarrassing. But that goes with the territory – it’s kind of like being a gay Republican, or a black KKK member.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:43 amrf7777 Says:
Well, truth be told, if I am paying for someone’s health care, I want Health Police. I want these lazy, smoking, nonexercising, obese people who won’t even brush their teeth to be forced to take some preventative health care measures.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:26 am
____________
Do you have health insurance?
If so, you ARE paying for other people’s health care.
Just sayin…
June 19th, 2009 at 10:44 amJimmy Big Bucks Says: Steele is right. It kills the libs to see a black man that is conservative.
Is that really the best you can do? ah ha ha ha… How lame..
June 19th, 2009 at 10:44 amHad he only added “and then Obama will take your guns” he would have gotten every paranoid nutter delusion into one soundbite. Way to cater to the fat, drunk and stupid vote Michael.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:44 amSteelyMike should be more worried about the brain police coming to confiscate his for misuse and abuse.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:45 amY’know, I wonder if Steele is jealous of President Obama’s fly-swatting abilities, given his own history of fly-related angst.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:50 amAnd they even fail at that modest task.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:51 amHey, Jimmy can’t spend ALL his time being scared of Big Bucks coming to rape him.
He’s got a lot of things to be scared of. that’s why he’s a multitasker when it comes to fear.
(Okay, okay, so maybe the Big Bucks thing is part fear/part fantasy. The psychology is very similar.)
June 19th, 2009 at 10:54 amYeah Steele – you GOPers have a better plan for healthcare:
June 19th, 2009 at 10:56 amEVERYBODY JUST DIE!
19 Jimmy Loves Big Bovines
POS, Didn’t you say you dislike ANYONE with a dark skin?
But you do LOVE a puppet like Michael Steele.
Why is that?
June 19th, 2009 at 10:58 amI’d rather have the health police than the lawless Dalton Gang of insurance compnies who suddenly deee-side that they’re not gon’ pay fer that operation y’all just had…Oh, and we dom’t cotton to no cancer survivors ’round here, varmint…
We need health police, because there’s no law out here.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:04 amGee Mikey…right now I have an insurance card that I have to present to every health provider I see. The data from the claims goes into a giant insurance database which I know darn well other insurers can access. This allows the for-profit insurance police to determine that should I lose my current insurance, they would not find it profitable to ever insure me again.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:14 amActually, I would love it if I could afford an annual physical – so long as any health issues that were discovered had no impact on my ability to seek treatment later.
Surely a health police would be better than the health insurance mafia.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:20 amDemocracy is DEAD – long live Corporatocracy!!!!
May the Rich rule with gleeful abandon
All hail the Supreme Leader – The all mighty Dollar!!
Soon the rightful shall take over and the TRUE meaning of the “We the People” will be unveiled when Nicholas Cage discovers the missing word “Corporate” between the & People…
June 19th, 2009 at 11:22 amYes, single payer off the table. The public option going down the drain. The mandate for individuals to purchase insurance with inadequate support from the government. Yes, the Democrats have really shown their power. Only a revolution against the ruling class will suffice. History shows that it was the threat of violence by workers that led to unions. It was the socialist revolution in Europe that led to the New Deal (only after the attempt of the upper classes suggesting an overthrow of our democracy.) Nothing less than a revolution by the people will give us back a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:27 amThe Health Police!! OH NO!!
Not the Health Police!!
Don’t worry Michael. I am sure the president will use his line item veto power to strike out that section regarding the Health Police.
What section was that in again?
June 19th, 2009 at 11:28 amRusty the republican clown says, “beware of the health police, boys and girls!”
pardon the redundancy (republican clown).
June 19th, 2009 at 11:28 amWell, gee, if we had good doctors, they would already be making sure we got our physicals. Mine sure does!
June 19th, 2009 at 11:29 amJimmy Big Bucks Says:
——————————————————————————–
Steele is right. It kills the libs to see a black man that is conservative.
It kills the libs to see a man who is ignorant. Fixed it for ya. Oh, and it’s ‘who,’ not ‘that.’ Watch it, or the grammar police will be coming after you; and they don’t like stupid.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:32 am“health police”
republicans are trying to have their cake and eat it too… using the methods of Orwell’s 1984 to both control their flock, and obstruct those who wrested power from them
The president really needs to address this idiocy point by point and call them out on it, live, on television. Ignoring it won’t make it go away.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:32 amAnonymouse Says:
Surely a health police would be better than the health insurance mafia.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:20 am
______________
Seriously. I’m so sick of them telling me to go home and get my fucking shinebox every time I submit a claim.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:33 amIf we’re to truly knock out health costs in this country, then yes, mandates such as yearly physicals would be necessary, but leaving choice in a public option would be a good step forward. Right now, I see it as the system being more a problem than the individual: restaurants galore; fast food becoming even faster; doctors who overprescribe testing and medications and delegate everything to assistants; the shortage in primary care specialists; exercise in a bottle.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:39 amWow — does Medicare “mandate” preventative care in this manner? Are all of our elderly citizens on some sort of grid that tells the government if they are getting their blood pressure checked regularly? If the guys are all getting PSA tests on schedule? If women are getting their bone density tests?
None of the people I know on Medicare experience this. While their doctors encourage regular checkups and a healthy lifestyle, there is no “police” enforcing this.
But Steele needs a new boogeyman, since his old ones aren’t scaring anyone. I doubt this one will gain much traction, either.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:40 amLet me debunk the myth of private health insurance as a benevolent business / service.
Any, ANY insurer makes a calculated bet that PREMIUMS will be GREATER than CLAIMS to be PAID.
Private insurers of ANY kind seek to make a profit by limiting their losses (CLAIMS).
That is the reason why a new insurer rejects pre-existing medical conditions and will reject “questionable” diagnosis like carpal tunnel, PST, or depression.
Medical insurers are NOT in the business of providing health care. They are in the business of collecting premiums and denying claims.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:40 amThe “Health Police” oversee our health care now – it’s call the Health Insurance companies.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:40 am*
Yearly Physicals = BAD!
Cancer = GOOD
Steele = Braindead
June 19th, 2009 at 11:49 am“…a national ID system that, you know, every time I charge something or use that card, it’s going to show up on a grid what I’ve done and what I have failed to do.”
So the national ID is now a bad thing ? So could you tell me who instituted the national ID system so that all states would loose funds if they didn’t issue ID / drivers licenses according to national standards which would then be required to do things like get on airplanes ?
June 19th, 2009 at 11:52 amThey are talking about taxing health insurance benefits if your health insurance costs your employer over $17K a year. That’s right OVER $17k. That means there are businesses paying that much per employee. People forget that the cost of every employees health insurance gets passed to the consumer or else the company would go out of business.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:54 amSorry, but I see nothing wrong with that. It’s called “preventative care”.
My sister lives in England. They send her a notice when it’s time for her annual exams (physical, mammogram, etc) and if she skips an appointment and goes 6 months out, they send a public health nurse to her home to encourage her to get in and have the tests. She’s really bad about getting a mammogram so she has had this happen to her a few times.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:55 amShould we not get the actual language? Is this a mandate for people to receive preventive care? A requirement that insurance cover preventive care? Or incentives for patients to seek preventive care? Kinda hard to debate without the actual “mandate” in front of us.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:58 amRepublican talky method #112
1. Take something you don’t like.
2. Bookend it with the words “government” and “police.”
3. Fantasize about them coming to get you.
Example:
If this brussel sprout bill passes, the government brussel sprout police could be kicking in your door any day now!
June 19th, 2009 at 12:00 pmI was unaware that getting a yearly physical was a bad thing. All things considered, getting a yearly physical seems to be the least of Mssr. Steele’s problems.
That and what would Health Police look like? Would their registered lethal weapons be a stethoscope and tongue depresser? Oh, the horrors!
June 19th, 2009 at 12:00 pmHELLO, people *SHOULD* have yearly physicals!!
June 19th, 2009 at 12:03 pmDear Republican Party,
I can’t thank you enough for choosing Michael Steele to be the Chairman of your party.
He is definitely the right man for the job.
Sincerely,
June 19th, 2009 at 12:06 pmProgressives, Liberal Libertarians & Democrats
Wow, so he can just make stuff up? There doesn’t need to be any actual legislation proposed with this details? Half of it seems to be a description of the healthcare we all have and the other half is just a bizarre paranoid fantasy. If I was less charitable and didn’t know how off the hook he was I’d say he was lying.
June 19th, 2009 at 12:06 pmSteele= Uncle Tom Samboo Yeshir Boss-
June 19th, 2009 at 12:06 pmBTW, we already have the “health police,” and they are not forcing us to get yearly physicals — as if that would be a bad thing.
The “health police” are know-nothing insurance company bureaucrats dictating to doctors and patients about health care decisions.
June 19th, 2009 at 12:08 pm…
the only troll to stand up for
mike steeles is jbb?
sad.
:(
June 19th, 2009 at 12:45 pmWhy does anyone even care what Steele says because it is always something absurd.
June 19th, 2009 at 12:57 pmYearly checkups could be a good thing.
I would think that a Repuke like Steele would really like that special “Finger Probe” examine.
June 19th, 2009 at 1:19 pmSteele can’t back up a single thing he said and he is not in the know because he has NO access to what is going on he is just fear-mongering to his base which is slowly shrinking.
June 19th, 2009 at 1:36 pmIf anything the insurance companies are already telling us when we can and cannot see doctors so really the argument of people intervening in care is moot. I wish someone would remind me and encourage me to get a physical. If we would just have more preventative care available to EVERYONE then maybe we’d be a lot healthier nation. That can only be a good thing :)
June 19th, 2009 at 2:02 pmGod forbid I get the minimum recommended preventive check. There are millions and millions of Americans who forgo proper health and dental checks so they simply don’t have to deal with the insurance companies.
June 19th, 2009 at 3:26 pmThe Health Police, they come to me in my bed…
June 19th, 2009 at 3:49 pmA yearly physical is a good idea so what is Steele’s problem?
June 19th, 2009 at 5:42 pmFunny, I’m with the VA, have a service-connected disability, and all I get is letters. They could legally withhold my pension, but they don’t. I wouldn’t blame them if they did. They’re real busy treating the vets that show up, I guess. I should make an appointment for a check-up, though. Guess I’ll do that Monday. I have an extraordinary aversion to doctors, and often don’t go when I should, but I think most people would get the check-ups done if they weren’t a financial burden.
I don’t think the public option intends to become the health police, but is being compelled to have regular check-ups in exchange for health care an unreasonable burden? I don’t think it is. In fact, I don’t have a problem with that being a condition for insurance, so long as employers are also compelled to allow people to comply without penalty.
June 19th, 2009 at 8:49 pmEarth to Steele. Private insurance companies are already demanding annual physicals in exchange for lower premiums. That is the case with the insurance provider at the company I work for. Depending on your health score you either have to show year over year progress or you pay a higher rate. Surely Steele must know this so why is he being so dishonest here?
June 19th, 2009 at 11:01 pmThank you..
Sesli Chat
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:57 amSesli Sohbet
Sesli Chat
Sesli Sohbet
Seslikent
SesliChat
SesliSohbet