Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is in more hot water today after he told Ai??60 MinutesAi??that uninsured Americans can simply go to the emergency room:
ROMNEY: We do provide care for people who donai??i??t have insurance. If someone has a heart attack, they donai??i??t sit in their apartment and ai??i?? and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care. And different states have different ways of providing for that care.Ai??Some provide that care through clinics, some provide that care through emergency rooms
But during the 2008 debates with his Republican colleagues, he thought differently. During the Reagan Library debate on January 30th, Romney sounded off on why he overhauled his state’s health care system to discourage people from going to the emergency room for care:
ROMNEY: And we said: You know what? If somebody could afford insurance, they should either buy the insurance or pay their own way. They don’t have to buy insurance if they don’t want to, but pay their own way. But they shouldn’t be allowed to just show up at the hospital and say, somebody else should pay for me.
And so we said: No more free riders. It was like bringing “workfare” to welfare. We said: If you can afford insurance, then either have the insurance or get a health savings account. Pay your own way, but no more free ride.
It seems like Romney can’t make up his mind. Should the uninsured go to the emergency rooms or not? Is it a huge problem that people in many states have no choice but to go to crowded hospitals at the last minute or not? Romney’s message on health care seems to have devolved into one of nihilism, in the short course of only four years.
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The two comments are not mutually exclusive. expecting people to pay their way is reasonable and traditional. saying now that if people need care they can go to the emergency room is not contradictive to 2008. If a person is in need of emergency treatment, they can go to any emegency room and can not be turned away. If they can not pay, every hospital has a social worker on hand to assist the patient in finding aid. If you are employed, with an income, you will be expected to pay your bill. This expectation for people to pay their medical bill is no different that an expextation of people to pay their mortgage, or car payment, or for gas, etc. Free services are not an inherent right as defined in the US constitution or the Bill of Rights.
It is beyand my thinking ability to see why everyone thinks they are entitled.
People believe they are entitled to AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE. You know, the kind that doesn’t bankrupt their family and leave them homeless. It is a basic human right that everyone should be “entitled” to. People believe that if they pay for insurance the insurance companies shouldn’t be allowed to drop them when they get sick and need to USE that insurance. And what about all of those people who work jobs that do not offer insurance and pay them JUST enough to prevent them from starving or living in their car? Where I live it costs $600 just to ride in an ambulance…and that doesn’t include any care you receive…that’s just for the ride. The lack of empathy for the struggle of other people is amazing to me. And so very sad.
Romney’s suggestion last night was that the proper route for uninsured Americans to get health care is to simply go to the emergency room.
In 2008, he pointed out that this is tantamount to a “free ride” and that it creates unsustainable costs.
So it seems like Romney doesn’t have a true solution here.
Not only does Romney have No solution to anything, the few things he does say he wants or will do are things that will take the progress Obama has made over the last 4 years (with no help from repubicans voting no to jobs, vets and everything else Obama tried, he will put us right back losing jobs again. Obama has put over 4 millon jobs back from the mess BUSH/CHENEY made starting the largest economy destruction since the great depression, Oblama has put us on the right track, lets not give them a chance to destroy america again. Medicare, womans rights are just 2 things they want to take away….lets not put american back in the hands of the people who destroyed it to begin with. were finally getting back.
The man is a republican. He can’t help himself. He gets his audiences confused and tells one group things he meant to tell another group. Again. He can’t help himself. He’s so totally disconnected from reality. The man speakers with forked tongue.
That living in the “bubble” have damaged their brains beyond repair. I agree they are (not only Romney and especially the tea bagers) are totally disconnected from reality. Also this one more evidence of his constantly changed opinions about topics.
With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any problems of
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it.