Don't talk to me about death panels, Sarah Palin.
Alameda California
You, who so carelessly bolstered a lie about healthcare reform to
score a cheap political point; you, the most craven of political
opportunists, who fearmongers about some dystopian socialist/fascist
fantasyland; you, who earlier this year were only too happy to accept
free medical, dental and veterinary care from the U.S. military for
Alaska’s remote villages; you, dear lady, are an idiot.
In your free market wonderland everyone somehow manages to get
healthcare, even those who are poor or live in isolated areas, though
the poor and isolated in your own state required assistance from the
federal government.
And despite all of this, you appear blithely unaware that the free
market healthcare system we have now does, indeed, have “death
panels.” I’ve been part of a death panel conversation. I know about
death panels.
You have no idea what it’s like to be called into a sterile conference
room with a hospital administrator you’ve never met before and be told
that your mother’s insurance policy will only pay for 30 days in ICU.
You can't imagine what it's like to be advised that you need to “make
some decisions,” like whether your mother should be released “HTD”
which is hospital parlance for “home to die,” or if you want to pay
out of pocket to keep her in the ICU another week. And when you ask
how much that would cost you are given a number so impossibly large
that you realize there really are no decisions to make. The decision
has been made for you. "Living will" or no, it doesn't matter. The
bank account and the insurance policy have trumped any legal document.
If this isn’t a “death panel” I don’t know what is.
So don’t talk to me about “death panels” you heartless, cruel, greedy
sons of bitches, who are only too happy to keep the profits rolling in
to the big insurance companies while you spout your mealy-mouthed
bumper sticker slogans about the evils of socialism. You don't even
know what socialism is. You don't know what government healthcare is.
You have no fucking clue about anything except that you lost the last
election and you're pissed off.
You are young. Your parents are still alive. You don’t know enough to
take any of this seriously. It's all an exercise in political theater
for you. But that will change. We all get older. The time will arrive,
someday, when you are tasked with caring for someone you love who is
seriously ill. You will be ushered in to that sterile hospital
conference room with an administrator you do not know, where you are
told to "make plans" for a day you never hoped to see. And then you
will get your education.
If on that day you still think the healthcare system we have now is
fabulous and worth lying, cheating and threatening people to maintain,
I can only conclude that you lack even the tiniest grain of a soul.
Lisa Lisa
wrote:
Palin! Ah, memories, especially of this very informative interview: