Beyond Vexed

Lucy's pissed.   I counted to more than ten and took deep breaths—which helped dial back the outrage just enough to sit still at the laptop for a few minutes. 

On today's Andrea Mitchell show Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX and proud Texas A & M graduate) held forth.  He trotted out the worn-thin, fictional Republican talking points, saying the American people don't want Obamacare, that they're being forced to go to a web site that doesn't work.  (Must be because the people who don't want to sign up all went there at once and crashed healthcare.gov--as happens with many new and popular sites when traffic is too heavy.  Geez!)

 

He said,  "We don't support Obamacare; we support patient-centered care."  That statement was laughable and I wish I could have laughed.   Instead it really got to me, for some reason.   It's totally misleading for one thing, but so is nearly everything else Congressional Republicans are saying.  Misleading and downright untrue.  It makes me angry that too many people hear something indicating they won't be getting quality care— and believe it without questioning it or thinking it through.  

 

Whether care is "patient centered" or not has everything to do with physician and patient.  How the doctor is willing to work with a patient and what a patient is willing to accept in the way of how a doctor cares for him or her.  I believe the Patient's Bill of Rights made it into the final version of the Health Care bill when it was going through Congress.   If anything, the new law might contribute to an environment where a more patient-centered approach is possible.  The preventative care included in the law certainly is patient-centered.  Those ridiculously "tacky" ads where a weird Uncle Sam figure pops up between the stirrups where a woman lies on an examining table is bad enough.   I will say again that I'd far rather have the government making decisions on my health care than an insurance company.  Any day of the week.  Insurance companies are profit motivated and care only about the bottom line.  They've been notorious for cutting off coverage in mid-treatment for people dealing with cancer and for denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.  They have people on staff who spend all their time looking for ways to deny coverage to sick people, even after they've paid premiums for years.   Women have had to pay  more than men for coverage.    All that changes under the AFA, hallelujah.  

Then the Congressman got on my very last nerve with his sanctimonious talk about veterans in his family— so of course Congress wants to pay veterans' benefits and death benefits.   Apparently he's never had hungry children in his family.  

Thanks for listening, good Lefties.  We'll get through this together.