IRONY ALERT: Rush Limbaugh Touts Socialist Health Care (UPDATED)

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Collected from cloudfront.mediamatters.org Jan 4, 2010 with the description: Rush Limbaugh on the care he received in Hawaii after his heart attack scare (via the Denver Post): Limbaugh couldn't resist a few political comments in the short press conference at the hospital. He said he got the best health treatment in the world "right here in the United States of America." "I don't think there's one thing wrong with the United States health system," Limbaugh said. He thinks he's being a smart ass; that he'll show Obama by holding a news conference to tout the care our current health care system provided him. Unfortunately for him, or fortunately for his health, Hawaii has pretty much had what amounts to universal health care since 1974. His treatment, under the Hawaiian system, and one he'd call socialist on any given day, was the best possible care he could have gotten despite being very similar to that dreaded "universal health care" he rails on and on about. From Paul Abrams: Yes, Rush. That's the point! American medicine is superb--for those who can get it. And, in Hawaii, no one gets special treatment, because everyone can get it. [snip] Hawaii has had nearly-universal employer-mandated health insurance since 1974. Although its Pacific Island location makes the costs of everything--from gasoline to milk to ice cream to housing--the highest in the nation, health care premiums in Hawaii, for comprehensive care with small co-pays and deductibles, are nearly the lowest and their costs per medicare beneficiary are the lowest in the nation. Why? There are a variety of reasons, most traceable to universality. With everyone covered by primary care, emergency room visits tend to be for real emergencies, not the non-emergent care mainland ERs dispense for people without coverage. That reduces the costs of ERs and the costs of non-emergent medicine since patients can be handled less expensively and more effectively by their primary docs. Hospitals have not overbuilt, acquiring expensive machines to compete with their neighbors for patients..

IRONY ALERT: Rush Limbaugh ... trackback from post: Rush Limbaugh on the care he received in Hawaii after his heart attack scare (via the Denver Post): Limbaugh couldn't resist a few political comments in the short press conference at the hospital. He said he got the best health treatment in the world "right here in the United States of America." "I don't think there's one thing wrong with the United States health system," Limbaugh said. He thinks he's being a smart ass; that he'll show Obama by holding a news conference to tout the care our current health care system provided him. Unfortunately for him, or fortunately for his health, Hawaii has pretty much had what amounts to universal health care since 1974. His treatment, under the Hawaiian system, and one he'd call socialist on any given day, was the best possible care he could have gotten despite being very similar to that dreaded "universal health care" he rails on and on about. From Paul Abrams: Yes, Rush. That's the point! American medicine is superb--for those who can get it. And, in Hawaii, no one gets special treatment, because everyone can get it. Hawaii has had nearly-universal employer-mandated health insurance since 1974. Although its Pacific Island location makes the costs of everything--from gasoline to milk to ice cream to housing--the highest in the nation, health care premiums in Hawaii, for comprehensive care with small co-pays and deductibles, are nearly the lowest and their costs per medicare beneficiary are the lowest in the nation. Why? There are a variety of reasons, most traceable to universality. With everyone covered by primary care, emergency room visits tend to be for real emergencies, not the non-emergent care mainland ERs dispense for people without coverage. That reduces the costs of ERs and the costs of non-emergent medicine since patients can be handled less expensively and more effectively by their primary docs. Hospitals have not overbuilt, acquiring expensive machines to compete with their neighbors for patients. Insurance companies have instituted ...
- Jan 4, 2010