Republican Sue Lowden: Chickens for checkups

[bamacre]

OK, what would you call pre-Obamacare health care system? Because conservatives were complaining about it being a "government takeover" so to me that implies that it was not taken over by government before.

I don't give a shit what the Republican party calls it, it isn't nor wasn't anything even resembling "free market" health care. Try some reading.

 

[bamacre]

Health care "overhaul" won't cut costs...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100423/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_law_costs

Is anyone really shocked?

 

[Moonbeam]

Better health care is coming when more Republicans die of anal retention, cardiac arrest, and stupidity but we have a start. Nobody is going to take free health care away from sick children. It's OK to allow children to die of neglect, but you can't yank a rug from under them that is in place and survive politically.

 

[Lanyap]

I would give my doctor a chicken for a checkup.

 

[bamacre]

but we have a start.

No, we don't. If we don't cut the cost of health care, we are screwed. Not just for consumers, but arguably more important, government health care expenditures. If the report is true, and health care costs continue to rise, we'll go bankrupt, or we'll kill the dollar. Neither outcome is pretty.

 

[Throckmorton]

lol.... oh wait... it's what went on less than 100 years ago... lol at our grandparents and their parents.....

But yes, it wasn't a very smooth political move to say it as she did.

I guarantee you trading chickens for healthcare wasn't ever the norm. It happened in some places with a tiny fraction of the population-- so what? Just because it's a cutesy story doesn't mean it has any relevance to healthcare reform.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

I guarantee you trading chickens for healthcare wasn't ever the norm. It happened in some places with a tiny fraction of the population-- so what? Just because it's a cutesy story doesn't mean it has any relevance to healthcare reform.

Then you are ignorant. Bartering was normal for many things - even doc visits.

 

[Lanyap]

I guarantee you trading chickens for healthcare wasn't ever the norm. It happened in some places with a tiny fraction of the population-- so what? Just because it's a cutesy story doesn't mean it has any relevance to healthcare reform.

Bartering for healthcare occurred primarily in poor areas like the rural south where people did not have much money but they did have items of value and could work to pay their doctor bills with those items and their labor. It was either that or don't see the doctor or see the doctor but they don't get paid. Keep in mind this was before medical insurance became more widespread.

Recession Drives More People to Barter For Health Care
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2009/June/17/Barter.aspx

Barter background
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0410/Barter_background.html?showall

Lowden says Reid behind flap over 'barter' remarks
http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20100422/NEWS/100429863/0/FRONTPAGE

RENO — U.S. Senate candidate Sue Lowden said Thursday that Harry Reid is trying to make her look bad over remarks suggesting a return to the barter system with doctors.

“Harry Reid is trying to change the subject from his 2,700 pages of government-run health care,” she said after a breakfast meeting in Reno.

Lowden became a top story nationwide last week after Democratic Party figures, cable news shows, bloggers and even Jay Leno ridiculed her so-called “Chickens for Checkups” plan.

The subject of bartering was raised during a town meeting in Mesquite after she was asked what her health care plan would look like if she was in the Senate.

She told the audience in Mesquite her plan would include allowing the purchase of coverage across state lines, more options for buying coverage without the mandates in the bill as well as lifting limits on health savings accounts.

Then, she added: “I think that bartering is really good. Those doctors who you pay cash you can barter. And that would get prices down in a hurry.”

Lowden elaborated on her statements in an appearance Monday on “Nevada Newsmakers,” saying: “Before we all started having health care, in the olden days our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor. They would say I'll paint your house.”

Lowden said despite the flap over her bartering comments, doctors in rural areas have long done just that — trading treatment for goods and other services that patients can provide.

“When you don't have government in between you and your health care, you can negotiate — it was in that context,” she said Thursday, adding that the audience understood what she meant.

Lowden's comments thrust her onto the national media scene. Democrats, with TV crews in tow, tried to deliver a goat and chickens to her Las Vegas office. Hundreds of bloggers are cracking chicken jokes, and Jay Leno, in a monologue now posted on YouTube, asked what patients would do if “their doctor isn't Amish.”

Lowden told the audience of about 50 people at the Nevada Business Connections monthly meeting she expects the next month to be filled with negative attacks on her.

“I have all my opponents attacking me and I have Harry Reid attacking me,” she said. “Why? Because he doesn't want me coming out of this primary.”

Lowden touted her business background to the audience, saying she and her husband Paul have extensive experience in making tough business decisions for themselves and as many as 5,000 employees. She said she isn't a career politician.

“This is the first time I've been on a statewide ballot because I've been in the private sector,” she said.

The Lowdens have owned and operated several casinos over the years. She served a term in the Nevada Senate in the 1990s.

Asked about Rep. Dean Heller's push to require that Congress be subject to any legislation it passes, she said she would “absolutely be for that.”

She said her first move in Washington, D.C., would be to begin reducing the debt by cutting congressional salaries and chop back spending in every federal agency, including by reducing every federal salary.

 

[nobodyknows]

No, we don't. If we don't cut the cost of health care, we are screwed. Not just for consumers, but arguably more important, government health care expenditures. If the report is true, and health care costs continue to rise, we'll go bankrupt, or we'll kill the dollar. Neither outcome is pretty.

We're already bankrupt. We might as well be bankrupt with good health care.

When the cost of healthcare starts soaking the rich taxpayers enough then something will finally get done, but until then those same people are cashing in in not taking care of the working poor people. I say fuck them and the horse they rode in on.

 

[bamacre]

When the cost of healthcare starts soaking the rich taxpayers enough then something will finally get done,

That "something" scares me. It aint gonna be good.

 

[nobodyknows]

That "something" scares me. It aint gonna be good.

Is fearmongering your specialty?

What do you think will happen that scares you? Health care cost have went through the roof. The choice was to continue letting prices skyrocket and let the insurance companies cheap out by covering less people or to try to effect change.

 

[Thump553]

After reading Ms. Lowden's "clarification" it becomes apparent to me that she doesn't know (or choses to ignore) that bartering is perfectly legal right now. So if your doctor wants chickens instead of money he/she is free to accept them. Which means that her proposal is not only impracticable and stupid, but it is utterly meaningless as well. Basically she is saying my plan is to do absolutely nothing but talk about the good old days.

If she gets elected it's like we will have two Michelle Bachmans on the national stage. Talk about incompetent goverence in action.

 

[bamacre]

Is fearmongering your specialty?

What do you think will happen that scares you? Health care cost have went through the roof. The choice was to continue letting prices skyrocket and let the insurance companies cheap out by covering less people or to try to effect change.

Go back and look at what you said, and particularly what I quoted. To answer your question, I'll point to an example I posted in another thread, a story about a Canadian woman fined because she didn't hold onto a handrail while riding an escalator. The root problem won't be solved, they'll just legislate ways to force Americans to be healthier and safer.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

After reading Ms. Lowden's "clarification" it becomes apparent to me that she doesn't know (or choses to ignore) that bartering is perfectly legal right now. So if your doctor wants chickens instead of money he/she is free to accept them. Which means that her proposal is not only impracticable and stupid, but it is utterly meaningless as well. Basically she is saying my plan is to do absolutely nothing but talk about the good old days.

If she gets elected it's like we will have two Michelle Bachmans on the national stage. Talk about incompetent goverence in action.

"Over the last 15 months, we've traveled to every corner of the United States. I've now been in 57 states? I think one left to go." - Barack Obama

"When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed" - Joe Biden

Talk about incompetent governance in action!

You take this small stupid thing, magnify it and extrapolate it into 'incompetent goverence in action'. 'Clever' little game you've got going on here. Brilliant!

 

[nobodyknows]

Go back and look at what you said, and particularly what I quoted. To answer your question, I'll point to an example I posted in another thread, a story about a Canadian woman fined because she didn't hold onto a handrail while riding an escalator. The root problem won't be solved, they'll just legislate ways to force Americans to be healthier and safer.

Got a link to that story handy? I'd like to read it.

As far as legislating ways to force Americans to be safer, they already do that. Seat belt laws, helmet laws, speed limits, etc.

 

[xj0hnx]

We're already bankrupt. We might as well be bankrupt with good health care.

Moron, if everything truly goes south there won't be "good" health care for anyone.

When the cost of healthcare starts soaking the rich taxpayers enough then something will finally get done, but until then those same people are cashing in in not taking care of the working poor people. I say fuck them and the horse they rode in on.

Your dream of having the rich pay for everything for you is never going to happen. When you pass monstrosities like this it isn't the rich that suffer, it's the poor and middle class, you fucking idiots, are cutting off your nose to spite you face.

 

[bamacre]

Got a link to that story handy? I'd like to read it.

As far as legislating ways to force Americans to be safer, they already do that. Seat belt laws, helmet laws, speed limits, etc.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/05/20/montreal-laval-escalator-handrail-metro-fine.html

 

[Patranus]

Whats the big deal?

Farmer sells chicken
Company A processes chicken
Company B distributes chicken
Company C sells chicken
Doctor gets money for services
Doctor buys chicken from company c

or

doctor gets chicken for services

 

[JHoNNy1OoO]

Just to add a little humor to the conversation. Looks like someone was nice enough to create a Medical Procedure Cost to Chicken converter.

http://lowdenplan.com/

Annual Check-up = 24 chickens (Not bad!)
MRI = 462 chickens (A bit too pricey for my taste)

 

[heyheybooboo]

--

 

[waggy]

actually the barter system was a great system and yes in some areas you can still do it.

how this lady went about giving her thought though was bad and expecting to such at a doctors office is kinda insane.

 

[waggy]

Whats the big deal?

Farmer sells chicken
Company A processes chicken
Company B distributes chicken
Company C sells chicken
Doctor gets money for services
Doctor buys chicken from company c

or

doctor gets chicken for services

and then what? the doctor has to do all those steps? i am willing to bet that very few on the board would know what to do with teh chicken or what kind it is.