John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, has an Orwellian solution to help the 45.7 million Americans without health insurance. Just declare them insured!
Goodman argues that anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)
Said Goodman: "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American - even illegal aliens - as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.
"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."
You can read the full article here.
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Sad though it may be, I find it to be no surprise that a McCain advisor would be so unabashedly heartless towards America's working poor. The rearrangement of semantics have often been the solution to society's toughest problems, regardless of party line. Whether it be to allay the murmurs of discontent in regards to healthcare, the environment, or the economy, there are always ways to smooth talk one's way around any actual action on behalf of the people and our country. "Clean Air Act," "No Child Left Behind," or even an issue as incendiary as "Partial-Birth Abortion," all these words are meaningless. What our country needs now, more than ever, is a leader based on action, not prose. That's why it is such a clear choice for me to vote for Obama, a person of substance, who has actually set forth a substantial plan to get our country out of the mess we've made in the past eight years.
