Friday, November 13, 2009

Looking Out For Their Own

Cathy McMorris Rodgers joined up with other Republican Party congresswomen in a Washington Times commentary, Together Against the Pelosi Plan; Why women should resist the Democratic "reform" bill.

Why? Because women are in charge.

In American families, women make most health care decisions, whether helping a parent, caring for a child or nudging along a spouse. We spend two of three health care dollars.

In fact, women are the overwhelming majority of professional health care providers: 98 percent of home care aides, 90 percent of nurses, the majority of first-year medical students and a third of doctors. The time when medicine was predominately a man's field is receding into history, no more relevant to health care today than bloodletting or leeches. Yet, in all the debate about legislative changes to health care, few politicians have bothered to ask women what they want.


Men, bloodletting, leeches, receding into history. You get the idea. Again we have the dire warning of federal bureaucrats taking over medical decisions, but this time it's taking power away from women. As proof, they offer up this.

The administration is having trouble administering the H1N1 vaccine program; what makes the White House think the government will be able to administer the nation's health care system? H1N1 vaccine is being delivered late; there's not enough available; and doctors are rationing shots - it's a preview of what a national health insurance program will look like.

A disingenuous argument. The vaccine is made in other countries--no "Made in America" stamp on your vaccination--and must meet FDA requirements. Are we so nation-centric that we think we're the only country ordering the vaccine? Be happy that it's private enterprise manufacturing the vaccine and not the government. Again we have the page length of the bill.

The Affordable Health Care for America Act is nearly 2,000 pages, longer than Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace."

And Tolstoy wasn't American, ergo.... Here's something new.

It creates 118 new federal bureaucracies.

The Republican Party, of which these congresswomen are members of, says there are 111. Apparently new ones are being discovered every day, especially if your definition of a "bureaucracy" is loose. They continue with more evidence of chicanery on the part of the "Pelosi bill."

The bill uses the word "shall" 3,425 times. These "Father Knows Best" passages are government mandates that force doctors, consumers and others in the health care profession to do what Congress orders. The word "penalty" is used 113 times for those who don't follow orders. "Tax" is referred to 97 times.

How grateful the silly women of America must be to these women for explaining it in terms they understand. There also appears to be a disturbing reliance on the letter "e" as well as other vowels and consonants. But on the bright side, the count for the seven dirty words is zero. The word "shall" is used in practically all legislation. Suddenly it's demeaning towards women? The funny part is the explanation "...are government mandates...to do what Congress orders." Perhaps because once it is signed it becomes a law and Congress passes laws that mandate things? If this is signed by President Obama it may become a royal decree.

Next we are presented with various survey results concerning women who have health care and what they do and do not want. But there is a group they don't talk about--women who don't have health care. And yet they claim,

As congresswomen, we think we should be listening to and speaking out for women.

And the word "women" was in that sentence twice! Okay, you...and you...not you...you...not you...you...okay, you...and you. What? Then not you. For those of you women with health care, even though we go on and on about federal bureaucrats interfering with your medical decisions we do want to make an exception for specific women's health issues. We know, we know, it's a "Father Knows Best" kind of mandate thing that will force you and your doctors to do what Congress orders, but...

Cathy McMorris Rodgers and the other Republican congresswomen are looking out for their own, but they're not looking out for women.

1 comment:

Lucas said...

For fun the other day (because it's the sort of thing I would do for fun) I counted the number of "shalls" in the Republican alternative, or Boehner amendment. When you count the number of "shalls" over those 230 pages, divide by 230 and then multiply by the number of pages in the "Pelosi" bill you end up with a number of "shalls" slightly above what appear in the "Pelosi" bill. Interesting stuff. The best quote I heard about the Republican alternative is that it included everything the health insurance companies had asked for, and in fact if they had asked for a pony you could bet it would have been in there too.