You’ve heard the question before – Do you still beat your spouse? – and there is no answer that doesn’t imply a negative. Well, polls being sent out by the ‘leaders’ described in Conservatives Without Conscience (CWC) to their fearful supporters are also making negative implications by asking questions that aren’t based on anything real.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has included several fear mongering questions in their State of the Nation’s Health Care Survey that was mailed to supporters this month. They ask their right-wing authoritarian followers to rate their agreement with each question from strongly agree to strongly disagree and include undecided.
Under the heading of The Price of Health Care Reform, they ask:
In order to reform America’s health care system I would be willing to:
- Give up my right to a private doctor altogether.
- Pay a premium to have the right to see a private doctor.
- Submit a special form to a government official to determine whether I am allowed to have a medical procedure.
First, has anyone proposed the first two options anywhere? Well, that doesn’t matter. The idea is implied by the question. Can you see the flood of emails going out now about having to give up access to a private doctor or paying extra to see one? How long will it be before the CWC leaders make this a key “talking” point.
Second, the third option is currently already true if you replace ‘government’ with ‘insurance company.’ This is how the CWCs hide the reality. Supposedly the government would require that you fill out a form for health care. However, when was the last time you went to a new doctor or hospital and didn’t have to fill out many forms before you could get service?
Under the heading of Rationing and Restricting Health Care, the NRSC asks the following:
Are you concerned that health care rationing could lead to:
- Denial of treatment in cases where the patient’s prospects are deemed not good?
- A “lottery” system of determining who will get priority treatment?
- A “quota” system which would determine who would get treatment on the basis of race or age?
Again each question implies a negative that is not based on any written proposal on health care. This question tries to hide the reality that rationing is already happening.
According to T. R. Reid’s new book, The Healing of America, 20,000 American’s die each year because our health care is rationed by the insurance industry. There are 700,000 bankruptcies declared yearly because health care costs exceed the insurance ceiling and the family must pay. Insurance companies will cover you as long as the cost of your care doesn’t exceed their limits. Once the costs of your care start to impact their bottom line, your health care is subjugated to profit and will be rationed.
Our health care system rations health care to the healthy and those that can afford to pay for it.
Health Care is a Moral Issue
Why is America the Only Democracy
Without Universal Coverage
The CWCs are lying while calling President Obama a liar.
Andy Hailey