little3wing

8-16-09 Meet the Press with guests Tom Daschle, Tom Coburn, Rachel Maddow, and Dick Armey.

When questioned on the health care bill's end-of-life decision inclusion, Tom Coburn says that "government shouldn't weigh in on it". I don't understand why people think this is a government decision. The government does not weigh in on our end-of-life decisions. The bill simply proposes that patients are covered for consultations with their doctors about this issue. It is completely voluntary for every American under this bill. No one wants to kill you or me.

Apparently, on the issue of health care, the President is approved by 43% and disapproved by 49% of those polled. I didn't catch who administered the poll.

Dick Armey cannot refute the fact that he and his organization, FreedomWorks, is associated with groups that glorify violence at town hall meetings. The group in question is Tea Party Patriots, which has a video of a violent incident at a town hall meeting on their front page, and which is a partner of FreedomWorks. Rachel Maddow really kills him on this point.

Now, Tom Coburn says that most people who get a referral have already had one opinion. Speaking from my own experience and the experiences of people close to me, this is not even almost the case. If I know I want to see a dermatologist, or a psychologist, or a whatever-ogist, I have to go to my general practitioner and get a referral to some doctor in my network. Not because I want a second opinion. I want a specialist. Sarah's advice: if you have an argument to make, don't make points that every American can refute.

When David Gregory brings up the subject of the public plan in the bill, Tom Daschle says that if we want to keep costs down and keep insurance companies accountable (yes, please), a public option is the answer. Dick Armey, of course, claims that the bill is unfair, and that it will discourage private options. I'm not sure what his point is here. Honestly, I have a private plan, and I'm pretty discouraged. Maddow, who is my girl, says that the fact that so many of us are uninsured (and I might add, unhappily insured) won't be solved by Coburn, Armey, and most Republicans' beloved option to be able to buy insurance across state lines, but rather what we need is health care reform with a public option.

Coburn's ending statement proclaims that your and my doctor won't be able to do what he knows is in your and my best interest. Because the big bad government won't allow it. Completely unlike your and my insurance company, who decides that surely we only need to see a specialist "x" times a year and we already had cancer before we came to them, so they can't be expected to pay for anything.

I think Tom Daschle made the ultimate point in the discussion: "...Are we building this plan for insurance companies or the American people?"

There are many more ridiculous, comfortingly sane, and inciting points that I missed as a result of my attempt at sort-of-liveblogging. If anyone has anything to add, please do.