McCain adviser: Everyone in U.S. has some health coverage

[Hestia]

Source: CNN Political Ticker

McCain adviser: Everyone in U.S. has some health coverage
Posted: 01:09 PM ET

From CNN Associate Political Editor Rebecca Sinderbrand

(CNN) – A health care policy advisor for the McCain campaign told a newspaper reporter that nobody in the United States is technically uninsured, because everyone has access to hospital emergency rooms.

"So I have a solution . And it will cost not one thin dime," John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, told the Dallas Morning News in an interview published Thursday.

"The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care. So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

Hospital emergency rooms cannot technically turn away anyone for financial reasons.

"So instead of producing worthless statistics that people fling around in vacuous editorials and pointless debates, the Census Bureau should produce meaningful numbers, identifying all of the sources of funds people will draw on if they need medical care," said Goodman, who helped write McCain’s health care plan.

That plan would use a combination of tax incentives and market competition to make health care more affordable. It is not a universal health care plan – it does not guarantee insurance coverage for every American.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

---

Access to an ER is insurance? How insane these people are...

[Brotherjohn]

1. Oh this is juicy... right up there with the comment about the "mental recession"!

I'm sure the Obama campaign is already cutting a commercial. I wouldn't be surprised if you hear it in Obama's speech tonight, too.

[Truth4Justice]

2. Bat-shit crazy. If Insane gets it we are in deep do-do. nt

[Cronus Protagonist]

3. If I ever have to go to an ER for say, a broken arm, I'll be forced into bankruptcy

It's as simple as that. I don't call that health insurance.

[madrchsod]

17. i had a 26,000 dollar er/icu bill

since i did`t work the year before and had no insurance so they "forgave" the bill. if my wife had made a thousand dollars more we would have been stuck with the bill..

if you do`t have insurance you pay the full amount.

[Zavulon]

65. I had a 21,000 bill that was NOT forgiven.

It's still being paid off, and my monthly payment is high enough that paying for any kind of health insurance is impossible. Of course, my job provides none.

FUCK YOU, MCSTAIN.

[KansDem]

38. Just tell the hospital business office that McCain's adviser said you have *some* health insurance

...and that they need to contact McCain's campaign to settle up.

[Dogtown]

4. Mr. Goodman should go by any emergency room

with his case of human papillomavirus (HPV) and demand he be treated for free.


If he survived the tasers, we could ask him again.



:banghead:

[nebenaube]

7. ROFLMAO...

I bet the infection is anal too...

[Pete2069]

52. Hospital do one of two things

to the people they do not want to see.   They either send them
to another hospital or dump them in the alleys.
For municipalities who don't want to extend themselves to the
homeless, it's an easy excuse to just bring them over here and
leave them here.”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5298034

[Pete2069]

54. For all the Third parties demonstrating against our party

Just look how Clinton (a liberal democrat) turn a republican
desaster into properity. 
September 27, 2000,,Eight years ago, our future was at
risk," Clinton said..
 The federal budget surplus for fiscal year 1999 was $122.7
billion, and $69.2 billion for fiscal year 1998. Those
back-to-back surpluses, the first since 1957, allowed the
Treasury to pay down $138 billion in national debt. 

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/09/27/clinton.surplus/

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9506E7D61238F931A35751C0A96F958260&fta=y

[stillcool]

5. Well then...

there are two hospitals that owe me a shitload of money! One put me into bankruptcy and I lost my house. Another set me back $800.00 for some X-Rays and medication. Should I contact this guy? Sounds like he'll get right on it!

[SpiralHawk]

6. "Pull yourselves up by your own sutures. Smirk." - Republicon corporate spokesunit

[grannie4peace]

8. not true

[LibDemAlways]

9. This is, of course, pointing out the obvious, but having

access to an emergency room and being able to pay for it are two different things.

McCain has no health care plan, and Obama should pass up no opportunity to hammer him on it.

[EFerrari]

13. And ERs can't do follow up or a raft of therapies.

This man is insane.

[KamaAina]

31. Oh, he's got a health care plan, all right

problem is, it's diabolical.

It forces Medicare and Medicaid recipients into managed care, carefully disguised with the code phrase "capitation rates". Plus, it croaks the entire VA system and replaces it with that cherished repuke workhorse, a voucher program. :eyes: Way to support the troops, Admiral McCombover! :sarcasm:

[Bette Noir]

55. Cut McCain some slack.

He's had government-paid health care his whole life. He's never had to pay a doctor bill, or a hospital bill, or an insurance premium. I'm sure he has no idea that what he's advocating is shear lunacy.

[AzDar]

10. Goddamn.

:wow:

[Ilsa]

72. I know. It's so frustrating that I'm almost speechless. Like US citizens

don't know better than this shit he's dishing?

[high density]

11. He must've slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night

What an idiot.

[radfringe]

12. my partner has no insurance

in march she had 2 days of vomiting, and severe stomach pains. at first she thought it might be the flu, then thought it might be food poisoning

on the 3rd day, she woke up in extreme abdominal pain and feared it might be something more than the flu or food poisoning - she called for an ambulance, was taken to emergency room. they gave her iv's, some meds for the abdominable pain, ran a couple of tests and sent her home. don't know what caused the vomiting/pain - she suspects it was something she ate.

(I was out of town during all of this and she didn't tell me about it when we talked - I found out through a friend of ours that works at the hospital)

she got a bill for $3,000 from the hospital, ambulance ride was covered by our local volunteer fire/ambulance service, paramedic bill for $600, and a separate bill for $1000 from the emergency room doctor

after calling the hospital and filling out a couple of forms she did get the hospital bill waived - but still has to pay for paramedic and emergency room doctor.

she has no insurance because a year ago the place she worked at closed, and we can't afford a "single" policy - we looked, we researched various policies - either the premium is too high, or the deductible is soooo high as to make the policy useless.

she started working a temp job in april, the temp agency does offer health insurance but you have to be employed by the temp agency for a year before being eligible.

[Tempest]

14. How many people have died waiting in emergency rooms?

Two recently and many more that go unreported in the MSM.

And why do Repugs want to wait until their condition gets so bad they need an emergency room before then go to see a doctor?

[Heywood J]

73. Here, some links

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local&id=5898698
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19207050/
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/02/national/main4227468.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._4227468

That's McCain's health-care plan.

[madrchsod]

15. i owe around 20,000 and i have "insurance"

[grilled onions]

16. Even With "Coverage" Are You Truly Covered?

I went thru an entire hospital looking for any family doctor that would take Medicare and there wasn't ONE that would take it. This moron has no idea what he's talking about because he hasn't had people say no in your face or on the phone day after day.

[liberal N proud]

18. Typical Republicon bull shit

It goes along with the way the Raygun admin made unemployment figures go down. Stopped counting those who no longer draw benefits.

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

19. All you can say is WTF

[Turbineguy]

20. Don't forget!

You can always end your suffering by blowing your brains out.

[Odin2005]

36. But the Libertarian idiots would say "at least it's your choice to blow your brains out..."

"...and that's better then gubmit-run socialist medicine!!!"

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:
:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:
:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:
:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[Turbineguy]

68. But that means you're pro-choice!

That, my Friend, will simply not do!

[undergroundpanther]

88. Republican= pro business libertarian

Libertarian Swagger
by Underground Panther in the Sky

Libertarian, arrogant ,contrarian.
Full of himself.
Full of conflict.
Swaggers upon the scene
Uncooperative,heavy handed piss-poor attitude.

A Penny pinching one-man band
He says he goes where freedom goes-
until he has to wipe his nose
,than it's everyone else's fault he got hurt.

Whiny little bully boy in a smart business suit
Patriot fanatic in a porn booth
jerking himself off in front of a mirror.
Defensive,clueless and,crass
A horses ass...of a different color.

He wouldn't know how to survive on his own two feet,
yet he is such a great pretender,
Talks alot of fluff,when things get rough
Talks to please his own ego
and he never gets enough

Libertarian fool
uncivil tool
Another leftover loser
that never left middle school

Angry white males ,shoulders full of chips
walking down the slaughter chute with little pithy quips

No they won't share
No one can make them care,
As long as they got theirs
They're happy ,
believing their own bullshit.
Until it hits them in the face.

[Jim__]

21. C'mon Obama - blast this out in a TV ad!

[CitizenPatriot]

22. I am owed a lot of money -- who do I contact in the George McCain admin?

I was charged, can you believe it?, for my recent trip to the ER. It cost me 5,000.00 for a broken ankle. somebody owes me some money, right?

Anyone have george mccains' number?

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AllHereTruth]

44. Huh?

Why would he have a "brief stay"

[FatDave]

48. I don't get it.

Did you reply to the wrong post?

[CitizenPatriot]

61. thank you! nt

[CitizenPatriot]

60. WHAT?

I am a woman, first of all. And I was being sarcastic and asking for my money back from George McCain for the ER services that cost me an arm and a leg. Why would I get kicked off the site for that?

I hope you responded to the wrong post. I just got home from registering voters for Obama's campaign in super hot Southern August weather and I'm in no mood to be called a Republican! :-)

I ran into some hostiles today -- but ALSO got a lot of people registered....It's frightening to talk to the people who say smugly, "I'm a conservative." I wanted to reply, "I guess you're voting for Obama, then? Since the Republican party has no idea what a budget is?"

I refrained. Barely.

[davekriss]

77. You shouldn't have refrained -- let 'em have it! (nt)

[CitizenPatriot]

82. thanks -- I was too nice

and to be honest, I had a hard day-- My grandfather, a lifelong Democrat, a leader of the Carptenter's Union in Michigan, fell ill Wednesday and was taken to ER. He's been off and on since then...Today, I went out to register voters in his honor. To come home and read this dirt, to be accused of being a Republican!, was total BS.

Our deal is that he pulls through to see Obama elected, and Cheney in jail:-)

Thanks for everyone's support. I needed it! You all ROCK!!!! :pals::pals::pals::pals:

I am now reveling in the Speech. He is SUPERB. I love Obama!

Oh, and to the person who told me I would be kicked off the site: bite me.

[raccoon]

23. What an oxygen waster that POS is. nt

[jwirr]

24. Prenatal care begins at the point of labor pains. And pneumonia gets

treated only after you collapse. Great plan! :sarcasm:

[hunter]

26. I'm sorry, Mr. Goodman, that kind of delusional thinking won't get you past triage.

Might we suggest some counseling? Here, take this Community Resources pamphlet home with you.

But I suppose if Mr. Goodman sits in the E.R. for a day or two refusing to give up his seat, without eating, drinking, or visiting the bathroom, he'll start to smell bad, pass out and they'll have to take him... Right?

[LeftHander]

27. Buying fcuking band-aids at Walgreens is not healthcare....nt

[demo dutch]

28. What a joke! "cannot technically turn away anyone for financial reasons" ... yeah right! Let's turn

this into an political ad on "healthcare under McCain"

[indio55555]

29. That access to the ER

cost me 20K for my finger. I was in college and didn't have insurance from my parents because I reached the age limit. When I went to my state for financial assistance they told me I had to have a wife and kid to qualify which I didn't. Is that the ER insurance you are talking about?

[KamaAina]

30. John Goodman wrote McCombover's "health plan"?

"Dan Conner! Get in here right this minute! What's this I hear about you telling some nutty Senator that emergency rooms are the same as insurance?!" </roseanne>

[demo dutch]

32. I emailed this to Moveon.org This would make a perfect ad on Healthcare under McCain

[tanyev]

33. Oh, do they give cancer treatments in the emergency room?

Might as well bring a sleeping bag and move in if you need daily insulin shots.

[Odin2005]

34. I have 3 words for this moran: OUT! OF! TOUCH!

Pathetic, just pathetic. Obama need to use this BS for an ad.

[sdfernando]

35. Holy Sh*T!

This man should be studied by doctors everywhere...first human found alive with no brain and no heart!

[halobeam]

37. I don't even think the ER would see him for that!

[RedLetterRev]

46. And his head and his arse are interchangeable. n/t

[MiaCulpa]

39. Maybe I should delete my post and add here?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3458479

It's more on the story posted in this thread. What do y'all think?

[sunnystarr]

40. Please leave it up I would have missed it if you didn't post. TY! (nt)

[MiaCulpa]

42. Well, ok

But if moderators remove I'll understand. Glad you caught it. :)

-Diane

[BrklynLiberal]

41. I guess everyone HE knows has health insurance. Certainly not true of me and

many people I know..

[Duer 157099]

43. Using that logic...

Nobody in the world is starving, because technically they could eat dirt and bugs. They may die of malnutrition, but that's because they choose to eat the wrong things.

Nobody in the world is homeless, because even if they live under a freeway pass, that's their home, so technically they are not homeless.

Nobody in the world is denied medical treatment of any kind, because for many people, prayer is the most potent treatment and everybody has access to prayer.

Buncha whiners we are eh?

[judasdisney]

45. Do Unto Others: tell the christians

[Piewhacket]

47. John Goodman, right-wing whackjob, redefines "insurance"...

to mean access to health care that you have to pay for. Coo-coo as Cocopuffs.
A health care policy advisor for McCain? I think they meant to say "McInsane".

Goodman is your prime example graduate of right-wing 'deep think' tanks, where they
taught him to disconnect all higher brain function, leaving only the reptilian
complex functioning, and then nourish that directly from his fundament.

For his next trick, Goodman will stick a pole up his ass and
call himself a 'popsicle'.

[Pete2069]

49. These people are insane!!!

We know Cheney is well taken care of... He has a doctor which
follows him around in case he gets a fever and we pay for it.
If this war and the corruption and thief of our tax money has
not shown Americans what privatization of our programs will do
, then we are lost.
Only a nut can believe that to privatize our social programs
will save you money.  
It only took Bush and the republicans 7 years to destroy our
country , which took over 200 years for us to build.

[BreweryYardRat]

58. Incorrect. The destruction's been going on since Reagan took office in 1980.

It's just that the last 7 years has been the point where the country stopped sliding downhill...and went right off the fucking cliff!!!

[drm604]

50. I swear as soon as I read that line about the census bureau

I looked at the bottom for a link to The Onion. I was certain that this had to be parody.

I thought that I had become immune to being surprised by new lows of stupidity. I should have known better.

[drm604]

51. Next time a cancer patient needs emergency chemo

they'll know where they can get it! :sarcasm:

[Bette Noir]

53. I miss my usual evening news/commentary shows.

Keithy would have a field day with this, if he weren't busy covering the convention.

As a nurse, may I say that considering legal access to an emergency room as equivalent to quality health care (insert action profanity of choice)?

[robertpaulsen]

56. "Problem solved"?! How many McCain advisors have channeled Marie Antoinette already?!

This goes up there with "nation of whiners". I'd like to take a baseball bat to John Goodman's car and say, "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FUCK A STRANGER IN THE ASS!"

[BreweryYardRat]

57. BULL--FUCKING--SHIT!!!

He cannot possibly be this stupid -- or doesn't the stupid bastard realize that most people don't have a couple grand (or much more!) in the bank to cover ER treatment?

[TrogL]

59. One of the many things that keeps Canada's health care efficient

Emergency rooms are for emergencies. You're not tying up a room full of million dollars worth of equipment getting a sniffle looked at. If you've got a sniffle, you go to a medicentre.

[pookieblue]

62. These people are out of their freaking mind.... n/t

[fascisthunter]

63. Ignorant Upperclass Brat

[undergroundpanther]

86. Exactly

In am sick of upperclass bratty bullies and their fucking classwar and power trips at OUR expense.Enough with the rethuglican psychopathy .

[undergroundpanther]

87. Exactly

I am sick of these upperclass bratty manipulative bullies and their fucking classwar and power trips at OUR expense.Enough with the rethuglican leisure class psychopathy like Bush McCain & co.

[llmart]

64. Huh?

Someone needs to send him a copy of Michael Moore's movie "Sicko" and make him watch it, oh, about 100 times!

[rainbow4321]

66. Hope the American College of Emergency Physicians gets wind of this....

As well as the ER Nurses Association

I imagine they would like a word or 2 with Mclame's people.


I just sent both organizations McCain's camp philosphy asking that they speak out against McCain's apparent healthcare platform!


http://www.acep.org/ContactUs.aspx?id=22592

http://www.ena.org/contact/default.asp

[AnneD]

67. They obviously haven't been in a county hospital ER lately...

in this universe.

[superconnected]

69. Private hospitals will turn you away without coverage

I can't believe this creep is going to get the senior vote.

[and-justice-for-all]

70. denie, denie, denie...

then lie, lie, lie... it is a repig job qualification.

[Ilsa]

71. Not the baby who had open-heart surgery at a nearby Children's Hospital.

The parents had opened a new business and hadn't gotten health insurance yet. The woman got pregnant, had a baby, tried to get insurance, but couldn't afford any, couldn't get the baby on MEdicaid, then the baby was discovered to have a heart defect requiring immediate surgery. The hospital will probably eat most of the expense.

McCain's Advisor should offer to come pay the hospital bill if he believes that rhetoric.

[davekriss]

74. Definitely insane

McCain did not say, note, "health insurance coverage" -- just "health coverage", as if via last resort to an emergency room and life-ruinous debt matches the peachy-keen insurance perk McIdiot receives as a U.S. Senator (on our shared expense).

[smb]

75. When we rewrote the dictionary....

"The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured."

Sheridan: Fine, uh, fine! Status quo. Uh, we have had some problems with the lurkers, but nothing...
Musante: Lurkers?
Sheridan: It's our version of the homeless. In many ways, we have the same problem Earth does.
Musante: Mm. Earth doesn't have homeless.
Sheridan: Excuse me?
Musante: We don't have the problem. Yes, there are some, um, displaced people --- here and there --- but, um, they've chosen to be in that position! They're either lazy or they're criminal or they're mentally unstable.
Sheridan: They can't get a job.
Musante: Earthgov has promised a job to anyone that wants one. So, if someone doesn't have a job, they must not want one!
Sheridan: Poverty?
Musante: Mm --- It's the same.
Sheridan: Crime?
Musante: Yes, there is some, but it's all caused by the mentally unstable. And we've just instituted correctional centers to filter them out at an early age.
Sheridan: Prejudice?
Musante: Hm? No, we're just --- one happy planet!... Well, all right, there's the Marsies! But that won't change until they stop fighting the Earth rule.
Sheridan: And when exactly did all this happen?
Musante: When we rewrote the dictionary. Captain, you're a good man. You're a fine soldier. A leader. You understand that sometimes, before you can deal with a problem, you have to redefine it.
Sheridan: But you can't deal with the problems by pretending they don't exist.
Musante: There's no need to embarrass our leaders by pointing out the flaws in our society that they're aware of and dealing with in their own way. Some people just enjoy finding fault with our leaders -- they're anarchists, they're troublemakers, or they're simply just unpatriotic!
Babylon 5, "Voices of Authority"

[roamer65]

76. BULLSHIT.

[pitohui]

78. that's an onion post right?

hospitals turn people away every day for financial reasons, there are no more ERs except on the teevee show of that name, as any "ER" was destroyed by katrina in my state and never rebuilt -- anmd AFAIK louisiana pre-katrina had the BEST health care in the nation for anonymous uninsured people

now if you don't have insurance, well guess what, there is no ER, it's just a surgical center, no such thing as a hospital with emergency care so if you don't have insurance you die

[tomhayes]

79. Healthcare doesn't mean EMERGENCY care....

...and because it was cold outside today does not disprove global warming.

I hope he runs on this platform. Even the stupidest person can see the fallacy in his argument.

[silverojo]

80. They haven't been to my local ER

I'd just moved here, didn't have a doctor at the time, and I'd caught a flu that resulted in a high fever and an ear infection so bad, that I literally feared I'd lose my hearing in that ear.

The doctor told me it wasn't an emergency, bitched at me for wasting his time, and I had to argue like hell with him just to get a freakin' antibiotic to tide me over until I could get in to see an ENT. (Who, by the way, said I'd gotten to him just in time, because I could have lost my hearing.)

I wrote a letter to the hospital's CEO, and got a reply stating that they were upset b/c this wasn't the first time their doctors had treated patients so badly. (To their credit, they are trying to put the bastards back into their cages--this doc got hauled onto the carpet for what he did to me.)

I have no insurance, so I had to pay for the ER visit, the medication, and subsequent doctor's visits.

Just because an ER can't turn you away doesn't mean they won't bill you...and dun you across the hills of damnation and ruin your credit, to make you PAY for those services later.

Fuck you, McCain, and all the blind-with-greed idiots you employ. :mad:

[Spiffarino]

81. Goodman: "If you have an ER to die in..."

...then you're insured! It's Republican Magick!!

:eyes:

[lonestarnot]

83. Oh pretty fucking insane it sounds like to me.

K & R

[Spiffarino]

84. McCain responds to criticism of his health plan:

"You know, my friends, I didn't have a health plan when I was a P.O.W.!!!

[undergroundpanther]

85. I waited hours

for help for my back.5 hours.I waited until I could wait no more, and I left without help...No wonder I could not get help,the ER's are overwhelmed.I asked at the 5 hour mark how much longer the wait would be? And 9 hours is a long time to sit in a waiting room plastic chair in severe back pain. I couldn't endure it and my ride could not wait that long and I had no way home. I was screwed from the beginning.

I hope they don't try to smack a bill onto me I do not have the means to pay for it SSI is not living high,as some rethuglicans may claim to the dumbass dittoheads they employ..I live below the poverty line. McCain, like all republicans wouldn't know what a poverty line is and they close their eyes to how I and many others who struggle to live day to day.
They don't want to mess up their fucking evil "beautiful minds" with thoughts of compassion for us unwashed masses.

So Fuck you McCain.I bet you never have to wait for hours in an ER waiting room now that you are a chosen one among the pigs when you suffer from anything do you.Has McCain since he has been in congress ever waited 5 hours for ANYTHING? He can't even remember how many HOMES he owns the bastard.He can afford to pay for it.Why doesn't the pig pony up a few thousand for the ER joke that was not funny I had to endure ? He won't BECAUSE he DOES NOT CARE,About me, you or anyone else who's NOT RICH.He wants us all over a barrel and desperate and in debt to be cheap labor so the republicans can own us.The republicans want those bad old days of feudalism back.

ER's are not health insurance.You'd know that if you were not born with a silver spoon in your mouth or born with the fuck the poor attitude.. you are a greedy cheap ass old psychopath pig!!!Fuck YOU McCain and I know bush clones like you will never care unless it is them self who is the one hurting.If McCain stubs a toe he is rushed in to make sure he is ok.How many cancers have they scraped off your old rotting carcass? Who paid for that? You are so filthy rich you the LUXURY of having NO clue. oh and yeah,Fuck you McCain. Asshole.
What did they do to you in that war McCain cut your HEART out? Looks like the enemy won over you McCain,you P.athetic O.ld W.armonger.
Fuck you.

[rinsd]

89. Oh that is too good!

Let's hammer 'em!