“We don’t have a setting across this country where if you don’t have insurance, we just say to you, ‘Tough luck, you’re going to die when you have your heart attack,’ ” he said as he offered more hints as to what he would put in place of “Obamacare,” which he has pledged to repeal.
“No, you go to the hospital, you get treated, you get care, and it’s paid for, either by charity, the government or by the hospital. We don’t have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don’t have insurance.”
He pointed out that federal law requires hospitals to treat those without health insurance — although hospital officials frequently say that drives up health-care costs.
That statement is at odds with this report from a little over a year ago, about an incident in the city of Cincinnati, state of Reality. This time, the emphasis is mine:
ABC News:
A 24-year-old Cincinnati father died from a tooth infection this week because he couldn't afford his medication, offering a sobering reminder of the importance of oral health and the number of people without access to dental or health care.
According to NBC affiliate WLWT, Kyle Willis' wisdom tooth started hurting two weeks ago. When dentists told him it needed to be pulled, he decided to forgo the procedure, because he was unemployed and had no health insurance.
When his face started swelling and his head began to ache, Willis went to the emergency room, where he received prescriptions for antibiotics and pain medications. Willis couldn't afford both, so he chose the pain medications.
The tooth infection spread, causing his brain to swell. He died Tuesday.
Hey look, there's a guy who died because he didn't have health insurance and he went to the ER for care. Why does reality so often disagree with your little stories, Mr. Romney?
"Emergency rooms serve as a place of last resort, but 45,000 Americans still die every year because they lack health insurance, or one every 12 minutes," reports ThinkProgress's Rebecca Leber. "Uninsured adults under age 65 are also at a 40 percent higher death risk. Hospitals may treat patients for emergency medical conditions regardless of legal status or ability to pay, but patients with chronic conditions that don’t require emergency interference are often unable to access needed care."
Think about it. How many times in your life have you heard the words, "Early detection is the key?" Imagine heading out and telling your spouse, "Well, I'm off to get my cancer screening at the ER... No, I don't have any symptoms. But Mitt says they'll handle all our uninsured healthcare needs."
How do you see that story panning out? I kind of don't think you're getting your cancer screening, do you -- and more importantly, does Mitt?
The fact is that Romney either knows all of this and doesn't care or he's either suffering from chronic amnesia or Alzheimers. Romney passed healthcare reform in Massachusetts. These are basic healthcare facts. He had to have known them at one time. He had to have studied the bill -- and the need for the bill -- he signed into law. And yet here he is, acting like he's never seen even the most rudimentary figures about the uninsured.
As I say, I hope (for the sake of his conscience) that Mitt really is having some sort of mental problem -- hopefully, a treatable one. Because the only other explanation is that he's a monster. He's promised to repeal Obamacare ASAP, returning to that one death due to lack of insurance every twelve minutes stat as status quo.
And why will he repeal it? Because the wingnuts don't like it. He was for it before he was against it, but now he's running for president. If 45,000 Americans need to die every year so that he can call himself President Romney, then you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Mitt Romney winning an election seems to be worth an actual death toll, in his mind. People dying of freakin' toothaches is nothing to worry about. I mean, they're poor. It's not like they're real.
As I said, that would make him a monster. Cutting him slack means assuming he's sick. Either way, he's completely unfit for the office he seeks.
-Wisco
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