Back to the good old days (1977) when the company insurance policy at my then employer covered hair transplants, but not maternity care.

Here's the chicken egg question: Do you have to be a Jackass to join the Republican party or does joining the Republican party make you a jackass?

what an ironic position for a douchebag to take.

It's a perfect distillation of the alpha and omega of Republican analysis of every issue: "What's in it for me?"

Looks like Claire McCaskill (D-MO) to me. The nameplate is seen at an angle. They were sitting next to each other.

The "your mom!" is a traditional Michigan come-back, or "snap" as the kids say.

HA! This made my day. What a self-served jackass!

Oh, this makes a lot of sense -- because you personally aren't a mother, you should not in any way support mothers, for whom apparently all you have to say is "not my problem". Yet you had to have at some time been born, and many/most will have children at some time. Just like we pay for social security to fund today's retirees, even though we workers are not retired. And just like we all pay for schools even if we don't have children.

It's called living in "civilization", you greedy selfish bastard.

GOP, the Party of Greed

Can we say heartless!!! So much for the GOP being a group og Christians! Jesus must be reeling!

Well having to pay for this jackass's health care makes my taxes go up. So lets get rid of his government healthcare because this douche is costing me money.

Just jaw dropping.

Your GOP: If they ain't one of us White Men, fuck 'em.

Hey, I don't need prostate checks. Therefore, insurance companies shouldn't be required to provide them to anyone.

I am an insurance agent and I HATE individual insurance. I haven't seen an individual plan yet that covers maternity (without a rider adding hundreds of dollars to the premium). Maternity isn't covered yet women pay much higher premiums than men. Here's an example: 18 year old female, $1,000 deductible: $195/month; 18 yr old male, same plan: $121/month.

Let me add that this is a good plan with a good company and it includes doctor visits, lab tests, and Rx for a co-pay. Most individual plans say they'll save you money if you take a high deductible ($5,000) and have your doctor visits come under the deductible, meaning you pay the full cost. This is why I HATE individual insurance.

My question about health insurance reform is: How will we get lower premiums if plans actually offer what I call "real coverage"?

Might be a missed strategic opportunity for the Democrats. I think they should bring this back up to the full Senate.

Nine voted to deny basic maternity care? Holy Jeebus, are we in the 1950's? Let's bring Kyl's amendment on the floor of the Senate. Make every stinking Republican vote on it - and make them own their vote.

Senator (fill in the blank) voted to allow insurers to deny prenatal care to pregnant women and their unborn children.

There's been no dearth of Republican stupidity recently, but this is a monumental example.

Shorter Kyl: "Every man for himself."

I thought the GOP was the Party all about "Life" issues. No maternity, no prenatal care? Those are certainly family values. Since half the population doesn't have a prostate, why don't we just eliminate any care for prostate cancer on policies?

Why isn't Sen. Kyl wearing his sport coat? Such disrespect for office is appalling. His mom may have had health care, but she sure didn't raise this boy right.

Owned! Your Mom jokes in Congress are win...

I bet he supports policies that cover Viagra and Cialis though.

...Too bad birth control wasn't available 60 years ago Senator Kyl...

But I thought he was one of those guys on the right who's obsessed with the "unborn". How do you get "unborn" without their mothers being in the equation? Or is it, as I have always suspected not about the dirty stinky filthy whore women involved but just the unborn. The so called right to life people hate themselves some women don't they.

These guys are just in a death spiral. This clip is going to play v big--WHO wants to be on THAT guy's side?

Kyl, do you even hear the stupid words you say?

They didn't have the fancy maternity care tests back when I was born 55 years ago. I was born breach and got lumbar palsy after they had to yank me out of my mother! It was me with the cord around my neck, my mother or both of us that could have died.

And your the party of "Life"?

You're telling expectant mothers to go back to the old days, without the tests and knowledge upfront, that the baby is in a breach position.

Eighteen Operations Later - and Six Years in a Hospital - is where your stupid mentality put me today Senator!!!

He was then heard saying "My mother needed it 60 years ago before I killed her since I didnt want to pay for her nursing home care that she couldnt afford, and if you cant afford something, sucks to be you!"

Why do Republicans hate mothers?

There is some cold political realism at work here. Kyl's thinking must be (to paraphrase, IIRC, Nixon about Jews), "to hell with the women, they don't vote for us anyway."

Being over 60, Kyl likely gets a prostate exam and a PSA check every year, thanks to that wonderful medical plan that he enjoys compliments of the U.S. taxpayers. Is he now planning to re-imburse the taxpayers for the costs of these procedures, because God knows that no woman needs these exams?

Kyl's amendment was defeated 9-14: I guess it wasn't a party line vote. I wonder what the breakdown was: what passes for moderate Republicanism nowadays?

Should single men have to toss money into the pool for delivering other people's kids? Should single women have to pay for the prostate surgery of others? Should guys pay for other women's mammograms?

Well, yeah. But of all these cases methinks a single guy would have the most interest in seeing that kids receive top quality prenatal care, since they will provide the working foundation during the guy's eventual retirement.

Jon Kyl's mama so fat, the government said she was too big to fail.

So wait a second -- is he assuming that men don't care if babies are born healthy? I'd have guessed that at plenty of men would want their wives, girlfriends, etc. to get pre-natal care because the men actually, oh, I dunno, CARE about their wives/girlfriends, and maybe -- just maybe -- those men actually want their newborn sons/daughters to be healthy.

Weird concept for a Repub, I guess -- the idea that a man could care about the well-being of his own wife or impending baby.

Damn, I'm glad my husband's a Dem.

The more I read the discussions here, the more I realize that Americans done understand the mental advantage of a single payer system. I have never in all these years had to think of any one of these concerns you all have. Let me encourage you to insist on health care reform. It will allow all of you to sleep at night regardless of your health. Its the christian thing to do. Note: not 'christian' as in republican, but 'christian' as defined in the bible they so often pretend to embrace. As usual, JUST PASS THE BILL, and let the chips fall where they may. Jah walks

"Your mom probably did" will be the next line hollered at the president during the next address to the joint house.
There's just no originality in some folks.

I said this elsewhere, but it went in late and no one probably saw it:

...it comes down to this...

IF THE QUESTION IS: What can insurance companies to to maintain their profits? Using actuarial tables for premiums, excluding the sick, denying any benefits they can get away with, not covering maternity care or contraception, and dropping people based on technicalities -- well that's the way to go.

...however,

IF THE QUESTION IS: What is the best, and most cost-effective way of delivering health care to our diverse population in order to maintain a high standard of Public Health, and the common good? The answer is Single Payer, or if that simply won't fly, then the Public Option. The risk is shared across the board, making it less expensive for everyone, but assuring that no one will lose their home or savings because of an illness. It will also make health care delivery during a pandemic or other health emergency more systematic and effective.

So, I guess it comes down to this: WHICH QUESTION DO YOU WANT THE ANSWER TO?

And to the question above about how will premiums be affordable if everyone gets good coverage? The answer is that the young and the healthy will pay the same as the sick and old; they will be in the risk pool, and will not draw on their benefits for a time (UNLESS they get sick or injured). Once there is a shared risk across the population the cost will be affordable, and when you NEED it, it will be there.

To those who get absolutely irate about this, I wonder why they don't drop their home-owner's insurance? We pay tens of thousands of dollars over years, and how many claims are made? Relatively few. Same for car insurance.

The problem is that this is not a problem for which INSURANCE is the answer; HEALTH CARE is the answer, so let's reframe the question to get that result!

I have an idea. Let's call him Jon "Female Death Panels" Kyl from now on.

Here is a piece that slams Ky from a different angle on this issue. It's a good read.

http://progressnotcongress.org/?p=2995

Sen. Kyl, perhaps you don't need any female votes either.

The more I see and hear from Kyl, the more he convinces me that he's one gigantic jerk. Brava to Stabenow for making her point with this jackass. Note that Kyl couldn't just laugh it off or let it go, or accept it like a man -- he had to make one more comment about "60 years ago."

Super jackass.

The wingnut filth usually shriek that everything must be sacrificed for families and children. Apparently, being good Christians, all wingnut families have give birth in mangers to godlike children, thus not requiring any maternity care.