Brown-Waite’s Shot In GOP’s ‘Scare Tactics’ Strategy: Health Reform Tells Seniors To ‘Drop Dead’
Brown-Waite’s Shot In GOP’s ‘Scare Tactics’ Strategy: Health Reform Tells Seniors To ‘Drop Dead’
Last week, ThinkProgress noted that the right-wing had escalated its fearmongering rhetoric on health care, with multiple Republican members of Congress saying that Americans would die if health reform passed. “Absolutely,” replied Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) when asked if “government-run health care” will “end up killing more people than it saves.”
On the House floor yesterday, Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) became the latest conservative to claim reform would kill people. “Last week Democrats released a health care bill which essentially said to America’s seniors: drop dead,” said Waite. Watch it:
Guest-hosting Bill Bennett’s radio show last week, RNC Chairman Michael Steele also used the health reform-will-kill-people rhetoric. Steele claimed that seniors will be “denied care” and compared it to Europe, where he says people will be “dead if they have to wait in the line.” At the same time, Steele claimed he wasn’t using “scare tactics:
STEELE: And what seniors out there, Larry, need to understand is simply this. That this bill will lead to a rationing of health care to such a degree that if you fall into a certain age group or category, you will be denied coverage. You will be denied service. It is that simple. This is not, this is not scare tactics. This is not kind of making this up. This is the reality of the system. How do we know? Because we’ve seen it work in Europe and in Canada. Why do you think seniors come to the United States to get their health care? Because they’ll be dead if they have to wait in the line over there in Europe to get it. You’ve got people who’ve been on the list for two years. On the list to see a doctor for two years. Now, if you’ve got a funny feeling in your colon, do you really want to wait two years to figure out what it is? This is what we’re talking about. This is not scaring people. This is the reality of it.
Listen here:
Neither Steele nor his right-wing allies mention that the United States has a higher “mortality amendable to health care” than European countries, which means “deaths from certain causes before age 75 that are potentially preventable with timely and effective health care.”
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Hey you old lying bat – if it weren’t for socialized medicine, a bunch of our senior citizens would already have dropped dead.
If all you can do with your mouth open is lie, keep the goddamned thing shut!!!!!
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:47 amFor God’s sake, people are already dying because they don’t have health care! What is up with these immoral Repugs! Can’t they, for once, do the right thing? Do they all have no souls? Ron Christie said it best last week, “Some people have cronic illnesses and it’s too expensive to treat them.” Yeah, you read that right. A Repug spokesman who basically said. So sorry, but you have to die because it costs too much to keep you alive. I guess Ron has enough money to treat a loved one in his family. But for us, no dice.
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:51 amSo all of a sudden Medicare has disappeared? You know, that bit of ’socialized health care’ we already have in place that sort of works?
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:53 amWhich seniors are flying over here and getting NEW coverage? The ultra-rich?
“Well, you have a pre-existing condition and are 78. But we love freedom so just pay the normal premium for Congress Care…”
She’s crazy like Jim… Deminted!
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:54 amMichael “I’m an asshat” Steele, you’re on my list that’s for sure!
And it starts with a big “S” at the top, followed by “hit”
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:54 amRepublicans truly are crazy.
Health care – No Way!
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:57 amGuns for all – Yes Way!
These commericails are so full of sh*t. Have you seen the one where a family is on a picnic and the narrator drones on how paying a tax on soda beverages is evil. All you have to do is exercise and eat right, and everything will be honky-dory! It is as bad as the one with the woman who claims she is from Canada, and she would have DIED if it wasn’t for our wonderful health care system!
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:57 amCanard.
She could say, “If this bill passes, seniors will be more likely to die than the rest of America!” Wow, are they older as well?
If seniors go to the ER it’s probably the same but with emergency insurance. If they get an illness their premiums will be more affordable even on fixed incomes. That’s what happens when profiting from these things is verboten.
Seniors want single payer, too. They have kids and grand kids (and some do okay with Medicare). But Republicans can’t grasp wanting something besides “ME, ME, ME.”
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 pmWhy doesn’t a journalist ask the question. If European healthcare is so bad then why does EVERY country have some form of it. If seniors and people were dying in France and other countries wouldn’t these people have thrown off their healthcare? Oh, I get it, if you are a Republican Europeans and socialist idiots without the sense that we good Americans have to choose freedom. Do they realize how arrogant and disrespectful they are being to our allies when the imply that they are stupid or tyrannical for trying to cover all of their citizens.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:02 pmWhen you start compromising on an issue before you begin any type of formal negotiation the end result is often a contraption Rube Goldberg wouldn’t even put his name on. This fear-mongering by Repugs may just destroy health care reform because we never started with single-payer as the best option. His plan said from the get-go we are not all in this together, we will have a mishmash of things, state by state, which puts us in our current connundrum. Obama must state in no uncertain terms that single-payer is the best system but beyond reach because of the obstruction of the “insiders” in the current Congress. When 75-80% of the nation wants true health care reform to do less is to invite the fear tactics currently being employed by Repugs like this woman.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:02 pmSteele says:
Mikey, I suggest you ask Senator Graham to please back off. Or I guess it could be Craig.
PEACE
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:02 pmWhen President Obama was holding town hall meetings on health care, one woman asked him if his plan would cover her 105-year old mother, who got a pacemaker when she was 99 after fighting with Medicare over the procedure. She was concerned that someone that old would be denied expensive procedures with a public plan.
Obama’s response to her was that in the case of investing an expensive medical procedure in someone 99 years old, a number of factors would apply — including life expectancy of this person and how much the procedure would affect the person’s quality of life. He also pointed out (and this is important) that any battles over getting an expensive procedure out of any government program such as Medicare, the VA, Medicaid, or the proposed public plan option would also likely be encountered with any private insurance company. And while Obama didn’t say it in so many words, the lingering implication was that the government wasn’t about to screw over this woman’s 99-year old grandmother any worse than private insurance would, with their gatekeepers, claim deniers, and general reluctance to pay for any more procedures than they absolutely have to.
Brown-Waite needs to convince us that private insurers are better for seniors than Medicare. And explain then, why so many seniors have Medicare as their primary insurance.
I won’t even get into the scenario of how many seniors would be without any insurance at all if it wasn’t for the government — Brown-Waite obviously isn’t smart enough to take on that topic.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:03 pmMy 75 year old morbidly obese Republican aunt, after 2 Medicare-paid knee replacements, would vote against anyone advocating a single payer plan administered by the government.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:04 pmShe’s a fan of Sarah Palin because small-town Sarah would “stick it” to Washington if elected.
That sums up the GOP base: “stick it”. Their mascot should be a seagull flying in, making a lot of noise and sh!tting all over everything.
Ginny’s a seagull.
***
none of these people have ever spent as much
as a minute on the phone with their insurer trying
to get one person to give them help for an emergency
medical situation. it’s simple, you’re bleeding to death
while they’re waiting for the correct form to be filled out.
*
but they’re out of that form so you’ll just have to wait
while they re-order more. in the meantime here’s some
paper towels, apply direct pressure to the wound.
* * *
“we have the best health care system in the world,
there is no health care crisis in this country.”
. . .
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:04 pmP.D., I think the soda ads will go away as fast as the “high fructose corn syrup is good for you!” ads did.
Desperation, the New Coke.
PEACE
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:05 pmThe health nuts are to blame too.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:05 pmThe US Congress goose-stepped right along with Bush and voted hundreds of billions of dollars for his twin wars of aggression against the people of Afghanistan and the people of Iraq. No problemo… And these two imperial occupations have gone on for years and years with no end in sight… But Congress is afraid to help the American people with a decent public option federal health insurance plan. They’re not too keen on actually helping the American people; no, that would be interfering with corporate greed and the continued rape of Americans by HMOs, pharmaceutical corporations and insurance companies… What a pathetic pack of corporate whores…
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:09 pmWow, I didn’t know there was a section in the bill which eliminates Medicare! It’s a good thing we have the Republicans around to defend Medicare against those darn Democrats!
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:11 pmWasn’t it F.D.R. who said, “The only thing we have to fear is GREEDY, DUMBA$$ REPUBLICAN FEAR-MONGERS themselves!” …or something like that.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:12 pmHey Rep. Ginny show me the massive number of dead Canadian senior citizens mounded up against the US border, desperately trying to crawl and claw their way into our affordable health care paradise.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:15 pmCal, with all due respect to you and your grandmother, it is a complete lack of personal accountability that drive us our healthcare costs.
If we actually do get a public option, I would suggest that lifestyle choices be factored into the care received. If someone is a smoker, he/she can be helped to quit. If he/she chooses not to quit, a list of medical services that are not covered should be provided.
The same should apply to the morbidly obese. You either work with a nutritionist or other healthcare provider to lose enough weight to fall into the mearly “overweight” category, or here’s a list of medical procedure you agree to forego.
It’s tough love at it’s healthiest best. YMMV.
PEACE
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:15 pmMcWars, could you please expound on your answer @16.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:16 pmWhy does TP continue to NOT fight fire with fire? TP acts as if all they need to do is present the facts to the righties, and they’ll come around.
Can’t you see the Repubs aren’t presenting factual arguments? TP might as well print its responses in Latin.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:17 pmIf you think these statements are crazy, then wait until the health care bill passes. Then the neocons will go bat shite.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:18 pmspencers mom@15, Yeah, They remind me of that ad a couple of years ago where an energy company had the balls to imply CO2 is GOOD for you! Why, it feeds the trees and the oceans. At first I thought it was a parady, when I realized they were serious, I laughed my ass off.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:18 pmIn the words of Will Ferrel’s character in Zoolander, “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”
The arguments for and against health care reform are, in my opinion, secondary in terms of how we should be outraged. Why does nobody in the media ask WHY the blue-dog Dems and conservatives oppose it so rabidly? Are they afraid to finally ask, “Hey, how much did the #&@$ing private insurance and health care companies pay you in campaign contributions?”
Nobody mentions how the head of Conservatives for Patients’ Rights (the most vocal anti-reform group), Rick Scott, was thrown off his own board of directors when federal agents raided the offices of Columbia/HCA (Hospital CORPORATION of America) following allegations of improper and unfair billing practices against Medicare. The guys a crook, a liar, and knows nothing about medicine or health care from a doctor’s point of view, and everyone just accepts his “facts” whenever he spews them in his commercials.
The depressing part is, the private companies are, first and foremost, businesses. And in 99.9% of the cases, there is no such thing as altruism in business, so private insurance companies and health care providers are actively working against themselves by Day 1, putting profit over patients. A government option would force these guys to reel in their exploding costs, but they would still be able to make a profit if they’re smart.
Yet the media goes along with all of it. “We should give consideration to both sides equally, unless it’s more interesting/profitable to get paid by running ads for the guys with the money to spend.” The system is broken, and not just the health care sector. The national media, Capitol Hill and the misinformed/lazy citizenry will continue to sit on their laurels until the end of time.
Obama needs to put a few boots up a few backsides.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:19 pmLet’s see, where have we heard this line of using the fear card with lies before?
Mmm, sounds vaguely familiar…sorta like the Republic Fascist Party only play card.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:20 pmWell Republicans in Congress know quid pro quo and ad hominem pretty well…
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:21 pmKaneJeeves says:
Why does TP continue to NOT fight fire with fire? TP acts as if all they need to do is present the facts to the righties, and they’ll come around.
Can’t you see the Repubs aren’t presenting factual arguments? TP might as well print its responses in Latin.
Most American’s know the Repugs are not presenting factual information, that’s why “stupidity” does not need to be challenged case in point the “birther’s.” Fact’s and truth stand on there own.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:24 pmAmericans are more dissatisfied than citizens of other nations with their basic health care even while paying more of their own money for treatment
From Fox… before anyone on the right accuses me of bias…
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:26 pm**
ranus,
my sentiments are with
kanejeeves. i wish tp would
grow a pair and fight back.
it would be nice for a change.
:)
“there” vs “their”
:\
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:28 pmSingle-payer promotes prevention first and foremost. As in our educational system early education prevents the worst outcomes later on down the road. Obama should emphasize outcomes not cost as his motivation for reform. Most people put a pretty high price on their and family and friends’ lives. The choice for end-of-life care would still be personal under single payer, as it should be. Not everyone wants to be hooked up to a life support system for 5 years at the end of a healthy and productive life. Until rich and poor alike realize that you cannot get into heaven until you die, the single payer system offers the best hope for all of us, as Americans, to get to make that choice.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:29 pmRepublicans – the Anti-life Party.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:30 pmhttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20070812/ai_n19476770/
If socialized medicine ‘kills seniors’ shouldn’t life expectancy be LOWER in countries that have it?
Why is the opposite true, I wonder?
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:32 pmFrom: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20070812/ai_n19476770/
Whaddaya know?
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:33 pmThe Republicans who are supposedly pro-life are in favor of capital punishment. They do not see the obvious inconsistency of their positions. They are just hypocrites whose positions depend on which way the wind is blowing.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:33 pmLet the old cow give up her own gold-plated health insurance plan, paid by me and other taxpayers.
I am so sick of these moralizing repiggies, all of whom forgot their “morality” during the Iraq nonsense and the 2008 McCain/Palin campaign.
Repiggies really are trash. They’re hopeless.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:35 pmpags2, they don’t need to be consistent when they are led by what they perceive they read in the bible. Death penalty is just fine because of that “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” stuff.
Where they seem to really lose their way is on all that “Blessed are” stuff from Jesus. Oh, and those pesky 10 Commandments.
But the C Streeters have it all figured out anyway.
PEACE
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:37 pmThese right wing tactics remind me of the lyrics to an old X song, “We’re desperate, get used to it.”
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:37 pmAren’t these Repugs Pro-life. Then why aren’t they supporting the Health Care bill? We have one of the worst infant mortality rates in the industrialized world. Where is their outrage over that?
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:37 pmHere we go again.
I live in Holland.
I know how health care works here, and in Germany, and in France. Steele’s pants are on fire. You get all the care
you need in Holland, Germany end France. If it’s not really urgent, if you’re not in pain, and the problem is not life threatening, then maybe you have to let others go first.
I like that system. If you’re still in a hurry, you drive two hours to Germany or Belgium, where they have an even better system than in Holland. Insurance pays for everything. Insurance pays for preventive measures, training to stop smoking, losing weight. Smart!!! Lowers costs!!!
The Dutch are the tallest people in the world. They eat quality food, they are the happiest bunch in Europe.
Steele obviously doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Every Dutch citizen has health insurance. The rich pay a little bit more than the not so rich.
If half of SICKO is true, then you are in big trouble.
Now is your chance!!!
Have a nice (and healthy) day
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:44 pmDutch4BHO says:
Exactly.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:46 pmA little OT: I have a scant few minutes to post today, but I am perplexed that I am not seeing here something that really has me angry… several articles today saying that all (?) of the proposed healthcare bills include some form of mandantory health insurance coverage for everyone, with a penalty for failure to prove it (proof to be required with each year’s taxes). According to the articles, these bills are not offering inexpensive or alternate ‘insurance’, and refer to the system we already have (in other words… you buy some health insurance, or you get fined).
Anyone else see this?
Is this true? (and if so, don’t we need a thread or two on it?)
Just asking…..
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:47 pmspencers mom says: Death penalty is just fine because of that “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” stuff.
It’s interesting that you bring this up on this thread. The concept of “an eye for an eye…” was meant to counter the practice of the rich meting out excessive punishment, such as death for an insult, and to make justice more fair for the poor.
In similar fashion, we need a new concept to counter the modern practice of healthcare quality being tied to wealth.
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:14 pmThe only Canadians lined up at the American border are the Canadians who buying up all the cheep ass real estate.
Next we’re gonna buy all the bankrupt business for 10cents on the dollar.
After that, we’re buying your Media outlets, so we can start telling you the truth.
YOU SEE, WE HAVEN’T BEEN SUCKED IN TO GIVING ALL OUR HARD EARNED MONEY TO INSURANCE COMPANIES AND THE HEALTH INDUSTRY!!!!!!
THINK ABOUT IT….WE HAVE HAD SINGLE PAYER FOR OVER 35 YEARS….HOW MUCH MONEY WOULD YOU HAVE TODAY IF YOU NEVER HAD TO PAY DEDUCTABLES AND CO-PAYS AND ANY OTHER HEALTH BILLS.
WE ARE TRUYLY FREE NOT AMERICANS!!!!! MONEY IN MY POCKET IS FREEDOM …..NOT MONEY IN A CORPORATIONS POCKET (TO STAY ALIVE).
A LITTLE SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU GO Hmmmmmm .
Peace!!
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:15 pmKaneJeeves says:
Why does TP continue to NOT fight fire with fire?
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:17 pm
__________
For the same reason firefighters continue to not fight fire with fire. You just end up with more fire.
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:21 pmCageyCretin says:
A little OT: I have a scant few minutes to post today, but I am perplexed that I am not seeing here something that really has me angry… several articles today saying that all (?) of the proposed healthcare bills include some form of mandantory health insurance coverage for everyone, with a penalty for failure to prove it (proof to be required with each year’s taxes).
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
_____________
Obama was talking about this during the primaries. It struck me as odd then, too, but I always figured it was part of an overall plan that would have to include a low-cost alternative.
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:23 pmis anyone talking about all the U.S. patients going abroad for surgical vacations, and insurance cos sending patients overseas for surgeries?
i’ve heard about these trips for years…
is it only the rich? (i’m guessing)
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:28 pmKaty… despite the risks some private insurance companies are now encouraging this because of the lower costs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/opinion/10milstein.html
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:32 pmha! ed just read my gall bladder story on his radio show!
sht! i missed the intro!
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:36 pmthat’s what i heard, belaccifer – “lower costs”
imagine that…
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:36 pmchiroptera toasterhead says:
Obama was talking about this during the primaries. It struck me as odd then, too, but I always figured it was part of an overall plan that would have to include a low-cost alternative.
I hope you’re right. I have a short list of ‘issues’ I have with this concept, and am interested in what the arguments for it actually are. Even with a public option I find this very, very disturbing (not “a little disturbing” but “very, very…”). It should not be there, and I smell lobby money involved.
I guess $1 mil a day in lobby money buys you, oh, about 50 million new customers, mandated by law. Eh?
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:37 pmIt’s evidence of how much our MSM and public education stinks that they get away at all with describing Europe as a desolate wasteland where the elderly are dying from lack of health care. It’s EUROPE.
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:42 pmDutch4BHO says:
We have the same system here in our emergency rooms. It’s called triage, and one is seen in the order they arrived, but the line gets jumped based on the severity of other patients’ conditions.
Sadly, here in the U.S., the emergency room is the only place many of the 50 million uninsureds can be seen because it is illegal in most states for an ER to turn patients away because of lack of insurance. Doesn’t mean they’ll get adequate treatment, though…
PEACE
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:45 pmWhodathunkit! Bernie Sanders, the Independent from Vermont, framed the conversation correctly…and simultaneously nailed Senator John McCain. This video merits 3 minutes of everyone’s time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NmOmnOe4ak
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:50 pm>>“Last week Democrats released a health care bill which essentially said to America’s seniors: drop dead,”
Well, that really sucks.
It’s perfectly OK to say that to me since I lost my job, though.
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:51 pm“Last week Democrats released a health care bill which essentially said to America’s seniors: drop dead.”
NOT TRUE! We only want Republicans to drop dead.
July 22nd, 2009 at 2:16 pmLet me see–the majority of civilized nations with full health care for their citizens all have life spans higher than the United States. Does this sound like their seniors are dying before their time? Total b.s. scare tactics by the Retuglicans who don’t want the unwashed masses, AND seniors,in THEIR America,to get too many goverment benefits!
July 22nd, 2009 at 2:18 pmI’m guessing there’s a good reason why this woman is called “Ginny.”
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:08 pmCageyCretin says:
I hope you’re right.
I also would have a big problem with being forced to enroll.
If they’re not going to do single-payer like they have in Canada we shouldn’t be forced into anything as far as I’m concerned.
But I just read this:
The plan currently being considered will also make health care mandatory. Similar to the plan recently enacted in Massachusetts, this bill requires citizens to purchase health insurance. Those who fail to do so will face stiff penalties and fines from the IRS. Supporters believe this is necessary to bring healthy people into the risk pool.
So we may get forced into it. In my situation I suspect that any plan I could afford (pathetically enough) would be so lame it would be a waste of money.
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:12 pmAND Proud rejoices, for he has just received his next talking point…
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:32 pmIf health insurance is going to be required, then it should be a surcharge on everyone’s income tax. That way those who have more would pay more and those who have no income would not pay at all.
July 22nd, 2009 at 4:04 pmand I guess Steele forgot that people are DENIED care already…but it’s OK if the insurance companies do it…
July 22nd, 2009 at 4:04 pmThis is the same person who said Puerto Rico wasn’t part of the US.
July 22nd, 2009 at 4:11 pmBrain power is not her forte.
tony and lido
UCSBKitty says:
——————————————————————————–
AND Proud rejoices, for he has just received his next talking point…
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:32 pm Vote Up | Vote Down | (0) | Report Abuse
——————————————————————————–First I want him to discuss Lcol Peters comments on the captured soldier.
tony and lido
July 22nd, 2009 at 4:13 pm
dietrich says:
——————————————————————————–First I want him to discuss Lcol Peters comments on the captured soldier.
tony and lido
I bet he’ll say the soldier was in cahoots with Al Qaeda…
July 22nd, 2009 at 4:39 pmYet, Ginny wont give up her federal health insurance for a private one…… Go figure.
I’ve been on medicare for 2 years now. It is by far the best plan I have ever been on. I have never had the government get between me and my doctor. In fact I don’t hear anything from the government. My doctor wants a test done, I go do it and I get a bill in the mail to pay 20% of the cost. That is the only time I hear from the government, when it’s time to pay.
I get regular test done every month. Blood work to check my INR levels for blood clots, more blood work to check my anti-DNA level for lupus, regular x-rays to check fluid level around my organs, and sometimes I get CT scans and bone density scans.
The last time I heard from the government was when I got on medicare…..
While I had private insurance I racked up over $70,000 in medical bills over a 14 year period. Since I got on medicare 2 years ago, I have not gone into further debt and have paid it down to $50,000. I’m not fooled, I know which system is better.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:13 amEh? So what? People are going to die if health care reform passes, people are going to die if it doesn’t. Nobody gets out of here alive.
When are people going to wake up and vote these congressional insurance company pimps out of office?
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:12 am