Audio Bombshell: Vilsack admits SCHIP is a Trojan Horse for socialized medicine
posted at 2:45 pm on November 17, 2007 by Bryan
Share on Facebook | regular view
The boss has been calling this one for weeks, and here we are: Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack admitted yesterday that the SCHIP program is just a ploy to get on the path toward socialized medicine.
Here’s the transcript:
“I think there is going to be a commitment to universal coverage. I don’t think it’s necessarily going to be a sector by sector process. I think you either need to go in whole hog or not. We tried to sort of squeeze the middle here with doing children and doing seniors, and trying to squeeze it. If anything happens, it would more likely look something like this: you would extend eligibility for children from 200% of poverty to 300% of poverty, and create resources to insure the parents of those children.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages:
Any third party payment system for any commodity takes away the natural instinct to shop for the best service and price, this in turn decrease competition and causes out of control prices and poor service levels.
If there was absolutely no insurance, state funded or private. The medical industry would be trying to compete for your business with advertised lower prices, better serve and selection. much like it is for veterinarian service where few people have insurance policies on their pets.
TheSitRep on November 17, 2007 at 3:05 PM
What the hell does this even mean???
Stupid libs can only see things in terms of poverty and class warfare. 200% poverty is not poverty.
VolMagic on November 17, 2007 at 3:08 PM
Hmmmm nope, it can’t be a Trojan Horse. The SCHIP program only goes to children…
…who can be 25 years old…
…making $80,000 a year in income…
…but it’s for the children!!
Not a Trojan Horse at all!
Weebork on November 17, 2007 at 3:08 PM
VolMagic,
What he means is 200%-300% above the poverty level.
Weebork on November 17, 2007 at 3:10 PM
What sack?
Unsure about the horse part but the Trojan was definitely a necessity, we weren’t even going to get dinner out of that bend over fence rail session.
Speakup on November 17, 2007 at 3:11 PM
Wow, a liberal tells the truth…I love when they do that. It just proves most of we say about them, their ideology, and their actions to advance that ideology is true.
Bad Candy on November 17, 2007 at 3:13 PM
Bad Candy,
Indeed. That is one thing I commend Rep Dennis Kucinich on that none of the other candidates do: He’s honest about where he stands, even though most of it is wacko.
Weebork on November 17, 2007 at 3:21 PM
I wouldn’t be surprised if Gov Vilsak gets a call from Don Clinton Corlione about spilling the beans about liberal’s true intent with healthcare.
Weebork on November 17, 2007 at 3:23 PM
We should always encourage Democrats to admit that they are indeed socialists. Dealing with their constant smoke and mirrors about it uses up a lot of energy we could be putting to more productive ends.
Halley on November 17, 2007 at 3:43 PM
The war on liberty wages on
Gatordoug on November 17, 2007 at 3:56 PM
Hillary believes she will win the day with this issue front and center. Republicans will need a strong response, and simply saying it doesn’t work in Canada won’t do it.
T J Green on November 17, 2007 at 4:00 PM
Tax the rich, force-feed the middle class, till there are no rich or middle class no more.
steveegg on November 17, 2007 at 4:36 PM
Well, DOH!!
georgej on November 17, 2007 at 4:44 PM
This is the funniest part… Government does not create anything…. the only question is how much in the way of money/economic opportunity does the government take from the economy?
And what kind of resources? Gold, copper, oil? I think another creator was in on that gig all ready…
darkpixel on November 17, 2007 at 4:46 PM
I welcome our new, wise, Socialist overlords. When I think that my entire pay check is going to pay for children who are experiencing 200-300% poverty (that’s just horrible!) it only makes me want to work harder and earn more! /sarcasm
Ordinary1 on November 17, 2007 at 5:06 PM
As bad as SCHIP is, no one dares question a senior citizens right to prescription medicine. Forced onto to American public by a Republican President (with his genius advisor) and passed by a Republican Congress. They don’t need a trojan horse. A petting zoo will do just fine.
sweeper on November 17, 2007 at 6:10 PM
The left is strategizing so far out ahead of most voters that they wouldn’t believe what they were up to, even if someone (like MM or Rush) spelled it out for them.
petefrt on November 17, 2007 at 8:06 PM
Since the government started Medicare, we now have over one third of the “medical workers” sitting at desks behind computer screens trying to prevent health care!
Real “medical workers,” like doctors and nurses, are dropping out of the system because Medicare won’t pay its bills. How would you like it if you completed a job and the contract administrator said said to you: “Well, I know we signed a contract to pay you $3000 for that job but we’re short of money so we’re only going to pay you $2000.” This is government-run healthcare in the U.S. today.
We’re creating a system where everyone is either an insurer or an insured, but nobody will agree to be a doctor.
landlines on November 17, 2007 at 8:58 PM
Why don’t the Democrats just rename themselves the Socialist party? Everything they do is devoted to more and more socialism. We have the dollar dropping out of the sky and the only thing the Democrats want to talk about is socialized medicine and global warming. What a bunch of commies !!
Maxx on November 17, 2007 at 10:05 PM
“commies he11.” Physcotic FREAKS.
Griz on November 17, 2007 at 11:31 PM
Who is surprised? Everything the democrats do…EVERYTHING…is an incremental move towards socialism. I’m not convinced that they go to bed every night dreaming of nationalizing industries in the US, but I’m not willing to take that chance.
Asher on November 18, 2007 at 12:08 AM
Actually, I long ago concluded that “progressives” are prone to waking up in the middle of the night with a horrible feeling that somewhere in the Universe, somebody is doing something without getting their permission first.
But of course, they have a cure for that. As Mordac said in a recent Dilbert strip, “In a perfect world, no one would be allowed to use anything”.
(They’re working on that.)
cheers
eon
eon on November 18, 2007 at 8:33 AM
I work in healthcare finance, and believe it or not Medicare and Medicaid, while they don’t pay as well as commercial insurers, require very little administrative overhead from the provider compared to commercial insurers. They’re actually very efficient systems for what they do. The problems arise from the socialist nature of the programs (LBJ called it “cost shifting”. Heh) and also from the demutualization of the commercial insurers. When they went from mutual insurance associations to publicly-traded for-profits, their loyalties shifted, resulting in greatly diminished reimbursements and higher premiums. I’m all in favor of for-profits, but the continued pressures from below-cost government reimbursement on the one hand and commercial profit seeking on the other are killing providers.
HerrMorgenholz on November 18, 2007 at 9:11 AM
[sarcasm]
Shocking! Just shocking!
[/sarcasm]
eanax on November 18, 2007 at 10:16 AM
And this is a good point. More and more doctors are leaving their profession (save plastic surgeons). My primary care physician did a few years ago due to problems related to getting paid — his practice couldn’t stay afloat. And he was many years from retirement.
And nurses are in short supply. It will eventually happen with medical doctors too. For doctors, the cost of doing business is becoming, or has become for some, too much to justify keeping their practices open.
eanax on November 18, 2007 at 10:25 AM
I’m a burned out nurse. Let me explain why nurses are in short supply:
1. Crappy shifts.
2. Crappy pay.
3. The threat of lawsuits hanging over every little decision.
4. Unappreciative employers.
5. Abusive Doctors.
6. Abusive patients.
I quit, as do most nurses because after a while, you realize that the job just isn’t worth it. It’s a lovely profession, but the burnout rate for a nurse is just awful.
Doctors mostly quit because of malpractise. The fear of ruining your life and your profession over a mistake (and doctors make mistakes – they are human, after all) is just not worth it.
As for the money thing mentioned above, Medicare is the one of the only “insurers” that always pays its bills. What you’re referring to in a round about way is the use of contracted facilities. What happens is that facilities sign contracts with Medicare and insurance companies to charge them, say $2000 for a knee replacement. If the person is uninsured, the cost is $3000. The cost of the actual equipment, time, etc is actually $1800. The charged amount that a hospital wants is never what they actually get from Medicare or an Insurance company because the facility has signed a contract that since they get business from these insurers, they give people a deal. When people get their bills from hospitals or doctors, they see the charged amount from the hospital of $3000 and the paid amount of $2000. Unless they go to a non-contracted facility, they are under no obligation to pay the difference.
And that’s the lecture on insurance from a nurse who now works for the evil insurance company for today.
mjk on November 18, 2007 at 11:26 AM
In the famous words of Gomer Pyle, “surprise, surprise, surprise!”
Liberty or Death on November 18, 2007 at 12:55 PM
I suspect many of you are not old enough to remember a time when Medicare didn’t exist. I’ll turn 61 on Thanksgiving day. I recall when Doctors actually made “House Calls”. ie; the Dr. came to your house when you were sick. They just presumed if you were sick and they weren’t, it was easier on you, The Patient.
The primary concern was, The Patient. Not filling out reams of B.S. forms from some paper-pusher in D.C.
The skyrocketing cost of medical care and everything related to it can be tied directly to the involvement of the federal government in an individuals health care.
SCHIP is just another step in a journey that began decades ago.
The only surprise here is that a Dhimmi was honest.
oldleprechaun on November 18, 2007 at 2:24 PM
The Constitution has nothing to do with healthcare. All government programs are un-constitutional. It has to do with Congresses enumerated powers.
The framers made it VERY clear the government wasn’t to give charity to the people. Go read up on John Adams.
While on the subject of the Constitution, while most misinformed people believe that the core of rights contained therein is in the Bill of Rights, the real core of rights is Article I, Section 8, the powers of Congress which, when coupled with the 10th Amendment, essentially says that the Federal government cannot do anything unless it is on that list, or covered by an Amendment (such as the income tax, covered by he 16th Amendment). So, unconstitutional are:
Social Security
Medicare
Medicaid
Food Stamps
Public Housing
Welfare programs
EPA/environmental regulations
OSHA/workplace safety regulations
Wagner Act (forced negotiations with unions)
Minimum wage
Child labor laws
Product liability laws
Anti-discrimination laws (at least by non-government entities)
And I could go on…
If the democrat party had any interest in enforcing the Constitution, they would demand every one of these be eliminated immediately, period. Fat chance.
xler8bmw on November 18, 2007 at 6:28 PM
What’s funny to me is I’ve worked at a few medical insurance companies (and at Medicare) and now write software that does medical practice accounting and the WORST offender for arbitrarily deciding the rules on a given day is medicare. I swear they wake up every morning and roll a pair of dice to see which new rules are going to be enforced today.
And I rarely hear anyone talk about smaller cytology-type tests where I’ve seen Medicare actually pay below a laboratory’s ability to do the test. I’m not talking about profit, I’m saying they literally lose money on these tests if Medicare is paying, but you have to keep the contract with them because the governement already runs such a large proportion of the medical system. Mark my words, if the government takes over healthcare, not only will they never give it back (duh) but it will get worse and cost more.
WitchDoctor on November 18, 2007 at 7:26 PM
I hate what has happened to health insurance
I used to go to a doctor when I wanted. If I didn’t like him I shopped for a better doctor
The HMO makes me choose a gatekeeper doctor. I am supposed to be a good little sheep and turn myself over to this doctor for an examination to his satisfaction not mine. Then he decides what is good for me. This usually means a regimen of drugs. If ypu do not take the first physical or accept the drug regimen you are a problem patient
I am no longer the customer. The employer supplying the health insurance is the customer and the doctor is the provider. I am the problem
Obey the gatekeeper or you will not get to see the eye specialist
Socialized medicine means there are only gatekeepers. You are no longer paying the bill, the government is. When you are no longer the customer they give a rat’s ask about your opinions or complaints
entagor on November 19, 2007 at 3:11 AM
Comment pages: