(h/t ThinkProgress)
Poor Michele Bachmann. She knows she lost the battle and the war, but still seems to be unaware that her one functioning brain cell ran away too. In this little audio gem, she insists that Berwick -- a champion of outcome-based health outcomes that don't threaten the doctor-patient relationship -- will be running death panels and denying us care.
Also? Honorary degrees spread egg over your face, doncha know?
BAKER: The number of people, the number of people involved in this health care plan...they seem to be big advocates of rationing!
BACHMANN: Yes, that is their foundation, and the reason why they want to ration is because they also want not just a wealth transfer, Chris, they want a power transfer. Today, if you're sick you just call up the phone [sic] make an appointment with your doctor or maybe you just walk into your doctor's office, get an appointment. They want to transfer authority for your health care to a government bureaucrat so a bureaucrat will decide if you get in to see a doctor, when you get in, and what level of care you will get.
We as individuals for the first time in America will lose control over our health care decision making and this individual who hasn't seen a patient for years, who the White House was touting as having Harvard professorships, and now the White House has egg over their face -- on their face -- he doesn't have professorships, they're honorary positions.
He's the individual with this radical, um, advocate of completely socialized medicine, government takeover, government decisionmaking, reduction of health care for all of us. He's the one now who will be in charge of implementing full scale Obamacare and he'll be in charge of Medicare and Medicaid.
BAKER: Oh boy, that's why I'm now referring to him as the chairman of the Obamacare Death Panel.
BACHMANN: That's right.
BAKER: That's my title.
BACHMANN: That's right because this is his quote. I have it right in front of me. It says "the decision is not whether we will ration health care; the decision is whether we'll ration with our eyes open." Well it's with his eyes open, because he is going to be the one who is denying people care.
There are so many lies in this two-minute segment I don't even know where to begin, but I'll try.
- Single payer advocates out there can't miss the irony of her claim about government-run health care. Oh, if it were only so.
- Rationing happens now. Actually, it's not even rationing, since there are two classes in this country: those who have access to health care and those who do not. As one who, until quite recently, belonged to the class who did not have access and who spent a large chunk of her retirement account on her son's illness last summer, I think I understand rationing. Berwick's approach isn't rationing.
Berwick's approach is really quite innovative. At IHI, he incubated ideas for more efficient, safer health care delivery. Always at the forefront was the idea that more was not necessarily safer or more effective treatment. He challenged norms, along with his team.
If Bachmann were truly conservative in the truest sense of the word, she would be wrapping her arms around this guy, because his approach is to streamline and deliver quality health care, a value true conservatives should hold dear.
- Access in today's world hardly means phoning up your doctor or just walking into his office, at least not where I live. If you don't have insurance, make sure you've got seventy-five bucks in cash or so for the office visit or they won't see you, and if you do have insurance make sure you've got that thirty-five dollar copayment ready to go. Also be sure you've got some extra bucks in the bank for the prescriptions you won't get a price break on if you're uninsured.
Need diagnostic tests? An x-ray? Your broken bone set or, God forbid, surgery? Forget it. If you're middle class and uninsured, plan on pulling out that emergency credit card you were hoping never to have to use because of the 21% interest rate.
My son was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis last summer. That diagnosis cost $3,000 for the colonoscopy, $900 for the blood tests, $1,200 for the gastroenterologist, and $400/month for the medications. When one of the medications caused a diabetic response, we shelled out another $1,000 for more blood tests, more doctors, insulin, oral meds, and a glucose meter.
There's some access for ya.
It probably goes without saying that Michele Bachmann receives a tremendous amount of her campaign funding from corporate entities who benefit from the lies she tells. Tarryl Clark doesn't have that baggage, and is a Blue America endorsed candidate. She's challenging Bachmann for that seat. If you can help Tarryl by contributing or volunteering, we can send harpy Bachmann back to her farm subsidies for good.
