Disgraced former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) spoke to a crowd of Britons and Americans at the Oxford Union, a 184-year-old debating society, yesterday, where he spoke on a variety of subject, most notably healthcare.
DeLay warned that a Clinton victory would result in higher taxes and bloated government. He also said she would seek to create a British-style publicly funded health care system, a prediction that was met with thunderous applause.
“By the way, there’s no one denied health care in America. There are 47 million people who don’t have health insurance, but no American is denied health care in America,” he said to derisive laughter.
Now, to suggest that Clinton’s plan in any way resembles the British system is obviously foolish, and makes clear that DeLay has no idea what he’s talking about. But the second part of his argument — “no American is denied health care in America” — is far more interesting.
TP notes several instances of Americans being denied care, but I think I know what DeLay means. His argument is less sophisticated — DeLay was arguing that if an American gets stick, he or she can go to an emergency room and get treatment, whether he or she has insurance or not. And in a sense, DeLay is right.
In fact, this argument has become increasingly common among conservatives who oppose helping American families without insurance. Unfortunately, they apparently haven’t thought through the implications of their talking points.
It comes up with surprising frequency. A few months ago, for example, the president delivered a speech in Cleveland, and talked about our healthcare system.
“The immediate goal is to make sure there are more people on private insurance plans. I mean, people have access to health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room.”
Three years ago, then-HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson visited Iraq to drop off $1 billion to help establish a universal healthcare system for Iraqis. Pesky congressional Dems asked why the administration opposes universal care in the U.S., while supporting a system in Iraq.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said yesterday there are major differences between the two countries that defy simple comparisons.
“Even if you don’t have health insurance,” said Thompson, who toured medical facilities in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Tikrit on Saturday and Sunday, “you are still taken care of in America. That certainly could be defined as universal coverage.”
He didn’t specifically mention emergency rooms, but the implication was pretty obvious, and very much in line with what Bush and DeLay have said: in the United States, sick people receive care whether they have insurance or not, which necessarily makes our system “universal.”
In a sense, that’s true. If you’re sick, there are public hospitals that will treat you in an emergency room. Of course, it’s extremely expensive to treat ill patients in this way and it would be far cheaper to pay for preventative care so that people don’t have to wait for a medical emergency to go to the hospital.
Under the Bush/DeLay model, a sick person with no insurance goes to the emergency room for treatment. Does he get a bill once he’s taken care of? Probably, but it doesn’t matter because he can’t afford to pay it.
If the patient can’t pay the bill and hospital can’t treat sick patients for free, who pays the medical bill? Everyone else.
Everyone pays, everyone gets treatment. Tom DeLay and his right-wing allies support the most inefficient system of socialized medicine ever devised.
No wonder the Brits were laughing.