What Do Guantanamo Detainees, Our Elected Representatives and the Media Have in Common?

[K Gardner]

First Rate Health Care.

1. NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Feb. 18, 2005 – In every case, enemy combatants held here receive medical care that is "as good as or better than anything we would offer our own soldiers, sailors, airmen or Marines," the general in charge of the U.S. detention facility here said. The facility is equipped with 19 inpatient beds (and can expand to 28), a physical-therapy area, pharmacy, radiology department, central sterilization area, and a single-bed operating room. More complex surgeries can be performed at the base naval hospital, which also is equipped with an intensive-care wing. The Navy medical personnel who treat the detainees pride themselves on the quality of care they provide, said Capt. Barry Barendse, a Navy nurse and the deputy command surgeon for JTF Guantanamo. "The standard of care here is the best possible standard of care (the detainees) could get," he said.



2. Politicians Receive the Country’s Best Care - at Taxpayers' Expense As soon as members of Congress are sworn in, they may participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). The program offers an assortment of health plans from which to choose, including fee-for-service, point-of-service, and health maintenance organizations (HMOs). In addition, Congress members can also insure their spouses and their dependents. Not only does Congress get to choose from a wide range of plans, but there’s no waiting period. Unlike many Americans who must struggle against precondition clauses or are even denied coverage because of those preconditions, Senators and Representatives are covered no matter what - effective immediately. And here’s the best part. The government pays up to 75 percent of the premium. That government, of course, is funded by taxpayers, the same taxpayers who often cannot afford health care themselves.

The Republicans in Congress - and even many of our own Democrats - don't want 46 million Americans to have access to the same kind of health care they have.

3. But wait, there's more ! What about the Mainstream Media employees/anchors? Take for instance, Joe Scarborough. Joe, as an employee of MSNBC who works more than 30 hours per week (and all his dependents) are covered by Premera Blue Cross. This particular plan includes Medical, Vision, Dental and up to $500,000 in Life Insurance.

Joe doesn't think 46 million Americans who don't have health care should have a public option. Joe gets paid to parrot this propaganda for three hours a day, all while having the luxury of being able to afford to be sick !

Turner Broadcasting providess their employees with first rate health coverage, too. I can't find any info, but I'm willing to bet those hate-spewing anchors at Fox News who don't want Americans to have a public option for health care ever stood in line to be treated in a tent or went bankrupt over medical expenses.

Who does that leave? Well, it leaves the unemployed, the "uninsurable", the middle class, the working class, the poor, the ones whose tax dollars pay for all the care provided to the people in 1 and 2 above, while the Corporations who control group #3 make sure to instill a healthy dose of National Health Care FEAR into the public over the airwaves daily.

This is what we get:

Cars began lining up outside Chilhowee Park in Knoxville, TN, at midnight. It was early January. But despite 27 degree temperatures, the passengers had come to wait for seven hours -- to see a dentist or optometrist they could afford. Relief corps and ventures to provide health care to those who lack basic assistance are no longer limited to Third World countries. Massive aid centers, volunteer medical staffs, and lists of people waiting for help are not just found at foreign aid stations. Working Americans are finding themselves lining up for free medical aid, revealing the growing gap between the wealthy and poor in the United States. Remote Area Medical is helping to serve Americans who cannot afford health care.

This is what they get.


Don't let them tell us we can't have what they have.

[NYC_SKP]

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