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July 29, 2009 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:22
July 29, 2009, Wednesday, Hour #2
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The views expressed by the host of this program, now documented to be almost always right, 99.1% of the time.
The views expressed by the host of the show may not be the views of the staff management and sponsors of this station, but they should be and eventually will be.
Here's the phone number if you want to be on the program, 800-282-2882, the email address, lrushbaugh at eibnet.com.
Ladies and gentlemen, you know, I had the call from Jerry mere moments ago was asking me about the, you know, what I meant by catastrophic coverage being provided by the government.
Something you should know, and I think that this needs to be emphasized between Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance, the vast majority of America's seasoned citizens are already covered for catastrophic expenses for doctors and hospitals.
This is per the Heritage Foundation.
Three groups Heritage is addressing here.
Elderly Americans facing enormous hospital bills exceeding their Medicare coverage.
The elderly who need expensive long-term nursing care and working Americans with inadequate or no health insurance.
That's basically the objective here.
And you do that, and you would reduce costs immeasurably, incredibly.
Now, I warned you people, I warned you earlier this week, do not get giddy over the apparent troubles in the House in getting the health care bill vote.
I said, because the Blue Dog Democrats are, at the end of the day, Democrats.
And the way it works in the House of Representatives is that when push comes to shove, Pelosi will bring them in there, perhaps with Ram Emmanuel sitting in the office.
Stenny Hoyer will be in there.
And these blue dogs, many of whom are not veterans yet, they'll be rookies or second, third termers, they'll be brought in there and they'll say, you guys like being members of Congress?
Do you want to have something to do besides just sit on the floor and listen to everybody else debate things and occasionally vote?
You want to be on a committee sometime?
You want to be on a meaningful committee?
You want to be in a dog catcher committee?
Because if you want anything meaningful here, you're going to go along with your leadership on whatever it is.
And if you don't, we're going to find a candidate to oppose you the next election in your district.
Somebody we can trust.
And so, miraculously, there has been a deal.
The Blue Dogs have announced that they have now gotten sufficient concessions from the leadership, and they will go forward.
We have here a $1.5 trillion health care bill.
The Blue Dog Democrats say that the savings that they wanted, which amount to $100 billion, that's good enough for them.
And so they have agreed now there is a deal.
There's a silver lining in this, though.
They're going to mark it up starting in about an hour on the committee half hour from now start the markup process.
But there will not be a vote until September when all of the members get back.
So that still leaves the August recess for these members of Congress to hear about it from their constituents out there.
This is the only bright spot I can see in this because once they vote on it, it's going to pass.
Once they get the blue dogs with them, it's the Republicans can't stop this.
Now, Obama's out there doing another one of these town hall meetings today.
He's in North Carolina.
We have some soundbites here.
And I wait.
Once again, as I look at the transcripts of these soundbites, I'm confronted with the challenge of, you know, how do I say to people the president of the United States is not telling the truth.
Here's soundbite number one.
I don't know whether you've seen the latest cover of Newsweek magazine on the rack at the grocery store, but the cover says the recession is over.
Now, I imagine that you might have found the news a little startling.
I know I did.
Here's what's true.
We have stopped the free fall.
The market's up, and the financial system is no longer on the verge of collapse.
We may be seeing the beginning of the end of the recession.
Well, we may be seeing the beginning of the this is the guy whose number one advisor, David Axelrod, when the market was plummeting, went out and said, we don't pay attention to stock markets.
Stock markets like a tracking pole.
Obama said this too.
Stock market's like a tracking pole.
We can't make policy based on the stock market.
It's like you can't make campaign strategy based on a daily tracking poll of how you're doing.
Now, all of a sudden, they want to cite the stock market as evidence the recession may be over.
But that's a real credible source.
Newsweek magazine, the recession is over.
CNN, the recession is over.
17% unemployment in Detroit announced today.
More job losses are being announced by American businesses and corporations.
We also know, ladies and gentlemen, President Obama knows he's in trouble.
This next soundbite will illustrate and explain why he's in trouble because we know what he does.
One of two things when he gets in trouble.
When my administration came into office, we were facing the worst economy of our lifetimes.
We were losing an average of 700,000 jobs per month.
It was nearly impossible to take out a home loan or an auto loan or a student loan and loans for small business to buy inventory and make payroll.
And economists across the ideological spectrum, conservatives and liberals, were fearing the second coming of the Great Depression.
Okay, so it's bash Bush time.
Go back, bash Bush.
That always worked for Obama during the campaign.
He thinks it's going to work.
Now, blame Bush.
All of this that you're experiencing, every dime of it, every ounce of the problem is George Bush.
The Wall Street Journal had a front page story on Monday.
Lending institutions are not lending.
Once again, he's not telling the truth.
They're not lending.
And businesses, lending institutions will not make loans to businesses to make payroll.
They will make loans if a business wants to expand, but there's no expansion going on.
Not system-wide.
So go back to blaming Bush for everything because the numbers are down.
This next one is just, well, it's as big a stranger to the truth as anything he said.
Less than one month after taking office, we enacted the most sweeping economic recovery package in history.
And by the way, we did so.
We did so without any earmarks or wasteful pork barrel projects, pet projects, that we've become accustomed to.
Not one was in there.
One-third of the entire Recovery Act is for tax relief for you, for families and small business.
One-third of it, 95% of you got a tax cut.
You may not notice it because it's appearing in your paycheck on a weekly basis, every time you get a paycheck as opposed to you getting a lump sum.
That's money in your pocket to buy cupcakes and other necessities of life.
He said it's money in your pocket to buy cupcakes.
He must have read the story out of Port St. Lucie, where the Weight Watchers demonstrator was gut shoplifting cupcakes.
This whole soundbite, folks, we enacted the most sweeping economic recovery package in history.
No earmarks or wasteful pork barrel projects.
It's all pork.
There is no economic expansion in the stimulus package.
Yesterday, we told you about all the two or three billion dollars being spent on toilet refurberation.
We had the story of the state of Oregon yesterday.
They're touting all these 3,000 new jobs that they have created with their stimulus money.
The jobs last 35 hours.
The jobs last one week.
And now Obama says his program's been so great and so cool that you can now go out and eat cupcakes.
This is a huge change.
And when he said he misread the economy, now what?
The recession is at the end of the recession, beginning of the end, and now you can go buy cupcakes.
One-third of the retiree act is tax relief.
The tax relief is $8 to $12 a paycheck, and that ends in January.
We also know that barely 6% of the stimulus will be spent this year.
None of this is true.
So it's bash Bush, lie about the economy, and then lie about his stimulus package.
Breathtaking.
We got two more.
Here's the fourth one.
I can't help but remember those same critics contributed to a $1.3 trillion deficit that I inherited when I took off.
I mean, seriously, I'm not president, so I'm responsible for solving it, but I do think we should have a selective memory in terms of spending habits.
You hand me a $1.3 trillion bill, and then you're complaining six months later because we haven't paid it all back.
That was partially a result of two tax cuts that went primarily to the wealthiest few Americans.
Oh, wow.
And a Medicare drug program that wasn't paid for.
You passed a prescription drug plan, didn't pay for it.
Handed the bill to me.
I tell you, this is childlike.
This is just embarrassing, childlike behavior.
Crying and moaning and whining about the cost of Bush's tax cuts.
That's campaign rhetoric, too.
We know that their internal polls are bad.
We know their internal polls are bad.
This is just rehashed campaign rhetoric.
The deficit that he inherited is $1.1 trillion.
The deficit at the end of this year is going to be over $2 trillion.
He will, close to $2,000, he's added or will add by the end of the year $1 trillion to what he inherited.
He has not, and nobody said, pay back that deficit in six months.
That's not what anybody said to him.
Nobody's complaining because he hasn't paid back that deficit.
We're complaining because he's destroying the U.S. economy while growing the U.S. government.
Well, if, you know, that's a good point.
That is a good point.
If there's anybody in the world who told Obama, you better pay back that deficit fast, it's the CHICOMs.
The CHICOMs are not happy with what Obama's, they're not happy at all.
And they're letting little old Timmy Geithner know about it.
Geithner's, oh, worry, we're going to get those deficits down.
Geithner promising that we're facing massive tax increase.
But this, you know, this, I'm telling you, I need to slow my brain down here and come up with the appropriate words because this is immature.
It is incompetent.
It is childish.
It is purely 100% partisan in politics.
There's no governance here.
There's no acting presidential here.
This is just embarrassing.
Whining and moaning and making things up about what was demanded of him and then blaming these tax cuts that spurred economic growth after 9-11.
Finally, here's the last bite.
We will stop insurance companies from denying you coverage because of your medical history.
Many of you have been denied insurance or heard someone who was denied insurance because they had a pre-existing commission.
That will no longer be allowed.
We will stop insurance companies from denying you coverage because of your medical history.
Many of you have been denied.
You seasoned citizens are going to be denied coverage because of your medical history and your medical future.
So bash the insurance companies again.
Bash the U.S. private sector, demonize some.
There's your president, folks.
Barack Hussein Obama is out acting like a spoiled brat Chicago thug who's not getting his way, who has resorted now to campaign rhetoric as though he really hasn't done anything yet other than come in and act as savior, and his acts are working.
I think, and I said this a couple weeks ago, I think in the White House that there's a lot of instability.
Have you listened to these bites?
I think Obama's losing it.
The Prescription Drug Act was paid for.
The Bush entitlement, it was paid for, even though it should have never been done, but it was paid for.
If he opposes it, then eliminate it.
If we've got this big boondoggle out there that's not being paid for, then eliminate it, right?
No, childish instability, losing it.
Blame Bush.
And for all of Obama's talk about the Bush deficit, he just pushed through Congress a 10-year plan that will increase the deficit by $10 trillion and maybe twice that.
So why did he do that if he opposes deficits, if they're so bad, if they're so rotten?
We're dealing here on one level with an utter rank amateur.
He's dangerous because of what he believes, what he's trying to do, and the effect he has on a certain percentage of people in this country.
But this is losing it.
This is just childish, the way he's, you can tell he's on defense.
This man does not have any experience with being criticized, laughed at.
He's led a charmed existence on a pedestal.
And all of this magic that he had is falling apart on him.
He's no longer at 65% of the approval numbers.
He's no longer 80% loved and adored.
They've had to stop work on the sculpture out there at where the hell is it?
Out there by where all the presidents are carved into rock.
I'm having a mental bug with.
Yeah, Mel Rushmore.
They have to stop the.
Did I tell you about the dream I had the other night?
I woke up.
I thought I was in a desert and I was with a bunch of slaves and I was carving a sphinx with the Obama face on it.
I thought I mentioned that.
Anyway, we're going to take time out.
We'll get to your phone calls and stuff next.
Stay with us.
It was just two weeks ago.
It was just two weeks ago the liberals were starting to demand another stimulus plan because this one wasn't doing the job.
Now today, the recession is over.
And that stimulus plan is so great, you can now go out and buy cupcakes and that one-third of it was tax cuts for you and there isn't any earmarks or pork in it.
Oh, it's the greatest thing in the world.
Just two weeks ago, Biden was out there saying, well, you know, we really guessed wrong here.
Economy much worse than we thought.
Now, all of a sudden, it's a success.
But don't be puzzled, ladies and gentlemen.
The illusion of success has to be maintained until he gets his health care built through.
Have you noticed?
That's a healthcare town hall meeting that we just played these soundbites from.
And four of the five soundbites are about the economy and the campaign rhetoric that got him elected.
Big his numbers back up.
Here's Stacey somewhere in Georgia.
Great to have you with us on the EIB network.
Hi.
Ditto, Drash.
Thank you.
Hiding under a tree, hoping I won't be seen.
I wanted to talk with you about how the government or how Obama is going to do that thing about quality versus quantity.
Yeah, and the bundling of payments.
Yes, and I also wanted to say, I'll say it for you, Obama's a liar.
There is no such thing as pre-existing condition exclusions for life.
So sorry, no better.
You can't pull that one offline.
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
Translate that for people in the audience.
There's no such thing as permanent exclusions on pre-existing conditions for life.
What does that mean?
That is true.
Anyone who signs on to a group policy, which is 90% of all insured, sign on under the HIPAA law from 96, the maximum waiting period for pre-existing conditions is one year.
That one year is reduced by the number of months in the previous calendar year you had coverage.
For example, if you work for a company and you have insurance there, you change jobs, go to a different company, every pre-existing condition you have is covered with a certificate of credible coverage from your previous insurance company.
So Obama can't pull that one on me.
I know he's a liar.
I have to ask you how you know this.
I work in insurance, which is why I'm hiding under a tree behind a car hoping nobody sees me.
That's what I would hope you would say.
I wanted to make sure that you had credibility to know what it is that you're saying and discussing.
Well, sir, I'm a business systems analyst on a claim system, a medical claim system.
So I'm very familiar with it.
And you are at this very moment making this phone call hiding under the shade of a tree.
In the parking lot, yes, sir.
Well, and I also want to talk about how Obama's going to do this.
And I can't claim all the credit for this thought.
This morning I saw on the news someone talking about capitation.
And that sounds exactly like what they are going to do.
Capitation is where the doctor does not get paid by visits or procedures.
Capitation is a primary care physician payment where they pay you per person you treat in a month.
So if you have 50 patients, you get paid X number of dollars for each patient.
Okay, hang on.
I got to take commercial, but I've got questions about this one.
Can you hang on if you've got enough time?
And can you stay secret and secluded long enough to will you give me a note for my news?
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
And we are here at the prestigious and distinguished Limboy Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
Now we rejoin Stacey from a secluded, unknown location in Georgia.
She is an expert in the insurance, health insurance business.
She does not want to divulge her location because her industry and people in it have been demonized.
And we were in the middle of a conversation on a decapitation of doctors.
I want you to start again.
Start again on that.
All right.
Because this is about bundling.
Yes.
Capitation, folks who had HMO plans back in the 80s and early 90s will remember this.
Capitation is where a doctor, you have to sign up with a primary care doctor.
Your doctor submits a report that says, I have 100 people assigned to me as my primary care people.
Submits that to the HMO?
Yes, way, way back.
So the company, or in the government's case, the government would pay that provider X amount of dollars, say $10 per patient per month, regardless of whether he sees them or not.
And regardless, what it costs him to treat them if they need it.
Exactly.
So, would you explain something to me?
Yes, sir.
I don't know how that ever survived.
What doctor worth his salt would put up with that deal?
Well, the thing is, we can promote volume using that.
I mean, if you only have 100 primary care doctors in a 200,000-person area, you get volume.
So it's the Walmart deal for medical doctors.
Okay, so this is what Obama's talking about.
We're going to change from quantity to quality.
But now, here's the thing: capitation also involves how many times a primary care physician has to refer a patient to a specialist.
And his payments are reduced when he has to do that.
So a doctor has.
Hey, now, wait, wait, wait, wait.
You're a great, great source of information.
And I've got questions sometimes.
So pardon my interruptions, but I just want to make sure I heard this right.
I understand the capitation that 100 patients get paid $10, whatever it was, whether they've seen or not.
But if a patient needs to be referred to a specialist for a test or something based on a diagnosis, then the payment of $10 is reduced.
Exactly.
And it depends on how they want to do it.
If they want to do it as a percentage, as a flatline fee, but that amount of capitation will be reduced.
Okay, now, does that incentivize the doctor not to refer people who should be referred?
It not only incentivizes that, but it also incentivizes the doctor not to see patients.
Because if he brings a patient in and it costs him $50 to do a visit and he's only getting paid $10 for that visit, that's what I'm saying.
But how can he refuse?
The patient needs to see the doctor.
Patient calls, I'm coming in.
The doctor says, No, screw you.
Well, yeah, I mean, they say, well, it's a three-week wait.
If you've got the flu, it's over.
If you've got, I mean, if it's anything other than a serious condition, it's gone in three weeks.
The things people go to the doctor for, the hangmails, the flus, the colds, it's over by then.
And now, remember, you also in the 80s and 90s had a younger population structure.
There weren't as many elderly people with the chronic condition.
You didn't have the diabetes issues that you have today.
You didn't have a lot of these things that are building now.
Why not?
Well, because the population as a whole was younger.
Yeah, but type 2 diabetes.
You mentioned that type 2 diabetes can happen when you're 25.
Well, it can, but it's more common the older you get.
The same thing with arthritis, the same thing with cardiac problems, the same thing with all these types of illnesses and conditions that come with getting older are going to necessitate more visits with more procedures.
It's just, it's an average, it's statistical.
Okay, now I'm going to tell you why this is so valuable to me.
Your information is because I, you know, I'm very fortunate.
I don't use my insurance when I need to go to the doctor, and I have not been to the doctor in what, two years.
I just don't go for a flu, for the cold.
Last time I went to the doctor was when I held out.
I had some intestinal thing, and I held out for three weeks.
I just don't go.
I don't like it.
I'm not paranoid.
I'm not a hypochondriac, or I just don't go.
Now, people say, you're getting older, you need to go get checkups anyway.
You do these colonoscovies, PDAs, the apostate, prostate stuff.
I got that handled.
So, this is all the story you're telling me.
I mean, my first question is: what doctor would put up with this?
Well, like I said, it was the Walmart model until the population demographics changed and the procedures.
Remember, in the 80s, we didn't have the blood test, the MRIs, the CAT scans, all these things that we have.
I have heard doctors complain.
Everybody, because of sports stars getting MRAs 25 times a season, more and more people come in with a sprained knee, want an MRI, want an MRI.
About what you said on Gratis Show, too, about the major medical, about catastrophic, the HSAs with the high-deductible health plans is an attempt to get back to that.
The federal government and state governments have basically outlawed catastrophic coverage.
The HSA with the high-deductible health plan is an attempt to get around those rules where the patient still pays for the doctor's visit.
HSA is a health savings account for those of you who are Linda.
We would love to sell major catastrophic.
We would love to do these things, but we can't.
The law won't allow us to do that.
So, the quality part will be: how many times does a doctor send a patient to a specialist, or how many times does the patient end up in the ER with some condition, and he will be penalized based on those counts.
And because all of your medical records are now in Washington, D.C., they can track this with precision accuracy.
All right.
Now, by the way, am I also right when I postulate that for Obama to judge doctors' work on a qualitative basis, a quality basis rather than quantity, somebody in Washington is going to have to have access to everybody's medical records to find out how this patient's being dealt with and treated, right?
Oh, absolutely.
That's the first step in digitizing.
That's why they want to digitize everyone's records.
Right.
Now, the next question may be a toughie, but given all that you've seen and all that you do, because it's your business, if you were in charge with fixing all of this, do you have a blueprint, just a basic blueprint without getting into all kinds of details?
What would you do to fix this?
The first thing I do is scrap mandates, both federal, state, and local, allow groups to select the health plans that they want and that their people need.
I'd do tort reform, of course.
But the mandates, I think, are the biggest thing.
You have mandates that cover all kinds of things.
Explain to people what a mandate is.
A mandate is where your state government, typically it's state, but there are federal mandates, come in and say you must cover mammograms for people 35 and older.
Well, that means that no insurer, no group who is self-insured but uses an insurance company for claims processing, they must cover that procedure under those guidelines.
So everybody has to pay for it.
I mean, you could be a construction company with hiring 100 guys, not one of them needs a mammogram, but you still have to pay for that coverage.
You have states, I know there's one.
That's almost enough for a construction guy to go get an anadictomy operation.
Well, if he's a guy, he doesn't need one anyway.
Yeah, that's true.
It's the other way around.
So take a dick off of me, maybe, but, um, yeah, we have a different name for it, but yours works.
Okay, so but the Obama plan's got federal mandates all over the place, and they're large and they're largely political.
Oh, absolutely.
I guarantee you, you will see sexual reorientation, drug therapy, and surgical procedures covered.
I was shocked.
I read House Bill 676 before I finally just decided to either blow my brains out or go back to work.
And they're covering Cairo.
They're covering podiatry.
They're covering all kinds of stuff we don't cover because it's not AMA approved.
I mean, all these things, and you're looking at it going, how in the world are they going to cover all of this?
All of this is about getting, this is ballgame.
Once they get this, they are going to be able to regulate every aspect of everybody's life.
Oh, you know, and this nonsense he talks about about, oh, you know, well, your insurance company is getting between you and your doctor, bullcrap.
Because I tell you now, if your insurance company says you don't need an MRI for that sprained ankle, you know, wait a month if it's still bad.
We'll talk.
You can still make your own appointment, go down there and pay for it yourself.
When Obama's stuff comes through, you won't have that option.
You won't have the option to say, well, I think I need it anyway, so I'm going to pay it.
Furthermore, insurance companies, the last thing we want to do is touch our claim.
We want it to pass through our system without a human being ever looking at it and pay as it should.
That's what we want.
Don't be offended here, Stacey.
But I really, this is what something you just said just rolled right off of your lips.
But man, a red flag went up, and I think it's one of the big problems that we have.
I don't, if I need an MRI or think I do, I want the doctor to tell me I don't, not an insurance company.
But Steve, since most people can't pay for one of those themselves, they are prisoners to a system that is dysfunctional.
But that's where the doctor has to have a set.
He has to say, look, you've got a sprained ankle.
Let's get it on crutches.
Let's do ICE treatment.
And if in a month it's still bothering you, we'll look at an MRI.
But your example was the insurance company says you don't need it.
You don't get it.
Then you've got to wait a little while.
Then the doctor can weigh it.
The doctor weighs in second, not first.
No, no, no.
If the doctor puts a diagnosis down on a pre-treatment estimate or on a referral or on an authorization that says, this person has a history of osteoporosis.
This person has had a week of swelling and all of this.
That'll actually be authorized because there's a medical reason behind it.
If you're a healthy 25-year-old, you come in with a sprained ankle and you tell the doctor you want it now, he has to get the aux.
He's not going to be able to sell it.
And he knows better unless you have a reason for doing that task.
So, I mean, we're not crazy.
We know what conditions require what kind of treatments.
Well, I know, so does Obama.
He says we're going to do what works.
Well, you know what?
If Obama was my doctor, I'd just go on ahead and shoot myself before I went to the doctor.
Doctors Chicago.
Okay, so let me summarize.
Let me see if I can summarize for myself and the audience what I've learned from you.
Okay.
Doctors are paid.
The bundling is that doctors are paid per patient, whether they're seen or not, flat fee.
The charges can be based on age, gender, whatever, but it's a fixed fee at a fixed time.
Now, the question I have is, apart from the denial of services to patients and the long delays, you know, like you just said, well, it's the flu.
Deny to see, don't see the patient three weeks.
Flu will be better.
It's a built-in cost cutter.
How do you force doctors to live under these conditions?
Well, that's what you don't do.
Unless, in the end, they have to become quasi-employees of the government.
It sounds like they already are anyway.
But how do you force?
That's the one thing that I can't, how do you force them to do this?
Well, that's the thing.
If this public, I already know providers who are saying they will not accept the public plan.
I mean, today, a Medicare patient, a traditional Medicare, not MedAdvantage, a Medicare patient, it's an automatic six-month wait for an appointment.
If they won't take the public plan at all, if they are forced to, they have just told me personally, they will see six patients per doctor per day, and that's it, because it's not worth it to them.
Exactly.
So, this is, you're telling where this is going to lead.
There's only one place it can lead, single-payer government control of both patients and providers.
That's exactly right.
That's the only place this can end up.
And the doctors will have no choice.
They will then have no choice.
The only choice they'll have is to not become doctors.
Exactly right.
And we'll be doing what England's doing now and bringing doctors in from China and India and foreign countries that we hope they have a good medical education.
Don't shoot yourself, Stacy.
You're too valuable.
Well, thank you.
All right, thanks so much.
I have to run.
You can now come out of hiding.
Okay, bye-bye.
Thanks very much.
That's incredible.
That's amazing.
I'm sure a lot of you already knew that because you have to go through this garbage to access the health care system.
But that's Stacy from somewhere unknown, parts unknown in Georgia.
We'll be back.
Stay with us.
Spanky and our gang, they're from someplace in Illinois.
And title of two, I'd like to get to know you.
Now, I don't want, folks, I don't want you to misunderstand when I asked her why should the insurance company be the first decider as to what kind of treatment is covered.
Sometimes when the insurance company says no, they're right.
So this is the problem.
I mean, how can any business function?
You have to think of it this way.
How can any business function if the paying party, in this case, the insurance company, has no say on whether it pays or not?
And see, that is the problem with third-party payer systems.
And employee generally receives insurance through their employer.
They pay little attention to the cost of the policy.
At the user end, the employee as a patient believes that whatever treatment or drug or procedure is desired should be paid for because that's where we are attitudinally.
No questions asked.
This is part of the problem.
You know, the patients have their role here too.
Now, the American people have been led to believe that they're entitled to all this for nothing because health care is a right.
And you got people like Obama now promising them, and that's what's going to be in my plan.
And we got a couple of rich people, a couple millionaires are going to pay for it.
Now, the answer here is not more government.
The answer, as I have maintained from the outset of this, because I am a capitalist, I understand markets.
The answer is more direct ownership of policies by patients.
The answer is more patients paying for either their coverage or their treatment.
That is the answer.
That's why, and Stacey talked about it, health savings accounts are so crucial, and they are dead and buried in both the House and the Senate bill.
More direct ownership.
You buy your own insurance policy.
That was my whole point with the catastrophic stuff.
You buy your own insurance coverage, whatever you want.
But did you also hear her say they can't sell policies they'd like to sell?
She's an insurance agent.
State law right now prevents her company from selling policies to patients that patients would like to buy and that they would like to sell.
Now, that's a huge problem here.
You cannot have any system of anything, healthcare, whatever.
You cannot have any system that is based solely on demand and have no rational restraints on it.
You just can't.
Nowhere else in the private sector we have that.
Whatever you want, you get regardless of cost, or that's what you think you're getting.
It doesn't work.
It can't work.
And that's why this is such a mess in the first place.
Anyway, I'm a little long again, so I got to take a quick break.
Yes, this is a piece from a magazine published by Massachusetts General Hospital.
Should obese people, like smokers, be barred from indulging in public places?
Should they be taxed on their habit?
Should they be targeted by public health campaigns?
And should they be shunned socially?
A magazine article from Massachusetts General Hospital.
Well, lots still to do.
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