Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J), the 2nd oldest member of the US Senate, has just been diagnosed with stomach cancer. That's unfortunate, but it won't deter him from finishing his current term and even running for another term - which he has announced he intends to do.
Doctors say that he is expected to make a full recovery after a series of chemotherapy treatments over the next 4-6 months. Between treatments he intends to return to the Senate and keep up his fight for the health care bill. In fact, he is one of the Senators that has signed a resolution demanding that the bill be approved through reconciliation - a procedural trick that circumvents legislative debate.
He's where it gets interesting. Lautenberg is 86. Under the health care plan that he so enthusiastically supports - which wouldn't apply to him anyway because he is one of the Washington elite - people of this advanced age might not receive any treatment for an ailment like he has. He might not be considered a good investment of time or money. There's the double-standard.
Life is precious. We need to do all we can to preserve and protect it - from conception forward.
This health care plan must be defeated, and hurrah for the Republicans for opposing it.
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Hi Steve, I suspect you and I don't agree on many issues but perhaps we can support the idea that our elected reps should have no better nor lesser care than you and I. Have a terrific weekend !
Watch what happens when this "health insurance bill" passes. Doctors and hospitals will require a credit card on file (to pay what the insurance does not) before you receive services or they will not accept insurance for payment and require you to pay then you get reimbursed by the insurance company (like it used to be). You can bet that the doctors and hospitals will get paid one way or another or you will not get services.
Steve, No one should be exempt from health care, no matter what!
Bill,
I agree. In fact they should have whatever they had before they got into office - the office itself providing no coverage. Another way to control what we spend as taxpayers. :)
Steve
They brought him out of moth balls for the last election when NJ Dem Senator had to resign....he'll be another Kennedy or Specter and GOP needs to run a strong candidate against him
Ross,
And when you can't get services, you come under the universal health car program of the government - all part of the plan. :)
Steve
Wanda,
"Exempt" is a funny word. We still are a nation of choices. If we mean care for serious illnesses or injuries, sure. If we mean a cold or small cut, no. Congress should not have a special plan because we can't afford to provide it. :)
Steve
Right, and the government will be telling the doctors and hospitals just how much they will be paid after they make them accept payment from the universal health plan. So many people have cheered the government on when they limit what GM and others can pay certain employees. It will come, the government will control all of us, what function we perform and what we are entitled to.
Wallace,
Leave to the machines (political). I agree. :)
Steve
Ross,
In many ways the government has broken the American spirit. Social Security, Medicare, health care, farm parities, unemployment, and on and on. Now it's real hard to change the paradigm. :)
Steve
If we could force the so called elites into the same health system as the rest of us, there would be no chance of this being passed.
Steve
I would like to wish Senator Lautenburg a full recovery but you are on point as well. Under what I have read on heath care the Senator would have very limited coverage based on his age.
Good luck and success.
Lou Ludwig
Hopefully the Senator will get through his treatment okay. I have to wonder if it is really in the citizens of New Jersey's best interest to have an 86 year old frail person representing them in the Senate. There isn't anybody else just slightly more qualified????
Right on Steve I say good enough for me is good enough for them. Remember how he got elected in the first place? They circumvented the state rules to have him nominated. Breaking the rules or whatever isn't anything new to them when it's to their advantage.
Well he will get better health care than you and I and that only proves the hypocrisy of our leaders and that they do not look out for us.
Jon,
Or a better chance of some real reform. :)
Steve
Lou,
On our plans, yes, but not on the exceptional Senatorial plan that we all fund. :)
Steve
Rob,
A perfect reason to repeal Amendment 17. :)
Steve
John,
They certainly know how to play the game, don't they? :)
Steve
Dale,
They think they are looking out for us because they are so much smarter than we are and they know best. :)
Steve
It would be nice for Congress to live under the same rules they mandate for the rest of us... but this might be a shining example of why they don't.
Congratulations this post is now featured in the Silent Majority Group of Active Rain.
Steve- Excellent post. This blog is now featured in Tea Party. Congratulations.
Lane,
Now, we could never have that, could we? :)
Steve
Nicholas,
Thank you. I appreciate being featured. :)
Steve
Kevin,
I am honored. Thank you. :)
Steve
Reblogged
Kevin,
Thank you. Just when it looks like this is going away they bring it up again - like the White House today. :)
Steve
Steve,
Once again an excellent post and spot on. I will reblog!!
We must keep fighting!!
Blessings are still abundant in America, let's keep it that way!!
The problem with health insurance is that we expect it to pay for everything. Why? Insurance should be used for catastrophic circumstances. If you get the sniffles and go to the doctor, pay for it! If you have an ache and go to the doctor, pay for it! Insurance is not for maintenance, it's for catastrophe!
When I need new tires on the car, my auto insurance doesn't pay for it. Nor does it pay for oil changes, or any other type of maintenance.
When I need a new screen door because I walked through the old one last night, insurance doesn't pay for it. When I need new paint on the wood outside to prevent wood rot, insurance doesn't pay for it.
Until we get away from entitlement insurance, there will always be those who can afford it and those who can't.
In my case, as well as my husbands, we could not get insurance as self-employed individuals. No one was willing to provided it to us at any cost. Consequently, my husband is working two full-time jobs, one as a Realtor and one as Operations Manager at Borders Books and Music so that we have health, dental, and vision insurance. I'd love to see a public option and hope it comes about.
I do suggest, however, that you quit listening to Fox soundbites and actually read the complete heatlh care bills that have been passed by the House and Senate. There is no "pull the plug on granny" clause in it.
As with anything, though, there will be those, both people and companies, that try to take advantage of whatever is passed. But that's no different than it is now. The biggest difference is that many more millions of people will be insured, and have choices, too, including me. Right now I have no choice.
In any case, though, you cannot compare health insurance for our legislators to health insurance for the general public. If you don't like the health insurance for our legislators, then vote them out of office and vote in people who will do away with the legislator health insurance. Right. Good luck with that one! LOL
I hope the senator does well. I think the resurrection of the health care bill is a horrible deal! I am calling my representatives (Ha Ha) and hoping the Republicans can defeat this. America has CLEARLY showed it does not want this health care bill.
Nice post. It's amazing that you and I can see the hypocrisy in this position but he cannot. When human beings are judged as actuarial tables, we all lose - and he would be out of luck if he were an ordinary citizen trying to extend his life under his plan. This should not be a federal issue unless they have the balls to step up to tort reform and true cost control methods.
Get off the entitlement syndrome wagon Wanda. No one is entitled by our constitution to provide money or free labor to anyone else. That includes services of healthcare. That isn't freedom you are speaking of, it is SLAVERY...decided and governed by elite politicians who won't be made slaves themselves, or subjected to the subpar healthcare that results for that matter.
Emergency care is available to everyone. Even nonAmericans. Even crimimals who have broken our laws.
One only has to look as far as the rate increased in CA to see a glimps of what will happen if obama manages to get this through. They all just had a 39% increase in premiums!!
Bottom line...WE CAN'T AFFORD ANYMORE ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS!!! WE ARE BROKE AS A NATION!
Those like Wanda should understand that EQUAL ACCESS TO THE AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE DOES NOT MEAN EQUAL APPROVAL OF TREATMENT AND COVERAGE. The basic questions they should ask are: What will be the percentage of approval for my treatment and How fast I can get the approval for my treatment
Most importantly: DO NOT ALLOW CONGRESS TO EXCLUDE THEMSELVES FROM ANY NEW HEALTH CARE PLAN!!
Steve, thank you for posting this! If congress have proven nothing else, they've shown taxpayers that they know how to take care of themselves. Talk about double standards and Hypocrisy at it's finest!
Alice,
We have to keep up the fight. We all appreciate the great job you are doing. Thanks. :)
Stegve
Russel,
I'm in total agreement with the first half of your argument. We have gotten to the point - thanks in large part to the unions - where we expect everyhting to covered by health insurance. I want government out of health care insurance altogether. :)
Steve
Joseph,
Good luck. If your representatives are anything like mine, the don't care what we think. :)
Steve
Gene,
Thanks. You think with trial lawyers bankrolling them that they are going to make any waves? :)
Steve
Georgia,
Government creates entitlements to have us beholding to them. It's the progressive way. Thanks for keeping up the fight. :)
Steve
Albena,
There should not be any health care plan. That's the bottom line. It is unconstitutional and we can't afford it. :)
Steve