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Originally Posted by GREENBACK
. Guess who gets more free prenatal/postnatal care from the goverment: A pregnant congress woman or a pregnant welfare recipient? I think you know that answer.
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Actually, if I were to guess there is a difference, I would think it is the Congressperson who would get better and more timely prenatal and postnatal care. Do you have evidence otherwise?
A pregnant welfare/Medicaid recipient who finds herself ill in -say- the sixth month of pregnancy probably has to go to an emergency room to get seen. She may wait for hours, coming in only feeling generally horrible and having fever. The Congressperson can probably call her private doctor and be squeezed in right way. The Medicaid recipient does NOT have the same insurance as the Congresswoman. So, maybe the government had to shell out $800 for the Congresswoman's doctor visit, but maybe shelled out $20,000 for the Medicaid recipients' ER visit because ER is expensive (no office visit was offered the woman) and she waited hours, allowing an intrauterine infection to progress dangerously so that she had to be admitted for two days. In this hypothetical example, let us consider the taxpayers lucky that the infection did not cause a premature delivery and subsequent month's stay in neonatal intensive care for the baby....all for want of seeing a doctor quickly.
If on average, more money is spent by the public for a Medicaid recipient's pregnancy and follow-up, rather than on a Congresswoman's, I think it is very likely to be because the system has been "pennywise and pound foolish," not spending money in the efficient and preventative ways.
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Where is this big pile of money that gives these congressional people everything "free"? It doesn't exist unless you look at the money they put into the system in the first place. How are we paying for Ted Kennedy's enormous bills for his brain cancer surgery? It comes largely out of their(Kennedy's) pockets because they can afford it. What happens to Joe Average with brain cancer under nationalized care?....who knows but he'll never be able to pay the amount someone like a Kennedy can. The biggest "freeloaders" are those who pay nothing into the system and still get treatment not the US congress or any other working person.
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No one is talking about a big pile of money, exactly. They are talking about the health insurance that the Senators and Representatives get. It is one of their perks....And how in the world do you know that the Kennedys are paying for the Senator's medical care care just now? I would assume that any savvy person who has health insurance, as the Senator does
because he is a senator, would use that insurance for all that it will cover. My understanding is that their insurance is a benefit of the employment and that it is totally covered by the employer ---us. The insurance our national legislators get is not the same as what "any other working person gets." My family's insurance for the coming year costs $1300+ per month.
PS Greenback, are you in the military and have government provided medical care when you need it? I would love to hear from someone in the military, especially someone with a family, to hear how well that works or not.