jenkins, health care, elizabeth smith, public, option, republican,
From Political Animal, Elizabeth Smith goes to (a) Town Hall:
In this clip, taken at a July town hall meeting, Jenkins is confronted by a constituent named Elizabeth Smith -- a full-time waitress with two young kids. Smith's employer doesn't provide insurance, and she can't afford private coverage. Smith's not looking for a handout; she's looking for an affordable choice.
"I want an option that I can pay for," Smith told her representative. "I work. I pay my bills. I'm not a burden on the state. I pay my taxes. So why can't I get an affordable option? Why are you against that?"
Jenkins responds, literally chuckling at the question, "A government-run program is going to subsidize not only yours but everybody in this room. So I'm not sure what we're talking about here."
Jenkins went on to tell Smith that "people should be given the opportunity to take care of themselves with a refund, or an advanceable [sic] tax credit, to go be a grown-up and go buy the insurance."
(1) "Be a grown up"?! She's a responsible adult working full-time to support herself and her two children, and she's not a grown up? Oh, silly me, in the Republican world, you're only a grown up if you're rich. Bear in mind, Jenkins has government funded insurance. That's right, bitch in the background who says "It's not our job to pay for your healthcare"- we're paying for Jenkins' health care. Apparently, Jenkins is not a grown up.
(2) Fuck you, Representative Jenkins. A woman and children without health insurance is not funny. Fuuuuuuuck you. Seriously. Go fuck yourself. With a chainsaw. Sideways.
No, you're also a grownup if you're married. A single mother is an irresponsible child, no matter how she came to be a single mother in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI need to scrub my eyes. And kudos to Leigh, for seeing the obvious subtext that I totally missed.
ReplyDeleteAffordable healthcare insurance is what we need. We don't need handouts.
ReplyDeleteQuit detracting from the messenger; the meeting was about healthcare insurance and making it affordable to all working people.
Don't strangle the messenger.
Freed, that is what she was asking for. He completely dismissed her and never addressed her question. Then he lied about who will be covered. The health care bill will support people who can't afford insurance. That does not mean it will replace current insurance, that is a lie spread by the rethuglicans (these people are not republicans, they are thugs).
ReplyDeleteBeamie -
ReplyDeleteI think that HR3200 is so vaguely written in some portions (poorly written in others) that the main intent is to just get the government's foot into the door of providing healthcare.
I don't see any gov't agency that is run efficiently or effectively. I don't want them to run my healthcare. And I don't want to contribute to others that can't pay for their own healthcare. I believe there are already enough options out there for those who don't have ANY health insurance, and I believe that those who have SOME health insurance (such as myself) just want some reform to limit the healt insurance industry - limits on executive pay, no refusals due to pre-existing conditions, etc.
I don't think we need to create another government 'megalith' that eventually (and quite frankly, initially) is a drain on an already suffering economy.
The I believe the CBO's projections about the "contribution" to the deficit more than I believe the administration's forecasts.
That's just my opinion.
BTW, my comment about 'don't strangle the messenger' was about Elizabeth Smith, not Lynn Jenkins. I don't know Jenkins' reputation enough and this clip wasn't enough for me to 'get to know her'.
ReplyDeleteAnd so it goes in 'mur'kuh.
ReplyDeleteApparently, the word, "representative" seems to need a new definition in light of what it has come to depict. Did Jenkens 'represent' his 'constituent', or is he a baron deigning to confront some of the querrilous villienry and just tell them what's what?
"Trickle Down" seems to be the order of this time, from "Trickle Down Economics" to, now, "Trickle Down Citizenship", which this is a good example of.
The man I used to train horses for always said that if you voted the same man into office twice, you were a sap. See it all the time.
And I don't want to contribute to others that can't pay for their own healthcare.
ReplyDeleteThen I have terrible, terrible news for you. You're gonna have to get the fuck out of America and go somewhere they don't have a health care system. We pay for the health care or lack thereof of people who can't afford it every fucking day in America.
That celebrated ability to go to an emergency room and get treatment whether or not you have insurance that the conservatives keep crowing about? Guess who pays for it. Yeah, sure, the person in the emergency room is supposed to, but when you have someone who makes $700 a month who suddenly gets a bill for $15,000, guess how quickly it gets paid back. So what does the hospital do? Raises everyone else's prices. And, of course, the hospital isn't actually required to solve any of the underlying problems. They just have to deal with the immediate issue and send the person on their way. That's fine if, say, the person broke an arm. But if there's some underlying cause that results in physical symptoms, that underlying cause may not ever get fixed. So you know what happens? More visits to the ER that never get paid off.
Oh, and the United States pays about twice as much of its GDP per year as the rest of the developed world. For health care that's barely better than Costa Rica and Cuba. So guess what? YOU'RE PAYING FOR IT RIGHT NOW.
If the government stepped in and gave a decent single-point or (gasp) even a nationalized program our costs would go down. But, y'know, that doesn't help you feed your anti-government fantasies so why the fuck would you care?
That's infuriating.
ReplyDeleteWhat Geds said. Plus can you say the VA hospital or Medicare and Medicaid?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOh too add to what Geds was saying:
ReplyDeleteLife expectancy at birth (years)
1. Japan — 82.6
38. USA — 78.2
World Health Organization’s ranking of the world’s health systems (2000)
1. France
37. USA
Total health expenditures per capita, 2003
United States $5711
Australia $2886
Austria $2958
Belgium $3044
Canada $2998
Denmark $2743
Finland $2104
France $3048
Germany $2983
Ireland $2466
Italy $2314
Japan $2249
Netherlands $2909
Norway $3769
Sweden $2745
United Kingdom $2317
It has only gone up for America since 2003.
The bottom line here is that everytime the right-wingers talk health care they LIE. They mix half-truths and out-of-context document extracts with pure, blatant lies.
ReplyDeleteI could swear that Christian pastors, from the pulpit, attribute such behaviour to SATAN.
So, who knew? Right-wingers are SATAN in the flesh. The anti-Christ even?