My Senator (sic) held health care town hall meeting this summer. The location couldn't accommodate the crowd, so a lot of people like me had to watch on closed circuit television in the parking lot, which turned into a shouting match between pro/anti health care reform. There was a very pregnant and vocal young lady protesting socialism (government health care) and socialist (President Obama). In an attempt to reason with, her I told her if she was happy with her present health insurance she could keep it and would have to change. She looked me dead in the face and bragged "I don't have insurance". I remember thinking, so who is going to pay to pay to deliver your baby? And after the baby is born, who is going to pay for the medical expenses that go along with children?
I asked another "protester" what were people without health insurance supposed to do when they needed treatment,they replied "the emergency room". Who do they think pays for that? And the emergency room doesn't provide preventive care or screening. I thought the emergency room was for, you know, emergencies.
On another occasion I was in the emergency room with a family member and overheard a the parents of a sick child tell other assembled family members the ER doctor was referring the child to a specialist, but if the specialist wouldn't see the child because they didn't have insurance they were going to come back to the emergency room. I saw in them parking lot getting in a truck with a McCain/Palin 08 bumper sticker. I just shook my head, and said a prayer the specialist would treat their child.
If you think people without health insurance aren't treated differently, think again. They have to go to back of the line behind patients who have insurance. I saw how a woman no insurance trying to have CT Scan. She was still waiting when I left 3 hours later. I hope she eventually got her Scan, and hope it wasn't life threatening.
I'm saying all of this to say what Booman said
I am not advising Obama to start saying this, but the real response to Mitch McConnell touting polls that say that the American people don't like the health care bills is to say that it doesn't matter because the American people need a health care bill.
Stop listening to the misinformed and the uniformed and just do the right thing Mr. Obama. That's what real leaders do. Stop listening to the "polls" and listen to your heart. Do what you know is right (no pun).
Post Health Care Summit Roundup
The republicans showed their true colors.
Well, the Republicans were quite predictably exposed as peddling a bunch of inaccurate talking points, not caring about the uninsured, not negotiating in good faith, and as generally not being serious at all about the crisis in exploding health costs.
Real, raw, commentary from the Rude Pundit (warning graphic)
What Obama did yesterday will either go down as the naive last gasps of hope and change on health care reform or as a stroke of genius, providing cover for Democrats and resuscitating an effort that will progress from the degraded baseline of the current bill.
Get the Rope!
The public is thoroughly sick of the health reform process, but people still like the idea of health care reform. So, the GOP can't just say "kill the bill" in public. Instead, Republicans have to make disingenuous speeches about "starting over," knowing full well that if health care reform dies now, it'll stay dead.
Boehner must realize the prospect of starting over is about as appealing as National Root Canal Week at the DMV. But what can he do? The Republicans have no ideas beyond "tax cuts cure cancer."
It's the Media.
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