by
William McCullough
Sadism is not an infectious disease that strikes a person all of a sudden. It has a long prehistory in childhood and always originates in the desperate fantasies of a child who is searching for a way out of a hopeless situation. “
Alice Miller
Might we assume that President Obama’s constant verbal assault on the American people to support his health care scam, the majority of who are opposed, might be likened to a form of sadism? He keeps beating us over the head with unrealistic projections and half truths about what his proposal will actually accomplish and what it will cost. This despite our agony of having to look at his face and listen to his voice on the news everyday…. he just keeps on talking and talking and lying, subjecting us to banality that is worse than any physical pain could ever be. I might also add that looking at Pelosi and Reid on a regular basis is enough to cause us pain by itself. One of the main half truths is of course the amount of people who are uninsured.
First, the number includes 9.3 million non-citizens. Not all of them are undocumented aliens, but clearly a lot of them are. And neither the president’s proposal nor the House and Senate bills would make undocumented aliens eligible for subsidized coverage. They couldn’t pass if they did.
Second, the Census number fails to correct for the “Medicaid undercount” — several million people who are actually covered by the federal government’s largest health program for the poor, but who don’t report that to the Census. It also includes some who are eligible for Medicaid but don’t enroll. Former Bush administration economist Keith Hennessey, drawing on calculations done by government experts when he was in office, puts the total of these two categories at 10.7 million
So, right there, we’ve got roughly 20 million people who are either (a) presumptively ineligible for universal coverage because they’re in the country illegally, or (b) already eligible for government aid under existing law.
That leaves 25.7 million people — not 30 million, as the president said. Still, does this cohort match his description of the “left out?”
Another 10.1 million are individuals or families who make at least three times the federal poverty level,which is roughly the national median income, according to Hennessey.
So that leaves 10.6 million U.S. citizens with income below 300 percent of poverty, who are not on or eligible for a taxpayer-subsidized health insurance program and are not childless adults between age 18 and 34….If anyone deserves government help, it would be this group of 10.6 million. But that is one-third, not “the vast majority,” of the 30 million figure President Obama used. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/03/what_obama_left_out_about_the.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
The article I have cited is one of the most right on point assessments made disputing Obama’s ragged claims of what he believes the uninsured population to be, once again proving that he is either quite adept in his psycopathy of misstating the truth or is just plain ignorant of the facts. The most likely answer to that satement is that he doesn’t care what the actual numbers of uninsured are; he is just too comfortable in his own exclusive reality of half truths. Just my opinion.
Reasons why this middle class, run of the mill, regular guy despises his health insurance and would opt for a public option: In 2001 my younger of two sons, aged 17 at te time, had major back surgery to corrrect a condition known as kyphosis (Adolescent kyphosis, also known as Scheuermann’s disease, is caused by the wedging together of several bones of the spine (vertebrae) in a row. The cause of Scheuermann’s disease is unknown.) This surgery, performed successfullyt in a private hospital cost $253,000; my cost: 0 dollars.
In 2005 I had quadruple bypass heart surgery. The 13 day hospital stay: $311,000; my cost 0 dollars.
Now then, one may ask the question, what did I do to deserve such disdainful treatment at the hands of our broken health care system? What i did was to pay my monthly premiums, pre-tax, through my payroll department, without help from my Uncle Sam. Disgusting isn’t it?
I would have preferred Obama Care, a system that would have denied these treatments and saved my fellow taxpayers their hard earned tax dollars given to Washington for redistribution. Of course my son would be crippled and I would be dead and my cost would still be 0 dollars.
Such a brutal health care system needs to be abandonded without delay.
Sorry it’s been awhile. Hope you are doing well. Still love your articles and STILL cannot post comments from my BB!!
Need your zealot research skills. Writing an article for my office blog about the declining quality and quantity of child health care in America. What do you suggest as a good resource for fact and opinion.
Obama’s plan talks about this futuristic, cure-all, sickness-free, especially free health care plan, but what I am researching recently for my office blog is the NOW of people’s health being affected by the recession (there has to be a more morbid term), and the thousands of pregnant woman, their unborn children, etc. effected.
Would love your wisdom on the present and outlook of this topic also.
Thank you as always for not giving a xxxx of the herd.
Your friend,
Dr. T