Franken Schools NeoCon Bimbo On Medical Bankruptcies In Countries W/Universal HC

[HELLRAISER]

Watch it:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/21/al-franken-grills-hudson/

Transcript:

Franken Schools Right-Wing Analyst On Medical Bankruptcies In Countries With Universal Care: ‘It’s Zero’

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled “Medical Debt: Can Bankruptcy Reform Facilitate a Fresh Start.” The hearing examined medical bankruptcies in America, and witnesses included CAP fellow Elizabeth Edwards and Kerry Burns, a Rhode Island mother who was forced into “financial ruin” by her late son’s medical bills.

One of the highlights of the hearing was when Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) questioned Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Diana Furchtgott-Roth about medical bankruptcies. Franken asked Furchtgott-Roth — who claimed that moving towards a European-style system of universal health care would increase bankruptcies — about how many medical bankruptcies there were in countries that have universal health care, like Switzerland and France. Furchtgott-Rott repeatedly told Franken that she didn’t “have that number,” and Franken informed her that the number was actually zero:

FRANKEN: I think we disagree on whether health care reform, the health care reform that we’re talking about in Congress now should pass. You said that the way we’re going will increase bankruptcies. I want to ask you, how many medical bankruptcies because of medical crises were there last year in Switzerland?

FURCHTGOTT-ROTT: I don’t have that number in front of me, but I can find out and get back to you.

FRANKEN: I can tell you how many it was. It’s zero. Do you know how many medical bankruptcies there were last year in France?

FURCHTGOTT-ROTT: I don’t have that number, but I can get back to you if I like.

FRANKEN: Yeah, the number is zero. Do you know how many were in Germany?

FURCHTGOTT-ROTT: From the trend of your questions, I’m assuming the number is zero. But I don’t know the precise number and would have to get back to you.

FRANKEN: Well, you’re very good. Very fast. The point is, I think we need to go in that direction, not the opposite direction. Thank you.

Medical bankruptcies are an epidemic in the United States. According to a peer-reviewed study published earlier this year in the American Journal of Medicine, nearly 62 percent of all U.S. bankruptcies in 2007 were due to health care costs — and 78 percent of people who were driven into bankruptcy by their medical bills had insurance.

 

[Friday on my mind]

I had posted this before but it's worth repeating.He just owned that right wing think tank mouthpiece.

 

[HELLRAISER]

^ i was lookin for it but couldn't find it, did you add tags to it?

 

[Friday on my mind]

^ i was lookin for it but couldn't find it, did you add tags to it?

No I don't use the tags much,no biggie,yours is better,it has a written transcript which mine didn't.:hatsoff:

 

[HELLRAISER]

^ cool beans

 

[gotham123]

al's a hoss

 

[meesterperfect]

you do realize that a neocon is specifically a conservative jew right?

 

[Facial_King]

you do realize that a neocon is specifically a conservative jew right?

I didn't realize that. And the reason I didn't realize that is probably because it's not so.

(Only 2 reasons you'd post that. Either you're being sincere, in which case you're a sincere clown of the lowest order, or you're making a snarky, snide, sarcastic "point" trying to claim that those who use the term neocon are REALLY just attacking Jews, which is utter b.s. So, that's a crap post any way you slice it!)

:hatsoff:

 

[sporty_carr]

So she's a bimbo because she's a conservative? Would she still be a bimbo if she was liberal? :dunno:

 

[CunningStunts]

We are not other countries. We are the United States of America. The Constitution guarantees the right to pursue happiness, not have other pay your bills.

 

[max0rz]

you do realize that a neocon is specifically a conservative jew right?

meh, towards the latter part of the Bush years, I think lefties generally watered it down, to mean anyone a little too hawkish on national security.

So she's a bimbo because she's a conservative? Would she still be a bimbo if she was liberal? :dunno:

have to say, I think hellraiser could certainly have done without that.

the video spoke for itself, and didn't need such a ....... colourful title.

 

[GregCentauro]

We are not other countries. We are the United States of America. The Constitution guarantees the right to pursue happiness, not have other pay your bills.

Yes, that's the difference: Americans pursue happiness. Europeans reach it.

 

[Facial_King]

We are not other countries. We are the United States of America. The Constitution guarantees the right to pursue happiness, not have other pay your bills.

There are countless things that the Constitution doesn't guarantee, or even mention in the most indirect way. It doesn't guarantee us national parks or fire departments either. Does the Constitution even guarantee us a military, particularly one as gargantuan as we have?

The point is, we can collectively decide how we wish to pursue happiness and whether that will be a completely private, selfish pursuit, or if it will be a more one-for-all, all-for-one sort of effort.

As for others paying your bills, let's not forget that the red (conservative) states absorb more federal dollars than they contribute to the coffers. The blue states are just the opposite.

Plenty of Republican - and conservative - retirees have had extreme medical expenses paid for by Medicare, too, btw.