Andy Card: People just 'want' health care, they don't really need it.....

[marmar]

from ThinkProgress:



Card: Health Care Is A ‘Want,’ Not A ‘Need’ — ‘Don’t Have The Government Fund It’

During the White House’s health care summit yesterday, President Obama said that “there are those who say we should defer health care reform once again” because they claim “that at a time of economic crisis, we simply can’t afford to fix our health care system as well.” “If we want to create jobs and rebuild our economy and get our federal budget under control, then we have to address the crushing costs of health care this year in this administration,” Obama said of such criticisms.

But while Obama was making the case that health care reform is both “a moral imperative” and “a fiscal imperative,” former Bush chief of staff Andrew Card was arguing on Fox News that reform needs to wait. “We have got a huge crisis in our economy, and I think we have got to solve that problem first,” said Card.

Asked by Neil Cavuto if the health care summit was “a waste of time,” Card responded that instead of working on health care, Obama should “establish a needs commission and fund that which the economy needs, not what everybody wants”:

CAVUTO: What would you do? What would you do? I mean, would you say, Mr. President, I know you are passionate about health care; now is not the time to do it; this thing at the White House now going on now, a waste of time? What?

CARD: I would establish a needs commission and fund that which the economy needs, not what everybody wants.

Let people work hard for their wants, but don’t have the government fund it. Let them fund the needs and restore the economy to a sense of what the appropriate level of risk is.

Watch it: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/03/06/card-health-care-ne... /


Card’s argument echoes Rep. Zach Wamp’s (R-TN) claim that health care is “a privilege,” not “a right” for all Americans. But as ThinkProgress noted yesterday, healthcare for Americans cannot — from an economic or a humanitarian standpoint — be viewed as a “privilege” or a simple “want.” ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/03/06/card-health-care-ne... /

[MorningGlow]

1. Fine.

Let's get Mr. Card a minimum wage job, a few dependents, and no health care, and see how quickly he decides he NEEDS it.

[Warpy]

2. The GOP seems absolutely convinced that if we had single payer

we'd spend every free moment at the emergency room, chatting up the doctors and nurses and seeing what tests they could run and what treatments we could qualify for.

Doesn't this goofball get that medicine is unpleasant enough that sane people only go in to get some of it when they're SICK?

[marmar]

3. Exactly......except for a few neurotic types, who WANTS to go to the hospital?

I'd rather clean the bathroom. It's a necessary evil on rare occasions.

[FiveGoodMen]

4. Give me five minutes alone with this guy and I think he'll find that he does need healthcare

[Critters2]

12. LOL!!! That I'd like to see! nt

[tridim]

5. I thought all the dinosaurs went extinct long ago.

Fuck you Card. Thank gawd you and your entire party irrelevant.

[Mnemosyne]

6. And who paid for your healthcare ass? argh. n/t

[jimshoes]

7. Let me know how it turns out when you need to

remove your own appendix andy. Fuckwit.

[luvspeas]

8. Just be quiet and let them just keep on talking...

Our President will give us what we "want" (need, assholes), and the GOP will have to re-name themselves the tree-hugging commie liberal vegans for peace party just to get people to take a flyer from them. They'll never hold office again.

[aquart]

9. Andy Card told Bush before he entered the schoolhouse.

Andy Card is a nasty piece of work. Nothing he has to say is of the slightest value unless, of course, he agrees to testify under oath. At which time I would have a few questions.

[Avalux]

10. "Health care is a privilege, not a right".

Do the American people not understand the mindset of Repukes??

What happens if you are laid off, lose your health insurance, then get diagnosed with cancer? Are you to die because health care is a privilege? Because it is something you want, not need?

What a moronic argument. These people have no ethics. No morals; no compassion for anyone other than their own selfish asses.

If the argument can be framed so that people understand and support it, passing effective universal health care legislation shouldn't be a problem. I want to hear every Democratic leader SCREAMING about it.

[lsewpershad]

11. How much sicker you need to prove you are, Mr Card

MF bushsit-ite.
"let us fund the needs and restore the economy to the sense of what the level of risk is My god "man" why don't you just go in peace or in piecies if you prefer.

[gratuitous]

13. Gee, Mr. Card

How could a mere government program possibly compete with the Magic of the Free Market??? Or are you saying that a comprehensive government program, with built-in efficiencies in processing, scale and procedures, could actually work better than the current system, which is the most expensive and least effective in the civilized world?

Disappear, Andy. Elections have consequences, so just move on. Get over it. You lost.

[democrank]

14. Junior`s friend Andy Card is such a loving person.

I agree. None of us need health care. Even though I`m poor, I could just write out a check tomorrow for my brain surgery.

[rvablue]

15. So, I guess the open heart surgery the fomer First Lady just had was ELECTIVE then??

I'm so sick of these over-privileged assholes.

They're satisfied with their circumstance, so the rest of us should be too!

[area51]

16. Well, isn't that convenient?

Andy Card: "I would establish a needs commission and fund that which the economy needs, not what everybody wants."

Well fortunately for you, AC the fucktard, America both wants and needs healthcare.

Transitioning to single-payer can both save lives and save the country money that's currently being wasted on administrative overhead by private, for-profit blood-sucking insurers.

Get the facts on single-payer.