Has anyone heard of the Benjamin Rush Foundation?

[panader0]

Benjamin Rush was a physician in the early days. (born 1746 or so) I read a bit about him on-line, but when I went to their website, it was obscure.
I ask because my GF just said they were advertising on her radio station. I think they are a right wing foundation and wonder if anyone knows what their agenda is.

[PumpkinAle]

1. Be afraid, be very afraid..........

The mission of the Benjamin Rush Foundation, Inc. is to support through educational activities the concept of individual liberty in the arena of health care reform. ...
Today, some who see the health care systems of Canada and Cuba as models, seek to stealthily impose upon Americans albeit federally or state by state, a one-size-fits all mandatory health care dictatorship. Under the guise of “universal coverage,” some would have a system that forces everyone into a single plan – which precludes the right of a person to seek or purchase without impunity, health care services outside of that system.
http://benjaminrushfoundation.com/

Crackpots afraid of affordable healthcare for all.... 'cos y'know they are all commies.

[gopiscrap]

2. welcome to DU

[panader0]

3. Thanks and welcome

[TBF]

6. Here is a nice article about Cuban health care

It is pretty well known that they have some of the best doctors in the world.

Monthly Review Press

Why Is Cuba's Health Care System the Best Model for Poor Countries?
by Don Fitz

Furious though it may be, the current debate over health care in the US is largely irrelevant to charting a path for poor countries of Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. That is because the US squanders perhaps 10 to 20 times what is needed for a good, affordable medical system. The waste is far more than 30% overhead by private insurance companies. It includes an enormous amount of over-treatment, creation of illnesses, exposure to contagion through over-hospitalization, disease-focused instead of prevention-focused research, and making the poor sicker by refusing them treatment.1

Poor countries simply cannot afford such a health system. Well over 100 countries are looking to the example of Cuba, which has the same 78-year life expectancy of the US while spending 4% per person annually of what the US does.2

The most revolutionary idea of the Cuban system is doctors living in the neighborhoods they serve ...

more here - http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2012/fitz071212.html

[LeftishBrit]

4. Just went to the website - ugh.

It is pro -'individual liberty' in healthcare; i.e. anti-public-healthcare. Horribly right-wing

It is odd that Rush's name should be chosen for the foundation, as he is noted for his public healthcare activities, including setting up a dispensary for poor patients, and organizing public works to prevent illnesses by draining creeks that bred mosquitoes. He was also a campaigner against slavery and the death penalty, and in favour of humane treatment of mentally ill people and alcoholics. He did favour some old-fashioned and dangerous methods of medical treatment, such as bleeding as a usual remedy; but probably the reason why right-wingers use his name is because he was a believer in religion as a necessary foundation for the state and for morality. Hardly a 'teabagger', however.

[okaawhatever]

5. You know how they are about co-opting historical figures for their own agenda. They also

call the anti-abortion group the Susan B Anthony list. She was not opposed to abortion. There was one letter where she said something about a friend probably regretting it if she had one, that's all. The right wing anti-choice crowd took the name and history of the women's movement just to get people to think that's something Susan B Anthony would have supported. Sounds like they're doing something with the Rush guy. I wonder if anyone trademarked his name or if he has relatives alive. Probably not, that's their usual m.o.