Blunt: The ‘Government Should Have Never’ Started Medicare And Medicaid
Blunt: The ‘Government Should Have Never’ Started Medicare And Medicaid
On the conservative Missouri radio station Eagle 93.9 yesterday, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) was asked to describe “the proper role for government” in America’s health care system. “Well, you could certainly argue that government should have never gotten into the health care business,” responded Blunt.
Blunt then listed off Medicaid and Medicare as examples of how government got into “the health care business in a big way”:
HOST MIKE FERGUSON: What is the proper role of government, and what are the potential impacts of the direction that we’re going right now?
BLUNT: Well, you could certainly argue that government should have never have gotten in the health care business, and that might have been the best argument of all, to figure out how people could have had more access to a competitive marketplace.
Government did get into the health care business in a big way in 1965 with Medicare, and later with Medicaid, and government already distorts the marketplace.
Listen here:
In a 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 83 percent of respondents called Medicare a very important government program while 74 percent said Medicaid was very important.
Though Blunt argues that “what we should be doing is creating more competition,” his opposition to a public plan undermines more competition. As former Gov. Howard Dean said, “why not keep the insurance companies operating in a more consumer-friendly way and give the people a choice? That’s what competition is all about — it’s giving people choices to do what’s in their best interest.” And as President Obama said recently, if insurance companies do a good job, they have nothing to fear:
Why would it drive private insurance out of business? If — if private — if private insurers say that the marketplace provides the best quality health care; if they tell us that they’re offering a good deal, then why is it that the government, which they say can’t run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business? That’s not logical.
And neither is Roy Blunt.
Transcript:
HOST MIKE FERGUSON: What is the proper role of government, and what are the potential impacts of the direction that we’re going right now?BLUNT: Well, you could certainly argue that government should have never have gotten in the health care business, and that might have been the best argument of all, to figure out how people could have had more access to a competitive marketplace.
Government did get into the health care business in a big way in 1965 with Medicare, and later with Medicaid, and government already distorts the marketplace.
A government competitor would drive all the other competitors away. What we should be doing is creating more competition. One of the reasons the marketplace doesn’t work the way it should work right now is we really don’t have the competitive marketplace that I’d like to see put in place.
I’d like to see people have many more options, instead of fewer options. The option, for instance, to continue to get insurance at work, but also take that same tax benefit and use it on their own and use it in the new marketplace that Republicans advocate…
Blunt spokesman Rich Chrismer said Blunt wasn’t saying that Washington should have never created those programs. He called that “a stretch, even for the Democrats.” “Roy Blunt did not say those programs were a mistake," Chrismer said. "He was discussing the current health care debate and discussing his belief that government would be better off organizing health care, as we did with the Medicare prescription drug program, rather than operating health care systems like the Obama-Carnahan health care plan.”
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Things would be so much easier if we just went to the local Shaman foe all our medical needs. A little datura, two lizards one with it’s eyes sewn shut another it’s ears. You know that sort of stuff..
July 10th, 2009 at 11:46 amOne of the thing that really bugs conservatives is that progressive policies, once instituted, tend to be extremely popular, cf. Social Security, Medicare, and universal health insurance, in those countries that have it. The right has to fight as dirty as they can to keep liberal policies from being enacted, because, once the people have them, they won’t allow them to be taken away. Look what happened to Bush II with Social Security.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:46 am…..and Blunt’s mom should have never started him…..
July 10th, 2009 at 11:47 amI agree, Roy. Let’s start by getting rid of that socialist, tax-supported health plan you’re currently enrolled in.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:49 amAnd these are the folks some dems and, apparently, some insiders at the White House want to capitulate to…
Which underscores the INSANITY of the “bipartisen” approach. These are popular programs that are much more efficient than private insurance.
When there is fraud, it is always the PRIVATE sector doing the scamming – usually repug supporting crooks.
The public option is widely support and even the majority of repugs want it. A single payor would be widely supported too, but it was taken off the table, largely as a concession to this crowd.
Obama needs our help and support in making it clear – THE AMERICAN PUBLIC EXPECTS REAL CHANGE AND WILL HOLD POLITICIANS ON BOTH SIDES ACCOUNTABLE.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:49 amShamon foe? Well at least I didn’t keyboard Salmon roe…
July 10th, 2009 at 11:51 amWell Said Matt… I love how they say the Gov’t can’t run a thing but they are deathly afraid of competition…much like most of the repubs.. they can’t get away from conflicting explanations…wish more people in the media would bring this up..
July 10th, 2009 at 11:51 am“… that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
-A. Lincoln
someone needs to read this…
July 10th, 2009 at 11:52 ami don’t think abe was talking ONLY about race…
I’m looking forward to Blunt announcing that he’ll now be dropping HIS “government-run health care”
I’m also looking forward to someone, ANYONE in the press to ASK Blunt why he doesn;t have private health care insurance.
I’m also looking forward to my pony and guaranteed casual sex with (insert name of hottie here)that I should be getting any day now. Aaaaanyy day now. Yup.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:52 amHealth care is simply not an appropriate service for marketplace delivery, for so many reasons. How do market players cut costs to boost profits? By delivering less service, by withholding care, and by denying care to those who need it.
The reality of managed care is an abysmal failure if one care about the health of the American people (Rep Blount probably not in that camp in the slightest).
I think this is a powerful truth which Democrats are too weak to admit.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:52 amSeriously when a public option becomes available can I apply it in any which way I choose.
If I believe that an orangutan riding shotgun in a pick up truck can heal my child’s cancer, can I take that route?
Can Moonrise Starship treat my kid?
July 10th, 2009 at 11:53 amGovernment did get into the health care business in a big way in 1965 with Medicare, and later with Medicaid, and government already distorts the marketplace.
Government “distorts the marketplace”?
You mean it could be worse than it is right now?
Blunt’s statement makes no sense. He claims he’s for more competition, but thinks that somehow a government entity doesn’t fill that role.
I think the Right just doesn’t know where they are on this. They know they’re on the side of the insurance companies, because that’s who funds their campaigns, but they also know they can’t come out and say that, so they have to hide behind their “competition” mantra, and hope people don’t notice that they make no sense.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:55 amWhy are the poor ad elderly so selfish?
It’s simple… if they didn’t want to pay for healthcare they shouldn’t have gotten sick or old!
/snark
July 10th, 2009 at 11:55 amEverything looks so easy to a simpleton!
The “marketplace” wouldn’t exist if the “government” didn’t support it and the conditions that allow for it.
To say government should stay out of the market is like saying soil should stay out of plants!
July 10th, 2009 at 11:55 amConservatives are complete As$holes.
Any of these cretins that think the public should just use private insurance companies…
…should give up their public health plan and get a private one…
…and that surely is not going to happen.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:57 amYeah, Blunt, why don’t you just kill them all and get it over with?
An elderly aunt, now deceased, was so grateful for Medicare, enacted back in the day when our government seemed to actually care about its citizens.
Blunt is a walking metaphor for the disease known as Evangelicalism. These Darwin-trashing nitwits use the concept of social Darwinism as a means to channel tax monies to the very wealthy and the privileged in this society.
To be poor is to be a sinner, in Blunt’s eyes.
Those of you who are voters in his state should remember his attitudes when he runs for office. Please stop voting for repiggies, even for local office. They are all in on the plot to destroy this nation.
We have gone from the War on Poverty to the War on the Poor.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:58 amThis goober is more than welcome to give up his goverment-run healthcare provided by our tax dollars, but I doubt he will. He just wants millions of Americans to go without.
Gotta love the how he represents his constituency. Maybe they will wise up by the next election cycle.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:00 pmLook for Blunt to next argue that we would be healthier and wealthier if we just let the old people (who did not have health insurance for life after serving in congress of course) die. Having alienated women, african-americans, latinos, gays and urban voters I guess the new Republican strategy is to lose the elderly vote.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:00 pmThe government distorts the makretplace alright. To the advantage of billionaire, transnational elitists. You should be proud.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:01 pmI guess we can add competition to the vast, ever-growing list of Things That Republicans Fear.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:02 pmI agree with nut wrench and others that if these Reich wing nut jobs and the Blue dog dems don`t like their current gov`t run and tax payer proffered health care ins they should drop it and pay for their own…….the media needs to call these guys out on it every time they open their pie holes.I would gladly pay higher taxes for medicare for my family than keep paying my premiums and deductibles we can even afford now.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:02 pm“Blunt: The ‘Government Should Have Never’ Started Medicare And Medicaid”
personally, i think he should be given a national platform on which to repeat this statement, perhaps faux news. i am sure it will play well with the faux viewer, the majority of whom are collecting social security and are on medicare.
why do cancervatives hate the elderly?
July 10th, 2009 at 12:04 pm“Health care business” should be an oxymoron but Blount uses that frame and we should challenge it. A nation that truly values its citizens will provide health care for them.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:06 pmBlunt argues that “what we should be doing is creating more competition…”
The idea that amongst corporate juggernauts the quaint notion that competition still exists is a myth.
Anyone having seen the bar scene in “A Beautiful Mind,” knows that the competing interests in a market have long rejected the competitive angle in favor of negotiating and dividing a market so that the separate entities act as a monopolistic coalition that controls the course of development and combines to lobby and set the laws governing their branch of commerce.
One only has to look to the price-fixing of ADM to see what our vaunted “free market” mythology has wrought.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:07 pmVoters must be aware of what stands their congressmen and elected officials take on issues important to their well being. This example must be remembered at election time. The voters will decide!
July 10th, 2009 at 12:09 pmBlunt is more concerned about the health of for-profit insurance companies than the health of the average American.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:11 pmMaybe Blunt thinks we should repeal Social Security too. If it wasn’t for Medicare and Medicaid, the mortality rate in the US would have skyrocketed. The idea that private insurance could best deliver health care is belied by the fact of so many people who are denied coverage and medical care. Blunt is clueless about the insurance industry, but that is no surprise since he has the health insurance through the federal government. He needs to go out and look at what private insurance is doing instead of turning a blind eye.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:11 pmAlphaLiberal Says: Health care is simply not an appropriate service for marketplace delivery, for so many reasons.
Yesterday one of TP’s commenters pointed out that health care is not a commodity, it is not production based, it is not recyclable, it’s not transferable …
I thought that was a pretty sound way to look at it.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:12 pmLet me be Blunt, Roy…you’re a conceited, arrogant dipstick who’s so out of touch with today’s realities that you should be put in a Republic museum that displays conservative antiquities.
You don’t have a clue, but you DO HAVE government health coverage.
You don’t have a plan, but you DO HAVE TIME to obstruct others.
You don’t have a conscience, but you DO HAVE TIME to blame the poor & sick for this issue to be even discussed.
What a sad, despicable person you are, Blunt.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:12 pmI agree that Blunt is immoral, but let’s be real, Jesus the philosopher died long ago, tortured to death by conservatives. If there had actually been a god, his life and many others would have been spared.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:17 pmThat’s right roy my boy – Government has no responsibility to it’s people. If they die on the streets …fu(kem.
Ya know roy, I wish you were a door – so I could slam you all day long.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:17 pmAh, but tommy, Jesus died for our sins don’t you know.
And also, don’t you know, for every question someone has about the validity of a mythological God, the Bible has a scripture to counter it. very convenient I’d say.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:20 pmIf it hasn’t already been posted, here is Kucinich opening a can ‘o whup@ss on Dr. Gratzer, who tries to slant Canada’s healthcare as “rationing.”
Kucinich should replace Pelosi immediately!
July 10th, 2009 at 12:20 pmThis. I remember when the monopoly of AT&T was broken up in order to encourage “competition.” The result was a dozen Teleco’s which have carved up the country among themselves into little fiefdoms in which they were absolute rulers. They charge whatever they want to because each territory was exclusive. None of them compete with each other. The point being that if there’s no REAL competition going on, then there’s no incentives for companies to lower charges and increase service.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:20 pmEvidence continues to mount unabated: all Republicans are greed driven idiots. Period. GOP = Greedy Old Philanderers.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:22 pmI know I’ve made this argument before, but the right-wing mantra of “competition” doesn’t work in health care delivery. Health insurance is not the same kind of consumer product as a frozen dinner or an iPod dock.
Competition works effectively to keep prices down when the consumer has the easily-exercised choice between vendors, or the choice to forego purchasing the product.
The first choice doesn’t exist in health care delivery because of all the restrictions that insurance companies put on new policyholders — waiting periods, pre-existing conditions. Once a consumer has purchased a policy, they cannot switch vendors without a lot of headaches and/or exposure risk.
Moreover, a consumer’s satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a vendor cannot be known until the service is needed. And at that point, in some important ways, it’s too late to switch.
The second condition — the choice to forego any purchase at all — is not practical for our nation’s health or economic condition, as we’ve seen. Medical treatment cannot be placed in the category of “discretionary purchase”. If you need surgery or medicine to function effectively, then you need it. Yet medical costs cause 75% of all personal bankruptcies.
So there is virtually no downward pressure on marketplace prices for coverage.
It doesn’t work the way that Blunt and the Right imagine it does.
So why should health care be any different than economics, foreign policy, law enforcement, national security, education or anything else?
July 10th, 2009 at 12:24 pmAny future candidate against Roy Blount can proclaim in a loud voice, Roy Blount wants to take away your Medicare!
July 10th, 2009 at 12:25 pmOld Folks may watch Bill O’Reilly and disapprove of gay marriage and all–but that will kill him politically.
We have a live one downstairs and I would appreciate help HERE.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:26 pmI called my congressman’s office this morning to ask if he (Patrick Murphy) was a signatory to the Blue Dog’s letter to Pelosi re healthcare reform. They called me back to say that, yes, Murphy had signed the letter, but only because of his “concerns” about provider reimbursement rates, keeping premiums under control and rural healthcare access.
I asked the very nice person how, exactly, would NOT passing healthcare reform address any of these issues? How would NOT having a public option, let alone a single-payer system, take care of these issues?
I further said that, while appreciate the fiscal “concerns” of the Blue Dogs, sometimes you have to spend money to save money in the long run and that I did NOT appreciate Murphy’s decision to support Democratic obstruction.
I find it so interesting that the Blue Dog’s “concerns” seem to dovetail perfectly with the health insurance lobbyists’ concerns.
PEACE
July 10th, 2009 at 12:26 pmHuh. I guess maybe I can contribute something to the discussion once in a while, eh, hanshiro?
July 10th, 2009 at 12:27 pmJust ask Jesus for help. He gave out free health care 2000 years ago.
I’m sure if all you conservatives prayed just hard enough, Super Jesus would return and grant all of us great health care.
What the hell is wrong with conservatives? What is wrong with my right wing countrymen? Ideology trumps all in their world.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:32 pmWell, yeah, all those stupid old and sick people should just go away and die quietly – and quit burdening the free market and the taxpayers!!!
Selfish, stupid socialist old farts!! Just die already!!!
/snark
July 10th, 2009 at 12:33 pm…And this schmuck is running for Senate next year. It’s not like he’d face a particularly robust challenge from the Right (Sarah Steelman is the only candidate left considering running in the primary, and she’s not considered a heavyweight).
Carnahan will win by 20 points.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:33 pmIt really pisses off the miserly repugniscum that old people and poor people can see a doctor and get a prescription. They resent every cent that comes out of their paychecks, but when it comes time for the rich bastards to collect their share, they’re first in line aren’t they?
My grandmother was widowed early, had to live with my parents – she was destitute (there was no social security at that time). She had no medical insurance whatsoever and depended on my father. Finally, a couple of years before she died, she was able to apply for a Medicare card.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:34 pmWhat would have happened to her without my father?
Smug and sanctimonious jerks like Roy Blunt couldn’t care less.
I’m not a God-Person, but I thought this may be fitting for some…
God bless America! Oh deary me,
God also belongs to the Muslim world too:
Let us remember how indecently
Fast the U.S shrunk to a narrow world view.
God bless America! God’s on our side!
But sadly for us God’s arms are quite wide -
And God blesses THEM, and THOSE ones there too;
Really, my friends, what’s a good God to do ?
God bless America! Let’s go to war!
It’s easy to be fanatically sure
That we own morality, we are the best -
Leading a bunch of the second-rate rest.
God bless America! We’ve guns on our side!
(Guns are a blessing when wisdom has died.)
-Richard MacWilliam
July 10th, 2009 at 12:35 pmAnd may I just say, I HATE REPUBLICANS!
Greedy, immoral, lying evil bastards, every one of ‘em.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:36 pmRepugniscum are always claiming that other countries have long waiting lists, and poor service in health care.
If that were true, why are we not hearing about it?
Instead, we are hearing time and time again of persons from outher countries coming here and being appalled at our health care system. No one in 37 other countries has to wait for emergency treatment, or get it approved by an insurance clerk.
As for waiting for service — how long do we have to wait to see a surgeon or a specialist for an elective procedure? And then we have to pay so much of the cost ourselves, through premiums, deductibles, co-pays and “non-covered” items.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:40 pmCareful, Annie, you’ll get O’Lielly using your comment to “prove” how “hateful” the Left is.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:42 pmA government competitor would drive all the other competitors away. What we should be doing is creating more competition. One of the reasons the marketplace doesn’t work the way it should work right now is we really don’t have the competitive marketplace that I’d like to see put in place.
I’m sick to death of this kind of argument made by conservatives. I have worked most of my professional career in health-related organizations. One of those stints was as a data analyst for a firm that did strategic planning for hospitals. Here is an example of what “competition” does and how it does the opposite of controlling costs:
Three private, non-profit hospitals existed within a square mile in Denver, Colorado. Thanks to attempts at competition, they ALL bought the most expensive new technology available. That resulted in increased costs across the board for both the hospitals and patients. Instead of cooperating to serve the community, they decided to compete instead. The end result of all of this is that only one of those hospitals managed to temporarily survive going broke and being snapped up by the HCA (Hospital Corporation of America). HCA reduced costs a truly tiny amount below the one remaining private not-for-profit hospital and drove them out of business as well. At which time, HCA then raised prices for care higher than ever.
One answer, and one answer only to resolve once and for all our health care crisis….single-payer, period.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:46 pmPerhaps it would have been best if civilization had never evolved…
http://www.sunstateactivist.org/ssablog/
July 10th, 2009 at 12:48 pmBlunt is merely a typical GOP tool.
He has voted in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment, which bans same-sex marriage, and has voted against gay adoption. He voted to prohibit lawsuits against gun manufacturers and dealers if the guns they manufacture or sell are later used in a crime. He has also voted to reduce the waiting period for purchasing a gun from 72 hours to 24 hours.And he supported banking industry-backed efforts to overhaul U.S. bankruptcy laws, requiring consumers who seek bankruptcy protection to repay more of their debts ; yet he supports corporations who file for bankruptcy to be protected.
This loser is a walking billboard for everything that is wrong with “conservatism” and the inherent idiocy within it……..
July 10th, 2009 at 12:51 pmSo much for “transparent” government – looks like ANOTHER OBAMA SELL-OUT:
ANOTHER OBAMA SELL-OUT:
Obama threatens to veto law decreasing White House secrecy
P
So much for the “transparency” rhetoric – he is backing chimpy all the way. If he capitulates to blunt and this motley crew, I am done with him and so are most “progressive and liberals”.
We are not getting what he promised in any of the other areas, if he sells us out on healthcare too, he administration will be a failure.
And this will play right into the repugs hands.
July 10th, 2009 at 1:16 pmHello to all. Let me introduce myself. I am a gay republican who hates myself, so want to go around and spread my misery to one and all. All I know how to do is start controversy – but I can tell that my pea-brain is no match for the intelligent reality based thinkers that make-up the share of the people on this site.
I have read all you have to say – and I agree, the conservatives are a bunch of kCock-suckers who can’t make it in a reality based world …so we had to create a world of illusion and confusion. I guess the reason I’m such a moron is because I was gang raped by a bunch of preachers from my church.
This is #1 in a series of Republican Love Facts
July 10th, 2009 at 1:30 pmRepublicans make everything worse. They have been pulling right-wing crap on the American all through the 20th century and the 21st century (so far, so bad…). The GOP fought against the 8-hour workday, the GOP fought against child labor laws, the GOP fought against Social Security, the GOP fought against the Works Progress Administation (WPA), which gave millions of unemployed Americans in the 1930s some work to keep bread on the table. The WPA and its workers built thousands of miles of public roads. (Check your local streets for sidewalks and curbs with the WPA logo: many are still there).
And now the GOP dreams of stopping the long overdue public option federal health insurance plan. Republicans make everything worse.
July 10th, 2009 at 1:36 pmWe took five youngsters (ages 6-12) to a state park yesterday — a park that was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the depression — in addition to telling them other stories about where we were, I was sure to tell them who built the park, its cabins and lodge. It became a game of sorts for them to identify what the “men” made years ago and what is natural.
July 10th, 2009 at 2:00 pmWPA, CCC all helped my family survive. Later Social Security and Medicare. — Repugniscum have always been against anything that helped someone other than themselves. They have always been against the middle class, and scorned the poor. They are a soulless and heartless lot, without compassion or sympathy. They are like the pharisees of the OT who want to be seen in their fine “raimants” of gold, donating a coin to the poor beggar, thereby demonstrating how “charitable” they are.
Phoney bastards. They like to lord themselves over everyone else and deign to give someone a pittance – it puts them in a position of control in the fate of others. I despise them.
Hopefully Blunt’s comments will keep the bumper sticker company in business that printed “End Blunt Trauma”.
He could add another one: Prevent Blunt Trauma-Vote Democratic
July 10th, 2009 at 2:02 pmOne would think that stepping on the necks of others in order to boost yourself would be shameful – but IOKIYAR.
July 10th, 2009 at 2:02 pmMr. Blunt please answer this question; How is an elderly person supposed to pay insurance premiums on a fix income???
IF a retirery gets $1200 per month in social security, and has to pay $1000 per month for insurance; how do you live on $200 per month???? Who’s going to pay for rent, utilities, food, etc?????
Bunt…YOUR A FU**EN MORON!!!! AND A DISGRACE TO THE HUMAN RACE!!! PIG SHITE!!!
July 10th, 2009 at 2:04 pm“Blunt: The ‘Government Should Have Never’ Started Medicare And Medicaid”
Memo to Roy: Let me be blunt (no pun intended). You don’t want to say it but I will say it. The rise of baby boomers is costing this country alot of money that we simply don’t have the money to pay for it now and in the future. Why? Let’s see: Two wars on false pretenses, all 50 states in financial trouble, 8 years of an Administration robbing America, bailing out Wall Street, high rise of health care, and so on.
Playing the blame game on who did what and how and why isn’t going to solve the health care problem in this country. We know that Blunt is using every excuse in the book to denounce Obama’s public option plan.
July 10th, 2009 at 2:08 pmI don’t know about Blunt’s race in MO, but here in CA we’re still stuck with Fienstein. Every time she’s up for re-election no one runs against her (she’s got too much money I guess) and the only option is vote for her or not at all. I’ve always left that part blank. She’s a blue dog too. What to do about it?
July 10th, 2009 at 2:10 pmI wonder what kind of health programs are offered on his home planet of Romulus.
July 10th, 2009 at 2:20 pmLet me be Blunt about about this; the fine people of the “Show Me” state should never have elected Roy Blunt to represent their interests.
Ye gods!
July 10th, 2009 at 2:23 pmAs repubs tend to be older, on the average, than dems, why are repubs against care for the elderly ?
And as Blunt is a leader of the repub congresscritters, why does Obama think he can capitulate with this far enough to gain bipartisan support ?
July 10th, 2009 at 2:43 pmWell, you could certainly argue that government should have never have gotten in the health care business, and that might have been the best argument of all, to figure out how people could have had more access to a competitive marketplace.
Government did get into the health care business in a big way in 1965 with Medicare, and later with Medicaid, and government already distorts the marketplace.
time to pin this on the GOP…
July 10th, 2009 at 3:18 pmCan these idiots from my home state of Mizzery be any more stupid?
This is the life that idiots like Blunt and others want the world to turn into:
http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Essay:A_Day_In_The_Life_of_Joe_Conservative
Read the second essay A Day In The Life of a True Conservative.
July 10th, 2009 at 3:55 pmI guess he thinks that our government could save tons of money if we just let all those old people die for lack of health care.
What has happened to the Republic party. Are there any humans left in it?
July 10th, 2009 at 3:56 pmNOLIESPLEASE Says:
Mr. Blunt please answer this question; How is an elderly person supposed to pay insurance premiums on a fix income???
IF a retirery gets $1200 per month in social security, and has to pay $1000 per month for insurance; how do you live on $200 per month???? Who’s going to pay for rent, utilities, food, etc?????
We pay for our Medicare coverage. Half of all the FICA taxes we pay goes towards Medicare. And they system is fairly well run. The only real problem is that Bush has starved the physicians on rates paid over the last 8 years.
Dennis Kucinich did a study that showed that if we put all Americans on Medicare and upped the rates paid to doctors and hospitals, we would still come out way ahead monetarily over what we are not paying for health insurance in this country that leaves out 47 million citizens.
July 10th, 2009 at 3:59 pmNOLIESPLEASE Says:
Mr. Blunt please answer this question; How is an elderly person supposed to pay insurance premiums on a fix income???
IF a retirery gets $1200 per month in social security, and has to pay $1000 per month for insurance; how do you live on $200 per month???? Who’s going to pay for rent, utilities, food, etc?????
[cough cough] Have you priced private pay insurance rates? By the time you are 60, the premiums I have seen are around $1500 for an individual and almost $3000 for a family.
Please don’t take this as an attack on you and I don’t want to disagree with your point, I’m just trying to say the reality is actually worse than what you describe.
July 10th, 2009 at 3:59 pmThe Republican plan to fix health care, Medicare and Medicaid is benign neglect of the old, poor and sick. This is exactly what Reagan did while AIDS was spreading. He did nothing because it was mostly homosexuals that were dying.
July 10th, 2009 at 4:12 pmRoy Blunt can start in his own home state. Maybe he could cut funding for every obese person in his own home state. No health-care for the fat. Last time I was in Missouri I only saw one goober under four hundred pounds. That one was in a maternity ward. BTW senator, how much do you weigh?
July 10th, 2009 at 4:35 pmIt hasn’t been a good month to be a Repugnant. Losing the minority voters by opposing Sotomayor because of the color of her skin, repulsing everyone by the disgraceful horndog action, and now beating the elderly away with a stick.
If this is Steeles chess gambit, methinks they could tip the king right now.
July 10th, 2009 at 4:38 pmI think Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) should go back and learn some stuff.
Ignorance is not a starting point sir.
July 10th, 2009 at 4:38 pmAnd not every kid should be allowed in the pool, right, Roy?
July 10th, 2009 at 4:44 pmAmong those persons who are blindsided by the health care crisis are the 50-60 year olds who are out of work as they are forced out of work by either downsizing, or company going out of business. At that age, they are likely to have a pre-existing condition — sometimes, not a condition at all, but were treated for something in the past that has cleared up.
July 10th, 2009 at 5:14 pmThese people are too young for Medicare and can only get COBRA (no one else will take them). COBRA is enormously expensive, so the unemployed 55 year old is out of work, unlikely to find work, can’t get insurance, and may end up uninsured. When he has to go to the ER for an urgent problem, we all pay for it.
The example I gave is only one scenario — there are countless others where people are simply left with a Hobson’s choice or no choice at all.
What is so hard to understand?
Why are repugniscum so hateful and resentful of their fellow man?
Well. They are big, expensive, programs and they are imperfect. But? They work. The millions of successes pretty much resign the problems to irrelevance.
July 10th, 2009 at 5:32 pm“Why are repugniscum so hateful and resentful of their fellow man?”
Anyone who is not a honky, peckerwood, racist, facist, mysoginist, Christianista, RePugniScum is not “their fellow man.”
Sorry.
July 10th, 2009 at 5:35 pmBlunt should opt out of the government provided plan he has for the rest of his miserable life. These old white men are the most dispicable pant loads this country has to offer.
July 10th, 2009 at 6:16 pmWell if you are gonna die, you’d better do so quickly to bring an end to the surplus population ? Plus wouldn’t more deaths decrease the amount of carbon going into the atmosphere ?????
But note the typical Blunt response in the update – Blunt denies he meant abolising the programs as that would be a stretch, “even for a democrat”. It seems like reality is the dems are for increasing healthcare – but he still implies the dems are further away from healthcare than he is.
July 10th, 2009 at 7:06 pmOne of the measuring sticks of a civilized society is the extent to which it provides basic necessities (food, shelter, critical medical care) for those unable to provide for themselves or their families.
God help you if you get laid off from your job and thus lose your health benefits, and then discover that you or a family member has a life-threatening health condition.
Can’t afford treatment? Go away and die quietly.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:21 pmI can see the bumper stickers now:
EUTHANIZE BLUNT-NOW
July 10th, 2009 at 9:23 pmThe Republicans didn’t have anything to do with writing the Prescription drug Medicare Plan! They just passed it! The Drug Companies wrote it to their advatage by not permitting the government to negotiate lower prices! The Republicans just guaranteed they receive maximum ptofit on their drug!
July 11th, 2009 at 10:57 amGhost Walker373 Says:
Do you really think ignorance like that post does anything but make you look like a moron? You are stupid. You spew stupid like a firehose. You are an ignorant brainwashed fool spewing what you were told to believe by the screechmonkeys that do your thinking for you.
July 11th, 2009 at 6:34 pmMissouri continues to suffer from BLUNT force trauma!!!
July 11th, 2009 at 9:09 pmThank You..
Sesli Chat , Sesli Sohbet
July 14th, 2009 at 1:40 amSesli Chat , Sesli Sohbet
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