Michelle Obama on ObamaCare: This is very much a women’s issue

“The status quo is unacceptable,” she says, ignoring the fact that a near-majority thinks the status quo is very much acceptable indeed when the alternative is ObamaCare. Ah well. This is, as predicted, the “soccer-mom sell,” aimed squarely at women who might otherwise balk at the plan’s pricetag and/or their suspicions that their families will do worse with universal health care than without it. And yes, before you ask, of course there was a heartwarming anecdote about children to cement the emotional appeal. Less heartwarming is her prior involvement in “patient dumping” when she advised a hospital in Chicago. America’s forgotten but the boss hasn’t:

While a top executive at the hospital, Mrs. Obama helped engineer the plan to offload low-income patients with non-urgent health needs. Under the Orwellian banner of an “Urban Health Initiative,” Mrs. Obama sold the scheme to outsource low-income care to other facilities as a way to “dramatically improve health care for thousands of South Side residents.” The program guaranteed “free” shuttle rides to and from the outside clinics.

In truth, it was old-fashioned cost-cutting and favor-trading repackaged as minority aid. Clearing out the poor freed up room for insured (i.e., more lucrative) patients. If a Republican had proposed the very same program and recruited black civic leaders to front it, Michelle Obama and her grievance-mongering friends would be screaming “RAAAAAAAAACISM!” at the top of their lungs…

Following the Adams incident, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) blasted Mrs. Obama and Mr. Axelrod’s grand plan. The group released a statement expressing “grave concerns that the University of Chicago’s policy toward emergency patients is dangerously close to ‘patient dumping,’ a practice made illegal by the Emergency Medical Labor and Treatment Act (EMTALA)” – signed by President Reagan, by the way – “and reflected an effort to ‘cherry pick’ wealthy patients over poor.”

For whatever reason, the posts about Mrs. O tend to bring out our jerkiest commenters so if you haven’t read Ed’s post today about comment protocol, now would be a good time. We’ll be watching the thread, as will our many valued regulars. Ignore Ed’s advice at your peril.

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