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Blue Dog Jim Marshall Again Compares Current Health Care System, Including Medicare And Medicaid, To Soviet Union
Eric Kleefeld | October 19, 2009, 3:06PM
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Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA)
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Blue Dog Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA) appeared on Fox this afternoon, and compared the current health care system -- including Medicare and Medicaid -- to the Soviet Union.
"We've got this sort of central payment system, which is a fundamental problem. It's health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, making the payments, and we've got consumers and doctors pretty divorced from the costs associated with the decisions that are being made," said Marshall. "As a result, we've had an explosion in cost. I think we've got to see a fundamental change in the system that we've got right now for payment. If we don't do that, we'll continue to have opportunities to fix waste, fraud and abuse, because systems that are centrally planned and controlled -- like the Soviet system -- are just full of those kinds of issues."
Marshall has previously made this comparison, saying back in September: "Beginning in World War II, American health care gradually migrated to an inefficient, Soviet-style system of central control and planning provided by health insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid."
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chimpale
October 19, 2009 3:27 PM
Is he senile or just utterly clueless? What a jerk.
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Dorn76
October 19, 2009 3:33 PM
How does having a (D) next to this guy's name help the Democratic Party achieve anything?
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CT Voter
October 19, 2009 3:43 PM in reply to Dorn76
Exactly. How is this good? Would the Dems in the House spend less energy if Jim Cooper were replaced by a true-red Republican? Probably.
Primary him, with a progressive candidate, and if Cooper winds up losing the general election, is that necessarily a bad thing? Which takes more energy and capital? Working with Jim Cooper, or ignoring a wingnut?
O/T: are you as please as I am that that weather crap has finally moved out of CT? Yech.
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ericf
October 19, 2009 3:45 PM in reply to CT Voter
There was an attempt to beat him an the primary last time. His opponent even got a fair bit of netroots support, but it wasn't close. Though who knows, maybe with experience a second campaign will be more successful.
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elle a
October 19, 2009 7:57 PM in reply to CT Voter
this dude needs to be primaried by a real democrat..with friends like these indeed!
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ericf
October 19, 2009 3:43 PM
I hope some enterprising reporter gets to ask him to explain how the Soviet medical system worked, and gets to follow-up the inevitable dodge since he probably knows squat.
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par4
October 19, 2009 3:48 PM
Did Rahm help get this clown elected?
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johnmccsf
October 19, 2009 3:53 PM in reply to par4
4th term Democrat
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CT Voter
October 19, 2009 4:39 PM in reply to johnmccsf
Gotta be longer than fourth term--he was part of the 93 debacle--
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JohnAH
October 19, 2009 3:49 PM
It blows my mind that conservatives (including blue dogs) seem to think that if only the American people weren't so wasteful with our medical care and we would only shop around for cheaper tests or procedures; we would quite wasting all that money and drive prices back down.
Hello, it's medicine the one market were it it a guaranteed money maker because people will do everything they can to preserve their life and the lives of those they love when the time comes.
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
October 19, 2009 4:00 PM in reply to JohnAH
Jusus, what an ignoramus. Even ignoring the fundemental stupidity of the notion that the real problem is that doctors are divorced from the costs of the tests and procedures they order, iIn what conceivable way is private insurance different from Medicare and Medicaid in this respect?
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midnight rambler
October 19, 2009 8:18 PM in reply to JohnAH
He's actually right in some sense; the problem is that people who have insurance have no idea what the cost of anything is, or indeed if some small thing at a doctor's office is even charged for at all, and don't know enough to question a doctor's judgement on the most effective treatment. So doctors have an incentive to charge as much as possible and use the most expensive treatment, even if it's not the best one. The insurance companies don't really care much because they can keep increasing premiums; if they need to cut costs they do it on big-ticket things like transplants that are easier to single out and affect fewer people (but in much more severe ways).
On top of that every price is negotiated, so there is no particular cost for a procedure. In addition, that means that if you don't have insurance you're doubly screwed - not only are you not covered, but you have to pay twice as much as what the insurance company paid for the same procedure.
Having said that, it doesn't make the "Soviet-style" comment any less blazingly stupid.
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johnmccsf
October 19, 2009 3:52 PM
Well I guess Nancy won't get his vote?????
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mans_best_friend
October 19, 2009 3:56 PM
It's tempting to say that only on Fox would this kind of crap go unchallenged. Alas, that's not true.
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GayIthacan
October 19, 2009 3:57 PM
If historical ignorance were corn flakes, this guy could give Kellogg's a run for their money!!
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Mateo123
October 19, 2009 4:40 PM
Let's not kid ourselves: there is some truth to what the guy is saying. When I take my two-year old to the doctor, I have no idea how much anything costs until after I get the bill.
So, suppose my two year old has a little wart on his hand. Suppose it's $50 to apply some generic cream or $750 to use a new machine designed to eliminate the wart over three treatments. The doctor wants to sell me the $750 if my insurance carrier will reimburse because the $750 is more revenue for his practice. It's not rocket science.
How to correct that is another issue.
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amabo666
October 19, 2009 5:23 PM in reply to Mateo123
Some time ago there was some reporting on clinics that were springing up that provide basic healthcare and tests which actually posted prices in their lobby.
Why isn't that reported on lately? Because that is Capitalism at work and doesn't fit into the guvmint adgenda?
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chimpale
October 19, 2009 9:20 PM in reply to amabo666
Insurance companies finding ways to keep from paying claims to their policyholders, and dumping their policyholders and refusing to sell policies to people who are likely to file claims, are also examples of capitalism at work. The result: people dying. What fucking "guvmint adgenda"? Saving lives?
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chimpale
October 19, 2009 9:15 PM in reply to Mateo123
Okay, now suppose you take a 12 inch spike and stick in one ear and suppose you take a 5 pound sledge hammer and slam that spike all the way through your head so that the point is coming out of your other ear. That's a stupid thing to do. Why would you do something like that?
As rhetorical devices go, yours was a piece of crap. AND, you forgot to show any possible way that it ties into Marshall's claim that Medicare and Medicaid are like the Soviet system.
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rbeats
October 19, 2009 5:03 PM
What is wrong with adults?
At a certain point in your life, unless you have learning disabilities, it is incumbent upon yourself to educate your self.
It is not incumbent of society to accept your inability to be educated at a certain age.
So either this guy is mentally challenged, or a lazy asshole.
Mocking these people is the only remedy. They must be mocked to no end for their lack of education.
Period!
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Powkat
October 19, 2009 6:10 PM
Is there something in the water in the old South? Or did losing the Civil War warp their brains for 10 generations? Do we have to put up with this idiocy for another 30 years?
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CityGuy
October 19, 2009 6:11 PM
Marshall is the equivilent of Lieberman. Only southern. And this guy has a D in front of his name.
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Leftflank
October 19, 2009 7:25 PM
What's with the Soviet Union references? It's only meant to scare people, just like socialism or muslim. I've got a scary reference for him "TRAITOR".
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Bass Ace
October 19, 2009 11:40 PM
D-GA
Neo-Dixiecrat
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