Analysis by Barbara Ehrenreich of W’s speech in Cleveland on 10 July 2007, where among other things, George spoke up vs. socialized medicine — or in Bush-babel, “Federalized medicine”.
GWB: “I strongly object to the government providing incentives for people to leave private medicine, private health care to the public sector. And I think it’s wrong and I think it’s a mistake. And therefore, I will resist Congress’s attempt … to federalize medicine … In my judgment that would be — it would lead to not better medicine, but worse medicine. It would lead to not more innovation, but less innovation.”
EHRENREICH: “Now you don’t have to have seen “Sicko” to know that if there is one area of human endeavor where private enterprise doesn’t work, it’s health care. Consider the private, profit-making, insurance industry that Bush is so determined to defend. What “innovations” has it produced? The deductible, the co-pay, and the pre-existing condition are the only ones that leap to mind. In general, the great accomplishment of the private health insurance industry has been to overturn the very meaning of “insurance,” which is risk-sharing: We all put in some money, though only some of us will need to draw on the common pool by using expensive health care. And the insurance companies have overturned it by refusing to insure the people who need care the most – those who are already, or are likely to become, sick.”
Well OK, then…
Keep in mind “43” was arguing against any expansion of federal law — the State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (S-CHIP), which provides health coverage for uninsured American children, as authorized under Title XXI of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. States may set eligibility requirements within broad Federal guidelines, but the thrust of the legislation — to provide a safety net for children with medical needs, who otherwise could not afford care.
Ironically, W was speaking in Cleveland, a city of burgeoning unemployment and poverty, both metrics which have expanded since George took office. Incredibly, in the lengthy Q&A following Bush’s speech, W complained: “Anybody work here in this town? ” — of course, referencing the length of the public appearance, but none-the-less, a faux pas when spoken in America’s poorest big city.
On a related note from Ohio in May of this year — the city council of Oberlin, Ohio in Lorain County, passed a resolution urging Congress to enact impeachment proceedings against the boy emperor, W. As is sung in the limbo song, “how low can you go?”
Tags: conservative anxiety, fear mongering, health care reform, insurance industry, lobbyist influence, social welfare