rssInsurance Abuses and Obama’s ‘Faulty Anecdote’
Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 11:06 am
- 21 Comments
Conservatives are smiling this morning about a Wall Street Journal piece claiming that President Obama, in his health reform speech to Congress last week, included a “faulty anecdote” about a cancer patient who died as a result of his insurance company dropping coverage after he became sick. Obama claimed:
One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because his insurer found that he hadn’t reported gallstones that he didn’t even know about. They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it. … That is heart-breaking, it is wrong, and no one should be treated that way in the United States of America.
That anecdote is false, the Journal claims, because “the efforts of [the patient's] sister and the office of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan got Mr. Raddatz’s policy reinstated within three weeks of his April 2005 rescission and secured a life-extending stem-cell transplant for him.”
“Mr. Raddatz died this year,” the Journal notes, “nearly four years after the insurance showdown.”
Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), who heads the Republican Study Committee, is patting himself on the back this morning for having speculated last week that the tale was false. His office issued a statement this morning saying that the incident “reinforces that President Obama lacks a complete understanding of the American health care system, and further does a disservice to Americans by promoting a health care plan with half-baked anecdotes.”
Not to defend Obama for twisting the tale, which he seems to have done, but both the Journal and Price have downplayed the fact that the patient’s insurer did in fact drop his coverage when he became sick, and that it took an act of the Illinois attorney general to get that coverage reinstated. Is that really insignificant? After all, how many patients have the option of soliciting such higher ups to get their insurance back? And why should they have to do so?
We wrote a piece today pointing to a few family members of patients who suffered similar horrors in dealing with the private insurance industry. Do Republicans really want to hang their hats on the defense of an industry that would deny coverage to squeeze a few more dollars to satisfy Wall Street? Seems that they do.
21 Comments
Comment posted September 17, 2009 @ 4:16 pm
Obama messed up big time. He should have prefaced the anecdote with, “The British Government has learned…”
Best. Disclaimer. Ever.
Comment posted September 17, 2009 @ 9:48 pm
* THE FINE ART OF DENYING 45 MILLION AMERICANS HEALTH~CARE IN OUR JUDEO~CHRISTIAN NATION *
AMERICAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS ALL ACROSS THE USA HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ABLE TO COUNT ON THEIR RELIGIOUS FLOCK TO CONTRIBUTE(TITHE)THEIR HARD EARNED MONIES TO THEIR MINISTRIES EVERY WEEK.
THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS ATTENDING RELIGIOUS SERVICES IN THE U.S. ARE MIDDLE~CLASS AND WORKING POOR CITIZENS WHO NOW DESPERATELY NEED THE HELP AND SUPPORT FROM THESE SAME U.S.RELIGIOUS LEADERS IN LOBBYING THE U.S.CONGRESS TO PROVIDE PROPER HEALTH~CARE FOR ALL POORER AMERICANS.
***THERE ARE CURRENTLY AN ESTIMASTED 45 MILLION MEN WOMAN AND CHILDREN WITHOUT HEALTH~CARE IN THE WEALTHIEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD????
SILENT AMERICAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS WHO ALL HAVE HEALTH~CARE FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR FAMILIES IS MUCH MORE FRIGHTENING THEN THE POSSIBLE DENIAL OF A FUTURE HEALTH~CARE PLAN FOR ALL…
LAWYERS FOR POOR AMERICANS (424-247-2013)
lawyersforpooreramericans@yahoo.com
Comment posted September 19, 2009 @ 2:23 am
Great piece.
Tom Price- “We will not rest until we make certain that governenment-run health care is ended” (He nearly yelled into the microphone) September 10th, 2009. Shortly after Price made this statement at a health care rally, he was asked if he, like to event organizers wanted to privatize Medicare. Price refused to answer. Three more times the interviewer asked if Price wanted to end Medicare, Price continued to dodge the question.
Doe Tom Price want to end Medicare?
Comment posted September 6, 2011 @ 6:24 am
This was very interesting and helpful, I have bookmarked and hope to check back to your site again.
Comment posted September 6, 2011 @ 9:22 am
Very inspiring, nice to know others are also interested in these things!
Comment posted September 6, 2011 @ 11:29 am
This was very interesting and helpful, I have bookmarked and hope to check back to your site again.
Comment posted September 6, 2011 @ 11:32 am
I like your blog a lot, I just bookmarked it — thanks and keep it up.
Comment posted September 6, 2011 @ 12:09 pm
Interesting stuff, I’ve bookmarked your site and hope to come back.
Comment posted September 6, 2011 @ 11:03 pm
Very interesting, helpful, and well written, thanks for sharing.
Comment posted September 6, 2011 @ 11:14 pm
This is exactly what I needed, thank you.
Comment posted September 7, 2011 @ 12:18 am
Interesting stuff, I’ve bookmarked your site and hope to come back.
Comment posted September 7, 2011 @ 1:17 am
Thanks for sharing, this was interesting to read and very helpful.
Comment posted September 7, 2011 @ 3:08 am
Very interesting, helpful, and well written, thanks for sharing.
Comment posted September 7, 2011 @ 3:20 am
Very interesting, helpful, and well written, thanks for sharing.
Comment posted September 7, 2011 @ 3:43 am
Just leaving a quick comment to say I’m enjoying your blog…
Comment posted September 7, 2011 @ 12:31 pm
This was interesting and helpful, thanks for sharing.
Comment posted September 7, 2011 @ 12:42 pm
Interesting stuff, I’ve bookmarked your site and hope to come back.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
