OK's Tom Coburn" "Government Is Not The Answer" to Healthcare Reform

Isn't turning to your neighbors and friends...

Universal Healthcare?

---

by: Will St. James @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 12:48:27 PM CDT

It should be obvious even to a far right wing Republicker that the current system is broken

When one in eight Americans are unable to get insurance of any kind, when almost one in five children cannot get more than rudimentary medical care, when almost half of those with insurance have large gaping holes in their coverage, when more bankrupcies are filed because of medical bills than for any other reason, something is terribly, terribly wrong.

And this "doctor" apparently wants to perpetrate this system. I just don't understand.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même merde.

---

by: TechBear @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 12:55:17 PM CDT

I dunno, really.

The optimist in me says that the only reason Republicans are trying to stop this is because they want the "credit" for the reform themselves.

After 8 years of Bush, the Republicans have no economic credibility to a lot of people. Their attempts to blame Obama have largely failed to catch on outside of their "base". Maybe they're just scared that the public image of the Democrats swooping in to save the day might be enough to put them away for good.

---

by: raya @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 16:22:43 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Don't you understand? The health insurance industry doesn't want to stop the gravy train.

We have a healthcare system that is based on for-profit corporations steadily increasing their profits so that their investors will get a return on Wall Street.

It's not enough for the health insurance companies to make a profit. They have to make increasingly large profits. Otherwise they have "failed" their investors. They are obligated by law to increase profits.

There is only one way for insurance companies to continually increase their rate of profit. They must deny more and more people services. They must cut costs while increasing income.

That's the system of healthcare that we have in the United States.

---

by: night owl @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 20:19:12 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

WOW!

All I can say is WOW!

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." ~~~ Thomas Jefferson

---

by: SD_Dave @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 12:59:49 PM CDT

**facepalm**

Christ allegedly healed people for no cost. Today he'd have swastikas spray-painted on his door and people screaming, "Socialist! Fascist!" at him when he went out.

If Sen. Coburn believes private charities are the answer, then he should tell all those good, righteous churchgoers to opt out of Medicare and rely on their congregations' charity when they need years of expensive rehabilitative care.

Orrin Hatch spouted much of the same asininity last week, that friends and neighbors and private charities should pick up the slack. If he wants to propose to Utah's state legislature that all mormons withdraw from Medicare and drop their private health insurance in favor of using the Bishop's Storehouse funds for health care, I'll applaud him.

God save ornery old queens! - kevinchi

---

by: Keori @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 13:02:34 PM CDT

Yeah, but they're cutting monies to charities

In the form of eliminating grants.  

I also suspect the people making the biggest stink at the townhall meetings are themselves covered, either by Medicare or other plans.  

Another classic GOP "I've got mine, now you go away" response.

---

by: Phil @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 13:36:00 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

"Screw you, I got mine, and you can't have it because then I won't be as special"

Take a look at the McCain Town Hall audience. It's all old white people on Medicare basically repeating the "screw the poor and the brown people, I've got mine, and I don't want to share, IT'S MINE!!" Kind of like their tantrums over marriage equality.

"No no no you can't have it IT'S MINE!! MINE MINE MINE!! And I don't wanna share!"

God save ornery old queens! - kevinchi

---

by: Keori @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 15:27:13 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Not all of them have insurance.

The rest would just rather bankrupt themselves at the emergency room than see one brown person get help "on their dime".

---

by: raya @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 16:27:14 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Watching John McCain live right now

at a town hall... he's got a woman who is saying, "All of this money is against the Constitution; doesn't Obama KNOW it's against the Constitution?"

Cheers for her; boos for McCain as he tries to correct her!

I didn't know the "He's an Arab" gal had an older sister...

Click HERE and sign up: Campaign For Military Partners

Click here for DADT photobook

---

by: Louise @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 13:42:23 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Best part of McCain's exchange with that woman

was when she pointed out that HE has had government-funded health care for most of his adult life.  He looked like he wanted to spit on her.

Cynic, n.  A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.  
-Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

---

by: QScribe @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 14:56:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I know; that was great!

Although when he was accidentally called "Senator Kennedy" was pretty funny, too.

Click HERE and sign up: Campaign For Military Partners

Click here for DADT photobook

---

by: Louise @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 15:17:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

WTF?

I guess the way he thinks was should solve our health care crisis is how they solve problems in those old western movies. Get them neighbors together and have us a barn raisin'!!

What a goofball.

Dena


Cisgender. Because "Genetic" (or non) is so 2006.

---

by: Denabeth @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 13:49:02 PM CDT

P.S.

I need to get out of this batpoop crazy state.

Help!!

Dena

Cisgender. Because "Genetic" (or non) is so 2006.

---

by: Denabeth @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 13:51:30 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

We should help eachother out as neighbors

All these right wingers are against healthcare reform and are decrying it as socialism, but what the senator proposed is exactly what socialism is. He said Neighbors should help out one another, i.e. people should pool thier resources in order to make sure people who need help can get it in times of need. Hmm, that sounds a lot like an insurance program to me, where everyone provides a little bit, such as through taxes, and when people get sick, such as this man with the brain tumor, they are able to get the care they need without creating a huge burden for their family and friends. Likewise, when others become sick and he is well, he is putting into the system and they are able to benefit from his contributions.

Does anyone else see the irony of this?

---

by: dragon88 @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 14:01:20 PM CDT

We do, they don't

"Oh, I thought you meant a specific plan. With maps and stuff." -Buffy

---

by: Aspasia @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 14:38:18 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

They could have a bake sale.

Let's see, how many brownies would they have to bake to cover $1M in medical bills?

---

by: sabrinaqedesha @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 15:01:32 PM CDT

American ignorance

The reason why Coburn and his comrades get away with this rubbish is simply that most Americans are 100% pig-ignorant of virtually everything in the world.  Otherwise he'd be called out by people familiar with the government-funded systems in England, France, Canada, Israel, Brazil and most of the rest of the civilized world.  If we had good schools, good news media or even a population that bothers to read something now and then, we'd all be a lot better off and our lives would be palpably better.  (And the Democrats are such lily-livered pansies they never even try to set the record straight.)

Cynic, n.  A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.  
-Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

---

by: QScribe @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 15:02:25 PM CDT

government can't solve our "problems", huh?

it's a typical right-wing lie that gets tossed about like the flaming pile of crap that it is.  almost everything we encounter and use on a daily basis has had its dealings with some sort of government agency, if not completely funded by the government in its entirety.  coburn is either a moron or a liar.  i suspect a little of both.  

people like coburn prey on the ignorance of their consituents to keep themselves in business and to keep the money rolling in, while giving them literally nothing in return.  and they cheer for more, all in the name of "patriotism".  why does patriotism always mean getting screwed over by the very people who are supposed to be helping you live a better and safer life?  

The gays stole my lunch money

---

by: matt in mpls @ Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 15:18:45 PM CDT