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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums“People Could Die and That’s OK”: Why the Right’s Free-Market Health Philosophy Is Ludicrous
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/people-could-die-and-thats-ok-why-rights-free-market-health-philosophy-ludicrousIt was startling to see physician and Senator Rand Paul claim the other day that people on disability were faking bad backs and anxiety to get on the dole and cheat the taxpayers. These are real ailments, sometimes totally debilitating, as anyone who has suffered from either can tell you. Severe back pain can make it impossible to work at any job, even those which only require sitting. Anxiety disorder is a terrible condition that can even make some people unable to even leave their house. What kind of medical doctor would deny such a thing? (If you answered, one who will willingly trade his professional integrity for political points youd be right.)
But this is actually part of the GOPs ongoing quest to degrade entitlements and make Americas health care system the worst in the world for anyone who isnt wealthy. Their ongoing attack on Obamacare opened up a window to their underlying philosophy about affordable health care. (Theyre not for it.) And now they are taking legislative aim at the Supplemental Security Income portion of the Social Security System. This is the program that makes it possible for people with disabilities to live without begging on the streets. Despite the fact that the congress has always routinely pushed money back and forth between the retirement and disability portions of the program as the need occurred, the Republicans in congress have decided that they no longer support doing such a thing. The result, if they have their way, would be to cut the meager stipends of millions of disable Americans within the next year.
They claim that the program is rife with fraud and that far too many people are able bodied and just refuse to work. (They havent used the term disability queen in public yet, but you can be sure theyve thought it.) Representative Tom Price, another erstwhile medical professional committed to proving that trusting a Republican doctor to treat you is like asking a convicted robber to house sit, said:
There are a number of studies that demonstrate that a lot of people who are on the program are no longer eligible. People get well, people do other things and other opportunities become available from a medical standpoint to treating whatever disability they have to make it so that they can contribute to a greater degree.
Thats a convenient story but its just not true:
About 8.9 million people receive disability benefits from the fund and its eligibility guidelines are stringent. Beneficiaries must have worked at least one-quarter of their adult life and five of the last 10 years. They must be unable to work because of a severe medical issue that has lasted five months and is expected to last at least another year.
Roughly a quarter of recipients have a mental impairment, some have muscular or skeletal problems and others have diseases like diabetes, Lou Gehrigs disease, congestive heart failure and cancer. A majority of them are 55 or older and many die within a few years of first receiving the insurance, according to CBPP.
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“People Could Die and That’s OK”: Why the Right’s Free-Market Health Philosophy Is Ludicrous (Original Post)
xchrom
Feb 2015
OP
Faux pas
(14,690 posts)1. Kickin'