John Edwards, health care jackboot
posted at 10:25 am on November 27, 2007 by Bryan
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Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have of late engaged in a back-and-forth over their respective health care plans. Now John Edwards is swinging into the fray with a plan that is best summed up in a single word: Totalitarian. Not making this up.
“I’m mandating healthcare for every man woman and child in America and that’s the only way to have real universal healthcare.”
“Evertime you go into contact with the helathcare system or the govenment you will be signed up.”
During a press avail following the event Edwards reiterated his mandate:
“Basically every time they come into contact with either the healthcare system or the government, whether it’s payment of taxes, school, going to the library, whatever it is they will be signed up.”
When asked by a reporter if an individual decided they didn’t want healthcare Edwards quickly responded, “You don’t get that choice.“
“You don’t get that choice.” I could go the predictable route and note that Edwards is pro-choice when it comes to aborting babies but he’s anti-choice when it comes to buying health insurance. And I could even use his own pro-abort language against him to play up the irony, like this.
Q: What is your view on the decision on partial-birth abortion and most of the public agreeing with the court’s holding?
A: This decision by the Supreme Court is a perfect example of what’s at stake in this election. The kind of people that will be appointed to the US Supreme Court by the next president will control whether a woman’s freedom, freedom to choose, make her own health care decisions will be made by her or will be made by the government or by some men sitting on the US Supreme Court.
She can make her own “health care” decisions to kill, but not to decide whether health insurance itself is really in her interests or not. Gotcha.
So I’ll note all of that, but I’m more curious about something else: How does Silky plan on enforcing his plan to take away the choice to opt out of health care insurance? Say you’re uninsured by choice and you go to the doctor for some innocuous thing or another, and on your way out the receptionist starts enrolling you in some insurance plan that you don’t want. Suppose you refuse to answer the receptionist’s questions, questions probing for personal info and the like that goes on the enrollment form. What’s Silky’s enforcement mechanism? Do the state police get a call to come pick you up and find ways of making you talk to the receptionist? Does the Silky administration levy some giant fine on you and then turn around and use the proceeds to buy you a health plan that you don’t want? Will the IRS garnish your wages? Is John Edwards going to criminalize your choice to opt out of health care insurance?
What’s the plan, man? You can’t just toss up a mandate without putting some legal teeth behind it, or you haven’t really done anything that’s likely to change anyone’s behavior. So show us your teeth, Silky.
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So what does he propose they do with groups like the Amish? They won’t take government handouts far as I can tell, and I’m guessing they’d reject his health care handouts too.
Bad Candy on November 27, 2007 at 10:30 AM
Jack Leg on Jack Booting.
shooter on November 27, 2007 at 10:32 AM
Liberty or death.
MadisonConservative on November 27, 2007 at 10:33 AM
What I’m saying is, as is typical with Silky, its all demagogue crap, he can’t force someone into the system, and I note the Amish because if they wanted to refuse the gov’t run health care, he’d be going against their Constitutional right to practice religion.
Bad Candy on November 27, 2007 at 10:33 AM
So, does this finally sink the silky one?
techno_barbarian on November 27, 2007 at 10:34 AM
Pwned.
saint kansas on November 27, 2007 at 10:38 AM
And just who is “they”, Silky?
Does “they” include illegal aliens, Canadians who check out a library book in Buffalo or foreigners on vacation who get a speeding ticket?
BacaDog on November 27, 2007 at 10:40 AM
…I always wanted to get my healt insurance at a library.
aclark on November 27, 2007 at 10:41 AM
If people didn’t have to spend so much money on health care, they could afford better haircuts.
JayHaw Phrenzie on November 27, 2007 at 10:41 AM
You vill haf health carr, anddd you vill like it.
right2bright on November 27, 2007 at 10:42 AM
And that’s different from Romney how?
(Cue tommylotto in 5, 4, 3…)
steveegg on November 27, 2007 at 10:45 AM
Clueless in Delusionville.
Silky’s not qualified to run for dog catcher, yet he’s running for president. And that’s not the worst part.
People will vote for him.
Somebody shoot me.
fogw on November 27, 2007 at 10:48 AM
The ultimate goal (of Democrats) seems to be to make everyone a ward of the state, from cradle to grave. Hillary would thrust a trust fund on you (paid for by taxes) and Silky wants to force you into healthcare from birth, provided you were not aborted first.
Neo on November 27, 2007 at 10:55 AM
Desperate ass
pat on November 27, 2007 at 10:57 AM
He is only doing this because he cares more than people here.
Romney’s plan is a disgrace also. But that’s for a different time.
sweeper on November 27, 2007 at 10:57 AM
Yeah. I’d like to start by voting a lot of clueless politicians out of office, but yeah, we can do this any way they want.
Jaibones on November 27, 2007 at 11:11 AM
I sure do hope he gets the nomination, nah, that would be too easy.
conservnut on November 27, 2007 at 11:14 AM
The left has always been about totalitarianism. Why are we shocked by it being just more obvious now?
lorien1973 on November 27, 2007 at 11:16 AM
Where does choosing one’s healthcare provider come into play under this system? You can’t mandate mandatory healthcare without some mechanism for distributing the workload. Do we really think that Edwards is going to take his two little kids to some state-run clinic? NO! This plan is for the “little people” not arrogant idiots who build a mansion larger than the local public school.
Bottom line, this is populist Edwards pandering for votes. There is no way this scheme (I won’t dignify it by calling it a plan) has been thought through or is workable.
highhopes on November 27, 2007 at 11:16 AM
Dude…
You’re talking about making this guy one of the two choices for president. Don’t talk like that. There are just enough morons in this country to do it.
MadisonConservative on November 27, 2007 at 11:19 AM
Edwards is a complete, yet extremely wealthy and successful, moron.
Ah, the American Dream.
awake on November 27, 2007 at 11:21 AM
We have Ron Paul, they have Edwards…it’s a standoff of nuts.
I say we put them in a cage and have them fight it out for the nuttiest candidates.
Don’t you love America, look who gets to run for President. Although, Italy had a hooker run and that was cool.
exit question:How do you tell the difference between a hooker and a candidate?
right2bright on November 27, 2007 at 11:21 AM
This plan will play well with the libs. I b*tched and moaned about having to pay for short-term disability insurance when I worked in Kalifornia. It was mandated by the state. Next year, .8% of your income gets garnished to pay for it, up to some amount, I can’t remember the limit. Every time I complained, my coworkers thought I was crazy that I wouldn’t want to have to pay for something.
RW Wacko on November 27, 2007 at 11:22 AM
So that includes illegals and terrorists as well?
ctmom on November 27, 2007 at 11:25 AM
He’s done.
CurtZHP on November 27, 2007 at 11:32 AM
Hmmm… and just how would Congress do this?
Interstate commerce? Or are they going to create a RIGHT to health care… so they can get it under Federal jurisdiction?
Interesting…
Romeo13 on November 27, 2007 at 11:42 AM
A hooker is more honest and doesn’t beg for money.
fogw on November 27, 2007 at 11:43 AM
He forgot the part about “ELITE STATUS HEALTHCARE”. As usual some “they” will be more equal than other “they”.
bloggless on November 27, 2007 at 11:45 AM
I want to know where they’re going to find any doctors to provide this health care once this “law” passes and every single medical student says, “Ah, #&*$ it.”
You don’t suppose this would lead to, say, overworked and underpaid government-employed “public” doctors for the masses and “private” doctors for the “winners of life’s lottery,” do you?
Turn your head and cough and say “Two Americas.”
saint kansas on November 27, 2007 at 11:52 AM
What happened in 1994 after Hillary-Care raised it’s ugly head? This is Hillary-Care to the tenth power. It is a looser bigtime and I would love to fight the dems next year on this one alone. The soundbites from him so far on the issue are enough to bury him.
conservnut on November 27, 2007 at 11:57 AM
We hate it, sure. But it plays well to the Dem base and he will sell it hard to Seniors. My parents eat this crap up. They love this guy. I can see Seniors, young people, and the ill-informed (liberals) eating this up. Look at the polls; Edwards polls better against the Republican candidates than Hillary does.
RW Wacko on November 27, 2007 at 12:01 PM
If you have enough money, can you circumvent the mandatory enrollment by purchasing off-sets?
awake on November 27, 2007 at 12:03 PM
The country is more ready for socialized medicine than they were 14 years ago. The cost of healthcare has gone up by 4X since then. That sh*t hurts, and a lot of people are fed up. No matter that we get the best, most advanced care in the world. But yeah, some of those soundbites are over the top.
RW Wacko on November 27, 2007 at 12:04 PM
Better yet the DMV. Why not - the same people at the DMV will be making your health care decisions for you….
I’m sure hymen repair surgery will get a higher priority then, say, knee surgery. After all you don’t need to work - you can always go on welfare and be dependent on the democrats.
CrazyFool on November 27, 2007 at 12:06 PM
In most Canadian provinces, the gov’t healthcare is subsidized to the point of free for low-income earners, but if you “opt-out” by not filing the appropriate paperwork, the gov’t assume you to be in the high-income levels, and so you get no special subsidies (aside from the obvious ones that get you gov’t health-care in the first place) and they charge you full rate, whether you use the facilities (so to speak) or not. You then amass a whopping great bill which will eventually be garnished from your tax-return, even if you left that particular province years ago. (you may have guessed, but I’m speaking from experience)
Frozen Tex on November 27, 2007 at 12:07 PM
In 1994 you didn’t have nearly the energized 18-29 voters, and not nearly as many of them living at home off of mom and dad, without health care because they won’t “lower” themselves to the abundance of jobs out there. They will vote to be able to sit on their asses the rest of their lives.
MadisonConservative on November 27, 2007 at 12:10 PM
Edwards is a pseudo environmentalist, yes?
Think of all the trees to be sacrificed for all the paperwork needed to administer his health care plan.
Of course, people in the filing cabinet business would do very well.
Kini on November 27, 2007 at 12:54 PM
What a jake leg phoney this grease ball is.
How deep does the stupidity of the new American culture really go?
(Way too deep I’m afraid.)
saiga on November 27, 2007 at 2:02 PM
Edwards is all about choices. His choices.
Kini on November 27, 2007 at 2:09 PM
You know, he is smart. He runs around, taking in money and making stupid comments.
I mean, he gets paid for saying foolish things like this, big money is flowing in.
Man, what a racket. Who needs a job?
right2bright on November 27, 2007 at 3:26 PM
I was confused about his plan, then I had a thought. I couldn’t understand it because it was mistranslated from the original German, or Russian, or Chinese….
ScottG on November 27, 2007 at 6:49 PM