The thirty year old man in Blitzer's hypothetical question.....

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

...is the target demographic for the GOP and Teabaggers. Someone who thinks they are going to live forever and therefore doesn't need to be told by the government what they need. It's sad, but this is what you are up against in this nation.

[CBHagman]

1. That was a scary moment, but I think...

...the U.S. is headed for a pretty major health crisis shortly, for several reasons, one being that obesity rates are high and we are seeing type 2 diabetes and hypertension in younger and younger people. Only in Ron Paul's or Michele Bachmann's fantasies could a purely market-based system meet those needs. It's sad that it might take a tragedy to focus our attention, but I suspect that's going to happen.

Moving right along here, Ron Paul's words on what makes medical care so expensive are proof that he is totally, totally out of touch with reality. Sample quote on cost of health care: "The cost is so high because we dump it on the government. It becomes a bureaucracy." No, the cost is so high for multiple factors, including having to make a profit for the shareholders in the insurance companies. :grr:

[global1]

11. We Have Heard From The Tea Party/Repug Death Panels Tonight........nt

[Sherman A1]

17. Obesity rates may begin to fall

with the increase in grocery prices. This may take a very long time, but I really believe that you will see people putting less in their carts and hopefully less junk food. Doritos are already $4.29 per bag in my area and I know that I saw an article on the head of Pepsico bemoaning lower sales numbers. It is possible for folks to shop down in their junk food category just as it in in others, but at some point the one - two punch of the economy & prices will have an effect on the sales of junk food.

[CBHagman]

18. It's healthful food that's usually expensive.

If an economic downturn truly reduced obesity rates, we'd be seeing declines already.

There are multiple reasons for obesity. Aside from the "food desert" issue (i.e., economically disadvantaged neighborhoods with a shortage or absence of well-stocked, accessible grocery stores with competitive prices), there's physical inactivity. And there's the fat, salt, and sugar content of what's consumed. Both of those aspects of life in these United States are not going away any time soon.

http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/facts/obesity/en/

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than 1 billion adults overweight - at least 300 million of them clinically obese - and is a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease and disability. Often coexisting in developing countries with under-nutrition, obesity is a complex condition, with serious social and psychological dimensions, affecting virtually all ages and socioeconomic groups.

Increased consumption of more energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods with high levels of sugar and saturated fats, combined with reduced physical activity, have led to obesity rates that have risen three-fold or more since 1980 in some areas of North America, the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, Australasia and China.The obesity epidemic is not restricted to industrialized societies; this increase is often faster in developing countries than in the developed world.

[Eddie Haskell]

2. What if their target man had a 6 mo. old child?

Still no insurance and the kid's been bleeding badly. Do we let him bleed out beside the ER door?

[gateley]

3. Well we've already heard horror stories like that - where

the hospital refuses admittance for some reason (probably insurance/$$$).

We're a nation of heartless husks.

[jberryhill]

7. Bleeding doesn't pay premiums, don't bleed in our parking lot, buddy /nt

[izquierdista]

4. Hypothetical?

We were all buzzing here on DU last week when the 24-year old man died from an untreated tooth abscess. He was a real person. His name was Kyle Willis and he left behind a 6 year old daughter.

Here is the picture of the man the Tea Party would kill:



edited to add: actually, people like them DID kill him.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

6. Well, he's outside their demographic.....

......I think we know why.

[jberryhill]

8. Did anyone check his birth certificate?

He looks... you know... "foreign".

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

10. That's only about number 7 of the 10 most vile things they would say(n/m)

[CBHagman]

19. Thanks for posting his name and picture.

What a terrible waste.

Unfortunately there are too many others who suffer a similar fate. There was young Deamonte Driver, in whose memory a dental care project was begun -- with public funding, I might add.

http://www.deamontesdentalproject.org/

[thelordofhell]

5. The GOP final solution

If you don't have money or insurance.........die quickly

[cilla4progress]

9. Yet these are the same people against

the individual mandate!

Can't square that circle!

[gordianot]

12. Just a few years ago the threw an absolute fit when a comatose might be removed from life support.

Guess they figured someone pays. Today, Terry Shaivo would head for the morgue irregardless of family wishes.

[jberryhill]

14. She was well past comatose

She was well into persistent vegetative state and was missing considerable brain mass.

[The Doctor.]

16. AAAAAAAACK!

Please... it's regardless. Chalkboard, fingernails, squeaking styrofoam, caterwauling, and 'irregardless' are all in the same category.

Please...

[cilla4progress]

13. Those crazy pro-lifers!

Wait, what?

[The Doctor.]

15. .