Eulogy To The Unknown Campaign Volunteer; Obama Misstates Facts

Obama is getting a bit of a bum rap for eulogizing a campaign volunteer (Melanie Shouse, per this, or this) who Obama claims, incorrectly, died without health insurance but insisted on being buried in an Obama t-shirt.

First, let's grapple with her insurance situation.  Here is how Obama described it (my emphasis):

I got a letter -- I got a note today from one of my staff -- they forwarded it to me -- from a woman in St. Louis who had been part of our campaign, very active, who had passed away from breast cancer. She didn't have insurance. She couldn't afford it, so she had put off having the kind of exams that she needed. And she had fought a tough battle for four years.

That is kind of right, but wrong.  From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, we learn that she had catastrophic coverage with a high deductible and skimped on routine exams:

When Melanie Shouse began feeling ill, eventually finding a lump in her breast, she couldn't afford a doctor. She and her partner had just used their savings to open a business.

A year later, doctors told her she had terminal, stage four breast cancer.

She spent the next 4½ years fighting for health care reform that she didn't live to see pass.

Ms. Shouse died Saturday (Jan. 30, 2010) at her home in Overland. She was 41.

...In a speech in November at the Arch grounds, she spoke about the need to "take on the Big Insurance Monopoly and liberate American families from the slavery of skyrocketing insurance premiums and canceled coverage, which leave millions of us in a state of perpetual fear and insecurity ..."

Using herself as an example, Ms. Shouse said she had put off going to a doctor because her health insurance policy had a $5,000 deductible. She called it "'hit by a bus' kind of insurance."

If I can rely on this, it appears that she chose to invest in her business rather than in routine medical care and missed the news of the looming catastrophe.  Had she been literally hit by a bus, I assume she would have noticed and taken steps.

Jaelithe, a sympathetic blogger, provides a similar description of Ms. Shouse's insurance situation:

And why did she do all this work? It wasn't to save herself from cancer. Melanie's health insurance problems had prevented her from seeking immediate care the day she first noticed a lump in her breast.

When Melanie's breast cancer was finally diagnosed, it was already Stage Four. After her diagnosis — delayed because the only insurance policy she could afford for herself as a small business owner was a catastrophic care policy with a $5,000 deductible — her insurance company denied her necessary treatment on multiple occasions. Her prognosis was grim.

Well, her insurance problem was not that she didn't have any, or was denied treatment due to pre-existing conditions; it is that insurance is expensive, as are routine exams, so she saved money by skipping exams. As to her being denied treatment, the Post story only mentions one incident, which is pretty clearly a late stage experimental therapy, of which there are many.

As to what her example illustrates, I don't know whether ObamaCare offers subsidized insurance to small business owners (frankly, I could believe anything).

[MORE: She would have been 37 when she noticed the lump; her insurance may have covered a mammogram had she been above 40 even with a high deductible (the notion is that a ounce of prevention can be a lot cheaper than a pound of cure).  Of course, a Federal health panel just suggested moving the guideline back to 50, but they were shouted down.

In any case, this site says a typical mammogram costs about $100 for the uninsured.  As an insured patient, she would only be billed the insurer's discount price.]

Now, let's cut back to the bum rap on t-shirts.  This is from Byron York, describing Obama's speech at a DNC fundraiser:

Obama pledged to keep fighting for a national health care system. "We knew this was hard," Obama said. And then he described a letter he received from a campaign worker who suffered from breast cancer and has since died:

I got a letter -- I got a note today from one of my staff -- they forwarded it to me -- from a woman in St. Louis who had been part of our campaign, very active, who had passed away from breast cancer. She didn't have insurance. She couldn't afford it, so she had put off having the kind of exams that she needed. And she had fought a tough battle for four years. All through the campaign she was fighting it, but finally she succumbed to it. And she insisted she's going to be buried in an Obama t-shirt.

Many observers have noted that the president often seems extraordinarily self-referential. It's all about him, they say. But even those critics might be a little taken aback by the "buried in an Obama t-shirt" remark. Is it really that much about him?

Troubling.  If Obama weren't so awesome I would worry about this hint of a cult of personality. And I am sure that if Bush had said something this daft we would not be subjected to a lot of context from Maddow, Dowd, Olbermann and Krugman (four new horsemen?!?).  However, the Allahpundit takes a more charitable view, which is supported by the tape. Inshallah:

Heard in context here, during a pitch about ObamaCare, it sounds to me like he’s simply using the t-shirt as a symbol of the dream of universal health care, not as some political last rite by which those bearing the mark of the Messiah shall attain salvation. The point, in other words, is that she was so committed to O-Care — not necessarily to O himself — that she chose to endorse it unto eternity by wearing the shirt. Or so a charitable interpretation would have it.

Well, yes. After the crowd laughs about the t-shirt, Obama says, roughly, that the woman wasn't fighting just to get Obama elected, or even just to get herself health insurance; she was fighting for the thousands of people coming behind her who would benefit from health reform.  Let's go live!

But think about this: She was fighting that whole time not just to get me elected, not even to get herself health insurance, but because she understood that there were others coming behind her who were going to find themselves in the same situation and she didn't want somebody else going through that same thing. How can I say to her, "You know what?  We're giving up"?  How can I say to her family, "This is too hard"? How can Democrats on the Hill say, "This is politically too risky"? How can Republicans on the Hill say, "We're better off just blocking anything from happening"?

He did challenge the crowd with this puzzler:

"How can I say to her, you know what, we're giving up?"

How, indeed?  Maybe a corpse-man could make himself useful here.  He corrects himself in the next clause, asking how he can tell her family that Democrats quit because health reform is too hard.

So - a woman walking a tough road kept her commitment to Obama and Obama feels obliged to maintain his commitment to her.  I would say the t-shirt is an overly personalized symbol of that, but the story is fine.

As to why he failed to mention her name?  Hard to believe its a privacy thing, seeing the St Louis Post profile.  It's just Obama's utter absence of a common touch.

Comments

[clarice]

You'll have to pry that shirt from my gnarled dead hands, TM.

[Jack is Back!]

"I campaigned for The One and all I got was this stupid T-shirt".

I am now convinced that this guy is mentally ill. I mean who writes this stuff and why does the One get such a thrill down his leg reading TOTUS and saying this dumb s**t?

If the voters don't get him perhaps the men in white tunics and leather straps can get him.

[narciso]

He's the cafe aulait Dukakis, for all of his purported inspirational nature, he's almost
cyborg in his clinical examination of things;
his debating whether his grandmother should get a hip replacement, his rebuff to the town
haller, who asked if 'spirit' was a
consideration for his 105 year old mother

[Ignatz]

First, is it possible for a bum to get a bum rap?

Second he's a liar. This quote is from TM's link under Melanie Skouse:

When Melanie's breast cancer was finally diagnosed, it was already Stage Four. After her diagnosis — delayed because the only insurance policy she could afford for herself as a small business owner was a catastrophic care policy with a $5,000 deductible — her insurance company denied her necessary treatment on multiple occasions. Her prognosis was grim.

She had insurance. She was a small business owner so it's entirely likely she could have afforded a mammogram, even assuming she had any intention of getting one since it appears she was fairly young.
And if she was stage four when she discovered the lump, doctors will universally tell you they cannot cure you.

This one would blow up in his face, far beyond his bizzare t-shirt fetish, if we had a responsible media, that is.

[Porchlight]

More and more since Brown's election I think gears in Obama's brain are coming apart. He's always been a head case, but he has rocky shoals ahead and he's never had much adversity in his career, let alone as POTUS on the world stage. We are going to see some increasingly odd behavior.

[Paul Zrimsek]

How do you ask an unnamed campaign worker to be the last unnamed campaign worker to die for a mistake?

[Soylent Red]

Dukakis couldn't name any of his heroes. Obama has only one, and it's himself.

I can't decide which is more ridiculous, and which is more emblematic of Progressive thought.

[Carol Herman]

Breast cancer kills. And, you always have a choice. You can say 'no' to radiation and chemotherapy.

To help you understand this better, Ted Kennedy, who had a terrifying malignant brain tumor, took the route of modern medicine's cures. And, I think only suffered longer. And, worse. Till the bell tolled.

[narciso]

It's a sad story, and I find the jovial attitude a little disturbing, but do they
think the public option will make it better, what's the cancer recovery rate in Europe.

[clarice]

I think you're right, porchlight.

[BumperStickerist]

SGT Ryan David Jopek.

That was the name on the hero bracelet Obama had during his campaign. It was the prop in Obama's "I have a bracelet, too!" speech.

McCain's hero bracelet bore the name of CPL Matthew Stanley.

If I were a betting man, and I am, I would bet that McCain could state the name on his hero bracelet. And that Obama could not ... provided there was not a TelePrompTer in the area.

.

[Porchlight]

Clarice, the first clue will be if he disappears from the public view for noticeable periods of time, something he is naturally loath to do since he loves the limelight. Then the rumors of exhaustion, confusion, ill health etc. will begin.

BTW not only does Ras have him at -15 today, but the overall approval is 44, which matches the all-time low, and the overall disapproval is 55, only one point off the all-time high of 56. Some bounce.

[BumperStickerist]

Also, correct me if I'm missing the Irony Alert here :

Obama's health care provision moves regular screening mammograms back from age 40 to age 50.

She died of breast cancer at at 41.

Would it not follow, then, that regular screenings should begin at age 35 ... costs be damned?

I mean, if we're going to use Melanie Shouse as an exemplar, wouldn't that be the logical follow-up?

.

[PD]

Ras back down to -15 today. SOTU bounce is dead. No word whether it died wearing an Obama T-shirt.

[Danube of Thought]

Me too. He'll be taking the steel balls out of his pocket and rolling them in his hand any day now.

Minus 15, 44/54 overall.

[BumperStickerist]

Clarice, the first clue will be if he [Obama] disappears from the public view for noticeable periods of time,

And so will begin the comparisions of Obama to UltraMan.

.

[bgates]

BumperStickerist beat me to it.

He'll be taking the steel balls out of his pocket

Those aren't steel, and they're in Michelle's pocket.

[clarice]

At this point in ancient cultures, the leader would be taken to some remote peat bog or stone alter and sacrificed to assure a good crop the following season.

[peter]

Porchlight, I had the same reaction. He is losing it. The real question is how this will hurt our country, having a President and CIC who's koo-koo. It happened at the tail end of the Nixon administration, too. Will Democratic leaders have the decency and wherewithal to convince Tutto-Pazzo-bama that he has to step down, the way Republican senators did with Nixon? Don't hold your breath. We will be living through interesting times. LUN

[bgates]

BumperStickerist beat me to it.

-with the Irony Alert, not the UltraMan comparison (didn't that start a while ago?)

[PD]

This man is gibbering in the darkness of his own ignorance, a madness too terrible to contemplate and awful to behold. How did such a man ever get elected president?

[Graumagus]

Bury her in Chicago, and she can continue voting Democrat for the next century.

[wtpct]

It seems that the White House did not enter the agenda push with any "Plan B". They just assumed Health Care, Cap & Trade and amnesty were going to sail past us like the Stimulus did. I'll never forget that health care was suppose to be signed, sealed and delivered before congress came home for summer break. That was the plan and they have flown by the seat of their pants and winged it ever since that didn't happen.

[bgates]

it sounds to me like he’s simply using the t-shirt as a symbol of the dream of universal health care, not as some political last rite by which those bearing the mark of the Messiah shall attain salvation

Nobody ever mistook me for a historical first-ever greatest orator Ezra Klein ever wet himself over in history, but I think I would have phrased that part of His speech like this:

"All through the campaign she was fighting it, but finally she succumbed to it. And she insisted she's going to be buried in a campaign t-shirt. She worked on the campaign tirelessly - through her illness - not to get herself health insurance, but because she understood that there were others coming behind her who were going to find themselves in the same situation...."

Maybe some of Obama's ace speechwriting staff will come to Florida on Spring Break and I can pass on tips like that.

[Porchlight]

I'll never forget that health care was suppose to be signed, sealed and delivered before congress came home for summer break.

Which is essentially proof that they never even considered including Republicans in the drafting of the legislation, since anything truly bipartisan couldn't possibly have been thrown together so quickly.

Of course now they are claiming Republicans "refused" to be part of the process, when the truth is they were shut out from the beginning.

[bgates]

Clarice -
They should have fixed terms,after which we strangle them and throw their bodies into a bog.The traditional way.

[reliapundit]

TRUTH!?!?!?

OBAMA DON'T NEED NO STINKING TRUHT!

[narciso]

They embarked on this campaign with no intelligence, they were told it was going to be a 'cakewalk', which really seems like magical realism, found themselves in a
quagmire, with no exit strategy

[lynndh]

We have high deductible policies - $6k each. My wife's mammograms are paid for by the policy. I think most policies do pay for the exams. At least the cost would have been the negotiated rate. I do feel sorry that she died, but she could have prevented it.

[Stew Gotz]

"And if she was stage four when she discovered the lump, doctors will universally tell you they cannot cure you."

True, but even with Stage 4, depending on the location and extent of the metastasis, with therapy (chemo, biological, radiation) women can live years or decades with Stage 4 disease with a good quality of life (Maggie Daley, Mayor Daley's, wife is coming up on 10 years with Stage 4). New drugs and procedures are being developed and introduced every year. Until a cure is found, having the ability manage cancer as a chronic disease with a good quality of life (e.g. able to work, travel, etc) is a good start.

"Breast cancer kills. And, you always have a choice. You can say 'no' to radiation and chemotherapy."

You can say no, but current treatment regimes can reduce chances of death from the disease by 50%-70% (again it will depend on "type" and extent of cancer). Now if someone is 80 and doesn't want to go through chemo then that is there choice. Most docs probably wouldn't recommend it at that point. But at 40, I think most would.

Now as far as this women, she had a choice as to how she spent her money. She chose her business over health care. At her young age, that may have seemed reasonable at the time, but you must know the risk is still there.

As far as screening as early as 35, the problem is in most case, breast tissue it too dense at that point and it is difficult to read mammograms. It would probably only drive more biopsies with minimal improvement in detection. And if she was 35 when she had the cancer, at such a young age, most likely it was a relatively aggressive (stage 3 HER2+).

Breast cancer (stages 1-3) can be cured and is cured, but not all cases and there is no guarantee. Some treatments work for people and some don't. There are plenty of studies with a treatment group and a control group where clear benefits can be seen. But there are only a few attributes of a cancer where a known targeted therapy will help in a specific case, but many more unknown attributes.

With Obamacare, death rates would most likely increase and not decrease due to minimal funding for experimental treatments, increased demand on the system, lower number of docs accepting any type of government insurance (probably the better doctors) and if forced to take government insurance with low reimbursement then a shortage of doctors in the mid and long term.

[peter]

Bury her in Chicago, and she can continue voting Democrat for the next century.

Proudly awarded the POST OF THE DAY!

[BumperStickerist]

One other bit -

Melanie Shouse, apparently, self-diagnosed the lump and then waited a year before seeking ** medical ** help.

The reason given in the article is that her health insurance coverage had a $5,000 deductible.

There's no mention whether her routine check-ups are covered or have a lower co-pay or whether she would have been $100-$300 out-of-pocket to see a doctor and get a medical diagnosis regarding the lump.

I mean, one thing we learned is that it costs $1,200 or so to hack off a foot. I don't know what the going rate for a biopsy is, but it's not a case where Melanie needed the full $5,000 in pocket before begining to seek medical services.

And, not for nothing, part of me thinks that if you can get dozens of friends to show up and protest an insurance company, maybe you can get those dozens of friends to pony up $50 each or so to cover the deductible.

Obviously, her death from breast cancer is not her fault. But, I'd posit, it's also not the insurance company's fault either.

.

[glasater]

Great reading if one cannot get out and about:

Why are liberals so condescending?

Zero is not gonna give up on health care reform...that's what he keeps saying anyway.
Have noticed his hair is getting grayer.......

[JM Hanes]

I posted this over at the end of the "Man of the People" thread, but when we're talking about the Presidential Psyche, I see a new meme in the offing. In addition to Obama's -15, Rasmussen reports:

During his January 27 State-of-the-Union address, the president spoke about a deficit of trust between the American people and political leaders. Polling on the president’s speech found just how deep that trust deficit has become. A majority of voters did not believe Obama was telling the truth about three of the biggest assertions in the speech - that his administration has cut taxes for 95% of Americans, that “after two years of recession, the economy is growing again” and that steps taken by his team are responsible for putting two million people to work “who would otherwise be unemployed.”

That disbelief seems a little schizophrenic in light of Obama's putative SOTU bounce, but perhaps it derives from the continuing disparity between his approval numbers and his favorability ratings. Wilson's "You lie," and Alito's "That's not true," certainly broke through the sympathetic DC filter. Gibb's daily prevarications are surely feeding into Obama's downward trajectory in the press. Outright dishonesty is a credibility gap on steroids. I suspect the fact that the Prez can't even think up fresh lies to tell doesn't hurt the incompetence narrative either.

[clarice]

bgates, what a wonderful catch!

[clarice]

glasater, a friend just sent me that article and I loved it. It's all true..You cannot believe the treatment I receive since I left that crowd behind..It's as if I signed up with the kkk or something.

[gus]

Obama said she couldn't afford health insurance. He is a liar.
She CHOSE to spend her money elsewhere and paid with her life.
What Obama is saying, is that YOU AND I were supposed to pay for our health care, our business choices and HER HEALTH CARE.
This is MARXISM at work. SOMEONE ELSE ALWAYS PAYS.
Until we are all broke and eating PUMPERNICKEL after waiting in line for it.
THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH. Barry O'Dimwit doesn't even take care of his own BROTHER, but he wants you to believe he is going to give you more for LESS.
NONSENSE.

[wtpct]

My least favorite signs at some teaparties were the "Bury Obama Care with Kennedy"..they were manufactured not home made and just left a bad taste in my mouth but with Scott Brown winning they may have been correct all along.

[gus]

wtpct. If I had a sign at a Democrat Rally that said ni@@er, would I be a Democrat??
I think if you look closely at those signs, you'll probably see THE UNION LABEL.

IYKWIMAITYD

[glasater]

Thanks Clarice:)

Have wondered from time to time how you deal with that treatment you describe. But know you are a very strong woman and a fine example for all of us.
In a very small way I share similar treatment because I contract with our local daily newspaper who are definitely in the lib camp. My jobs with them have been reduced considerably because I've become more open in expressing my thinking to some of the crew there...:-)

[jimmyk]

One of the calculations you make if you get a high-deductible policy is that the savings in the premium will (likely) be larger than the out-of-pocket expenses for exams and the like. But you should still realize that you're going to have to spend some money out-of-pocket. It sounds like she didn't even go to a doctor for an exam, which would have cost maybe $100-$200. The doctor could have advised her about a mammogram vs. biopsy vs. other possible diagnostics, and what they would have cost. But not taking the first step is what killed her.

[gus]

jimmyk. How does the government give you better care for less money? Clearly Obama wants the government to be your insurance carrier. How does government becoming your default carrier make care cheaper or better.
I buy my own health care and I have a high deductible.
IT'S CALLED FREEDOM.
I don't like the price, but you know what I like less? GOVERNMENT TELLING ME WHAT TO DO.
If Obama gave a shit, he and the Democrats would allow us to buy policies from any insurance company nation wide.
Liberals don't want a free market solution.
Anyone who believes they are trying to help us is naive. This is about their power and more dependency. I am not the GOVERMENTS CHILD.

[Porchlight]

But not taking the first step is what killed her.

Or perhaps slightly more accurately, what sealed her fate. She might still have died, even with a full course of all treatments available (and even if all of that treatment had come "free" from the government, I might add). But not taking that first step made it certain.

[clarice]

OT:I've now seen a police car and a pickup truck traveling on the cross street to the side of my house. Those are the first vehicles I've seen on the road since early yesterday afternoon.

The snow is coming down heavier and more thickly than ever and visibility is very low.

[Captain Hate]

Allahdouche carrying water for Ear Leader again? Color me shocked; SHOCKED I tells ya. Time for Michelle M to cut that squish loose and see what happens...

[centralcal]

Heck with Obama!

Our candidates are getting better and better all the time. Maybe that will be his legacy?

Hot Damn

[narciso]

What stupid thing did he say now, OT, as I remarked to daddy on an earlier thread, the
stooge Senator Begich, is so unpopular in his own state 35/51 in one poll, that skunks are
running away from him, apparently so are campaign donations, he raised 44K this last quarter

[Mike Myers]

Our New Messiah's credibility has died--and asked to be buried in an Obama T Shirt.

[Porchlight]

glasater, that was a good read, thanks. At the end of the article it says the author will be online to answer questions on Monday at 11 am EST. Questions can be submitted in advance. Might be interesting.

[centralcal]

Gotta love Andrew Breitbart:

It's not your business model that sucks. It is YOU that sucks.

The media covering the Tea Party Convention is really gonna get the vapors now. ha ha ha ha!

[Cecil Turner]

Okay, maybe I'm missing something here, but aside from the ridiculous "let's get out there and pass a bad bill for the Gipper" pep talk, this just doesn't make any sense.

A lady who was obviously unwilling to pay for routine care (but not insurance) dies due to a late diagnosis. The lefties would pass a bill that would force her to pay for more expensive care . . . but not allow the plan to pay for the needed test until it was too late. (If they had their way, they wouldn't have checked until long after she was dead.) And she's so enamored with their failed-in-every-respect effort that she wears a Won t-shirt to her grave.

This joins a long list of stuff that I just don't get.

[clarice]

Kinzinger is quite a hunk! At last, a winning formula--good looking candidates..

[PD]

This joins a long list of stuff that I just don't get.

If you would just be a leftist, you'd be a lot smarter, and then you'd understand these things.

[Al G.]

I warned all of you about climate change. I believe my exact words were, "The world faces catastrophic cooling."

[Jane]

Wouldn't one of Obama's iterations of health care forbidden a mammogram in one's 40's?

[Jane]

Let me try that again:

Wouldn't one of Obama's iterations of health care forbid a woman a mammogram in her 40's?

[bgates]

Cecil, once we get the limb-choppers who are responsible for all the profits and other forms of waste in medicine out of the system, the whole sector will switch from a "treatment" model to a "cure" model, and we'll all enjoy the giant leap in medical technology that Cuba would undoubtedly have created if it weren't for the blockade, or the Soviet bloc if it weren't for shut up.

[Rick Ballard]

"This joins a long list of stuff that I just don't get."

You obviously value cognition over emotion. If you were able to allow yourself to be fully guided by emotion then you would feel that the woman in question was entirely justified in her decision. I find her an absolutely fitting symbol for all supporters of BOzo. It's skittles, unicorns and rainbows - all the way down.

[sbw]

bgates' PUK reminder from upthread:

Of course they are utterly self obsessed,that is why they go into politics. [Where] else can these people get to play "Simple Simon Says" with everybody's lives.

They should have fixed terms, after which we strangle them and throw their bodies into a bog. The traditional way.

Posted by: PeterUK | May 23, 2009 at 09:47 PM

Hat tip to bgates and PUK.

[Ignatz]

This story just pisses me off more and more.

Here is what a mammogram costs:

For an uninsured patient, typical full-price cost of a mammogram ranges from $80 to $120 or more, with an average of about $102, according to Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. Some providers charge more, and some offer an uninsured discount. For example, at the Kapiolani Medical Center in Aiea, Hawaii, where the full price is about $212, an uninsured patient would pay about $127 to $148.

So a woman who owned a small business and could afford health insurance couldn't have afforded a $100 mammogram? As someone pointed out upthread it might very well have shown nothing at her age anyway. If it was stage 4 when she was 37 it likely would have had to have been detected in her early thirties to have an excellent chance of a cure; could have been growing there for 7-8 years by then. What is unknown is her family's history of breast cancer. In any event, nothing BOzo is proposing would have saved her. Time and chance happen to all.
This clown is a more blatant liar than Clinton.

--True, but even with Stage 4, depending on the location and extent of the metastasis, with therapy (chemo, biological, radiation) women can live years or decades with Stage 4 disease with a good quality of life (Maggie Daley, Mayor Daley's, wife is coming up on 10 years with Stage 4).--

Yeah I know Stew. My wife's been living with it for 4 1/2 years already.
In fact our story and Melanie's is not that different. We have an $8,000 deductible. We discussed my wife getting mammograms in her forties but she chose not to, primarily because she felt she had suffered too much x ray exposure as a dental hygienist and she had no family history of breast cancer. We made our choices and now we pay the price and accept the responsibility. That's what adults do.
Lefties OTOH make the same choices and then write notes to their messiah and get buried in his shirt and ask him to please ram socialsim down our throats.
There is just something wrong in the heads of lefties.

[clarice]

No, Jane. It didn't. The outside panel--not part of the Obamacare pkg--merely said (truthfully) that routine mammograms for those people without special circumstances of concern--should begin later..If cost and efficacy were the only factors that would be true..and it's been established repeatedly to be so.

But under pressure, the panel's findings and recommendations were overturned.

[Cecil Turner]

Wouldn't one of Obama's iterations of health care forbidden a mammogram in one's 40's?

It was one of them there "death panels" that made the recommendation:

Most women should start regular breast cancer screening at age 50, not 40, according to new guidelines released Monday by an influential group that provides guidance to doctors, insurance companies and policy makers.

(People were paying attention, and it got shot down.)

[Fresh Air]

Gap of trust between the people and their leaders? How soon before we dust off the word "malaise" and that cardigan sweater? I would swear I've seen this picture before.

[John]

1) The world ain't perfect.

2) People have to live with the consequences of their decisions.

She felt a lump in her breast and ignored it for a YEAR? She could scratch up enough dough for her business but not for her life?

Boo hoo.

Here's a thought: maybe if NONE of us had insurance a mammogram would be $100 instead of $500. Insurance isn't the solution, it's the problem!

[Danube of Thought]

Nephew in McClean VA just sent me a cellphone pic of his 'hood. Would love to be there. At the moment we're getting a nice drenching rain in Coronado, but there's nothing in this world like a blizzard.

[JM Hanes]

glasater:

Via HotAir, this is serendipitous timing. Mark Halperin provides proof of the liberal condescension pudding. His list of "What Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Movement Have in Common" is just too perfect not to post in full:

1. Both scare the heck out of a Republican Establishment that is afraid to be critical of either of them in public (but savages them in private.)
2. Both "stand for" hazy opposition to big government, with no specifics on how they would do things differently (or effectively.)
3. Both have far less support in the country at large than a gullible Old Media seems to understand or suggest.
4. Both believe in the wonders of the American free market (for the nation and themselves.)
5. Both are the subject of endless fascination by cable TV.
6. Both long for -- and talk incessantly about -- an America that no longer exists.
7. Both have the potential to ensure Barack Obama's re-election.
8. Both have energetic supporters whose passion dwarfs anything else in American politics today.
9. Both think they know how to use New Media to great effect (but don't really.)
10. Both benefit from the extraordinary promotional machine that is the Fox News Channel.
11. Both have a history of seeing their political agendas held back by the disorganization and chaos surrounding them.

[David]

Several bloggers have already indicated the cost of uninsured coverage in this case. Basically it is the same as a night out with dinner and theater. Now lets look at what would happen under Obama.

First you must go to the doctor. Not an easy thing to do. You wait for an appointment would likely be 6 weeks to 6 months depending on where you live. Then it will take a day of waiting in the office to be seen. The doctor finds something suspecious and orders the appropriate testing. This is submitted to a nurse with little experience and she deems that this woman is too young for the screening test ordered. That goes back to the doctor who must write out justification for the test. This goes to an appeal panel and may stand a chance of approval. If so, 6 months have passed. The test are preformed and substantiate the fact that a tumor is present. A needle bx is set for 4 to 6 months down the line. Again, approval is necessary. The test returns positive and the patient is moved to the front of the line for immediate surgery. This takes about 4 to 6 months to arrange rather than the usual 2 years. By that time, the patient is gone.

This is the nature of all government run programs. The empahsis is on delay and hoping that you die before expensive procedures are necessary. The reason I am famaliar with this is I have watched the systems in Canada and Britian and we have a similar system in Louisiana with the exact time periods I have indicated.

[PD]

3. Both have far less support in the country at large than a gullible Old Media seems to understand or suggest.

Of course, Halerpin is the canny exception who sees through it all.

Thanks for reading him so we don't have to.

[inmypajamas]

Why couldn't this woman go to a local Planned Parenthood, the left's darling for women's health care? They have a sliding scale fee schedule and will work with anyone. Besides, as has been mentioned above, mammograms are offered frequently through different programs at little or no cost to the patient. All public health clinics routinely receive information about upcoming programs that are available to their patients and Planned Parenthood is on those lists. In addition, every public clinic I have worked at has a list of referral MDs who will do "charity" care if a patient's situation warrants it. There are always resources available for serious illness.

This woman made a reasoned choice to forgo available care due to her age and lack of family history but, unfortunately, the odds were against her. Bottom line - perfectly adequate health care was available to her that she chose not to take advantage of and her situation is in no way due to lack of universal health care.

[Fatty Bolger]

This entire scenario being laid out by Obama & his followers makes no sense. If you are seriously ill, or think you might be, you don't put off a doctor's visit because of a $5000 deductible. Is there anybody in the country who would be unwilling to take on a $5000 debt to save their own life?

It's far more likely that she put it off because she was "too busy", and/or did not want to face the possibility of being sick.

[nadadhimmi]

Does anyone see the EXACT parallel to "Animal Farm" here? Where Napolean, the leader and dictator pig, Laments the loss of the worker horse Boxer. He 'will never forget his contribution'. Then sells him, still alive, to the glue factory, for profit. Oh yeah, Orwell hit the nail on the head!

[Darth Venomous]

Of course now they are claiming Republicans "refused" to be part of the process, when the truth is they were shut out from the beginning.

To which Republicans should be responding, "Damned straight. You think we want any part of this train wreck?"

[Ernie G]

I can see the subtitle now:

"Anyone in favor of giving up on Health Care, leave the room now."

[rsg]

We are witnessing the “crash and burn” of The Prophet Obama, as more and more Americans realize they fell for a marketing ploy (the 2008 campaign), as the news and entertainment media actively, openly supported and lead cheers for our “Messiah With A Thin Resume”. All we’re left with, is a quasi-academic, with the gift of gab, who suffers from diarrhea of the mouth – endless pontificating about every topic, big and small.

Unfortunately, Obama’s decline parallels the USA’s decline, as his uber tax and spend policies are retarding economic/job growth and endangering the fiscal soundness of the country. He has zero knowledge of economics. Not surprising as his only real experience is as a racial/social agitator.

He needs to be given his walking papers ASAP, unfortunately, it will be a long three year wait……

[Rob Crawford]

WTF is the "Big Insurance Monopoly"? Was she talking about Congressional refusal to allow insurance companies to compete across state lines? Or the state regulatory boards?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

To help you understand this better, Ted Kennedy, who had a terrifying malignant brain tumor, took the route of modern medicine's cures. And, I think only suffered longer. And, worse. Till the bell tolled.

Carol, twenty years ago I lost a very close friend — close enough we were discussing whether to have a "gentleman farm" with legacy livestock as I wanted, or a real working farm as she wanted, she was a farm girl — to the same malignancy, glioblastoma multiformae.

She had the best treatment available 20 years ago, and she did suffer, but she also lived long enough to see her sons into high school and reconcile with her ex-husband sufficiently to be sure they would be well taken care of.

Don't discount that there is honor in fighting a battle you know you can't win.

[ThomasD]

Finding a lump in your breast is 'getting hit by a bus.'

A month before our wedding my fiance asked me to look at a mole on her back. One glance told me we had just been hit by a bus. The results of the biopsy merely confirmed what we already knew (stage III melanoma.)

Yeah it's been an expensive decade, but she's alive and well, and it still costs a fortune. Why would the greatest gifts ever come for free?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Is there anybody in the country who would be unwilling to take on a $5000 debt to save their own life?

Well, yeah. Doesn't mean it's smart, but yeah.

I think the missing word here is "denial", which is very common for breast lumps, and funny moles, and low-level angina.

[Thomass]

She probably picked the high deductable plan to save a few bucks too... so, that was another problem. On the other hand, because some people make bad choices is no a reason to take away choices.

If you have a salary / steady pay check, a high deductible plan can be a great deal for you... also, non being in a government run healthcare system is also probably a better option than being in one.... nuff said.

PS
There are usually free clinics around… I’ve used them for little stuff even when I had insurance since the WAIT WAS LESS so be seen… if you have a good job they usually just ask for donation on the way out… in her case, having no cash on hand, it would be very small.

[MikeS]

Bam boozled!

This is another example of why I think Obama is an evil genius rather than just a nitwit.

He can lie twice as fast as he can be caught lying. So, he ends up in a 2 steps forward 1 step back situation.

[fed-up withit]

OK, maybe she should have gotten a check up earlier. Poor stupid woman for trying to have a business. 20 years ago, she would have had affordable insurance, and could have also had a business maybe been successful, and then she could have joined all you people laughing at how stupid Obama is for trying to help people who either have no insurance, or bad insurance, All I hear is how his plan is so f-cked up. but I haven't heard any alternatives from republicans or the caring "tea partiers", or is it TEA-baggers?

[breast cancer surgeon]

Ignatz is right.

This is so frustrating. She was young with a palpable lesion. This is a very bad prognosis and could have died regardless of very aggressive therapy.

For a president who was going to "restore science to its rightful place", this guy always misses the mark. Not sometimes, ALWAYS misses the mark.

[clarice]

Bcs, he always misses the mark on economics and international affairs, as well--must be a tribute to his fine education.

[Thomass]

Posted by: fed-up withit

A hole... the won plays politics with her death, we critique his [total bs] arguments... and we are the bad the bad guys...

The solution to an individual who made bad choices is not to remove choice for the majority. Especially with a hair brained 1930s style planned economic system ‘in order to increase efficiency’ and/or backdoor force equally sh*ty healthcare on everyone (another old 30s-40s socialist idea / ideological value).

Want alternatives? Allow individuals to buy insurance across state lines so it’s cheaper. Put caps on trial lawyer fees or give judges more power to negate unscientific judgments to make insurance cheaper… If she had been able to afford an HMO instead of a high deductible plan she'd have been able to have been seen for less. Now, what are the odds lefty jerks will allow either of these? Zero. #1 impedes lefties being able to social engineer (if your state has a bunch of stupid insurance mandates that make it too expensive, you can buy it from a more sane state where it is cheaper)… #2 the left is bought and paid for by the trial lawyers.

[Rob Crawford]

It's not your business model that sucks. It is YOU that sucks.

The media's constant search for a new "business model" is no different than the left's constant search for the "right way to frame our message". They're both confusing a lack of interest in their products with a lack of consumer understanding.

[JAL]

I haven't had a mammogram in years. I am not "insured" but have a share program I participate. Routine stuff is not covered. Even as a lower middle class person I could scrape the money together -- I'm just lazy, a procrastinator, and find other things to do. And have no relevant family history.

I pay for my doctors' appontments when I do go. Rarely. I don't go for stupid reasons.

There ARE programs out there with discounts available for mammagrams. Heck, I've got a no interest health care loan for extensive dental work which is available many places. There are ways.

But You Still Have To PAY. I honestly think people are thinking with Obamacare they were not going to have to pay anything up front to see a doctor and have treatment / surgery.

Put it on your credit card, for cryin' out loud. Some places even allow payments.

Obama told stories about his mother's ovarian cancer, too. She also did not get diagnosed right -- she was in Indonesia, and went to some doctor there. When she came back here to the States the next year, the dx was ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer does not do well with delays, and back then it had a bad prognosis anyway.

Dunham became ill -- months -- a year before while residing in a foreign country. She was "between jobs" (Ford Foundation? USAID -- who knows? Apparently COBRA didn't appeal to her?) She was "worried" about the bills according to Obama. Well, sure.

But Dunham's mother was a retired bank VP. And at the time her son was a Harvard trained Chicago lawyer who taught Constitutional Law at U of Chicago, was he not?

She was not denied care, and did get treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering.

And he used her as an example of our failed health care system.

[Cecil Turner]

Then sells him, still alive, to the glue factory, for profit.

A vile misrepresentation. As everyone knows, Boxer died in Willingdon hospital, despite superlative horse health care. I am dismayed by the partisan tone around here and scare tactics.

. . . how stupid Obama is for trying to help people who either have no insurance, or bad insurance . . .

How stupid is he for picking an example that wouldn't have been helped by his health plan, and that his own picks for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force claim shouldn't even be tested for another decade? Maybe that's why he declined to include her name?

[PD]

All I hear is how his plan is so f-cked up. but I haven't heard any alternatives from republicans or the caring "tea partiers", or is it TEA-baggers?

If you haven't heard the alternatives, you haven't been paying attention. But paying attention would mean you'd become informed, and then you and your ilk would have to drop your talking point. As it is, your talking point is essentially a sign you're waving around that says, "Look everyone! I'm deliberately uninformed and proud of it!!"

[narciso]

Dan Riehl, who I suspect has been hanging around Rick Moran too long, had a snarky
comment about how until she shows up on MTP, she won't be taken seriously. The bobbysoxers
club where Afghanistan/Iraq/Qumar is always
a quagmire, and Obamacare is always so brilliant, and per David Brooks, there is no crease on Obama's pants.

Mort Halperin's kid suffers from the same problem, believing she was 'catatonic' while
she nearly had Biden mounted on the front
bumper of her Ford Suburba,after the debate

[Ignatz]

--but I haven't heard any alternatives from republicans or the caring "tea partiers", or is it TEA-baggers?--

Having eyes, you see not. Having ears you hear not.

BTW, as a minor point, by the time this lump was palpable it may very well have made little difference had she gone for treatment immediately. Depending on its size, age and aggressiveness it may very well have been stage 3 on its way to 4 or already stage 4 when she first felt it. The lymph nodes are usually jammed full of cancer cells and spreading them all over before any symptoms appear. Breast self exams have a very limited utility.

--I think the missing word here is "denial", which is very common for breast lumps, and funny moles, and low-level angina.--

Truer words were never spoke Charlie.

[Karen]

My girlfriend lost her insurance and was able to negotiate a cash price for a mammogram and saved a lot of money. I hear about more and more doctors working with folks.
It angers me that she blames America for her own irresponsibility to her health and it makes me even more angry that our President would hold her up as a martyr -
Obama shirt my eye - what are these people thinking?

[glasater]

Porch--I've got that Question page bookmarked and plan to check in...

JMH--We've known for a time Halperin needs to get out more often:)

The problem for me with Zero using this poor woman as an example for healthcare reform is:
If she knew she had the lump and did nothing about it--who in liberal land was going to haul her to a doctor to take some action on her behalf?
I don't see any language in the D's health bills forcing anyone to take care of themselves...

[Danube of Thought]

"WTF is the 'Big Insurance Monopoly'?"

It would never occur to Obama or any of his dopes to ask that question.

[buck johnson]

These postes are really either stupid, dumb, or blind. Clealy insurance failed her. Has any of the posters been in a meeting when coverage for a person is discussed? I have, as a former healthe insurance worker, you would not be praising Health insurance if you were.

[Ursula Sunfire]

The thing that strikes me right off is the $5000 deductible. Is that so much to pay for services in the case of your illness, that being severe breast cancer? Have you bought a new car for $30,000? Just these past few weeks, we are near $4000 in charges for vet fees on a little dog. There is no deductible. We're just paying money on a veterinary credit card. So, either you pay a little for services, a little being $5000 in the case of severe breast cancer--you care about yourself that much--or you say, "Let it be." Why do people fight so much paying for services when it comes to their health? It's a strange dichotomy when compared to other things we spend on. I'd be happy if we could just deduct Obama.

[narciso]

Ah buck johnson, of all the trolls in all the gin joints, in all the world, you have to stroll in here. This one makes cleo look wise

[Cecil Turner]

Clealy insurance failed her.

Far more clearly, Obamacare wouldn't have helped.

[clarice]

There oughta be a law outlawing health care -or any other public policy discussion--by anecdote.
By my recollection this carp started with Congressmen realized they could ge more tv coverage if they had famous people testifying anf it has snowballed from there. Govt by emotional appeals--what a stupid notion!

[clarice]

Boldly we go

[Captain Hate]

I have, as a former healthe insurance worker, you would not be praising Health insurance if you were.

I can praise "Health insurance" for firing you for your inability to put together a coherent sentence without misspellings.