Ben Chandler

Flashback: Blue Dog Ben Chandler Spoke Of 'Chickens For Checkups' Last November!

Eric Kleefeld | July 27, 2010, 3:51PM

Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY)

It turns out that former Nevada Senate Republican candidate Sue Lowden, who lost her primary June 8 after a phenomenal self-destruction known as "Chickens For Checkups," was not the first politician to voice a nostalgic approval for the days when people would pay a doctor by bartering live poultry. As it turns out, that "honor" goes to Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY), a Blue Dog who voted against health care reform, in some newly-revealed video from November 2009.

As Greg Sargent reports, the video shows a woman who opposed the bill, speaking positively about how her family would pay for their own health care when she was younger. "They didn't have any kind of health insurance, they went to the doctor, and we paid for the call," the woman told Chandler.

Chandler then responded positively: "When you didn't have money, you gave him a chicken. You could barter if you didn't have enough money."

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NV-SEN

Nevada Outlaws Chicken Suits At Polling Places

Rachel Slajda | May 24, 2010, 9:09AM

A Nevada State Democrat in a chicken suit.

Nevada elections officials have banned wearing chicken suits at polling places, saying such a costume would violate the ban against wearing explicit political messages.

It's a direct response to weeks of ridicule against Sue Lowden, a Republican challenger to Sen. Harry Reid. The state Democratic Party has been sending people in chicken suits to Lowden campaign events ever since she suggested patients barter for health care.

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NV-SEN

ChickenCare Hurting Lowden? New Dem Poll Has Her Trailing Reid

Eric Kleefeld | May 12, 2010, 2:21PM

Fmr. Nevada GOP Chair Sue Lowden and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

A new poll from a Democratic firm suggests that Senate candidate Sue Lowden's (R-NV) idea that people could use the barter system to reduce their health care costs may have damaged her chances in a general election against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D). At the very least, it appears that Lowden is a weaker GOP candidate than one of her rivals in the primary, former UNLV basketball player Danny Tarkanian.

The numbers, obtained by Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston: Reid 42%, Lowden 35%, right-wing Independent American Party candidate Tim Fasano with 5%, and Tea Party candidate Scott Ashjian 3%. With Tarkanian as the Republican nominee, he and Reid are tied at 37%-37%, with Fasano at 7% and Ashjian with 2%. The survey of likely voters has a ±4.5% margin of error.

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NV-SEN

Lowden Ad: 'They Want To Make This About Chickens' (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | May 7, 2010, 5:44PM

Nevada Senate Candidate Sue Lowden and a chicken

Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R-NV) has a new ad responding to the attacks over her promotion of the barter system -- and the use of chickens therein -- to lower healthcare costs, claiming that it's all a dirty trick that took her statements out of context.

"They want to make this about chickens and checks, a check I wrote decades ago, and a statement they've taken out of context," Lowden says, referring both to Dem attacks over the "Chickens For Checkups" fiasco, and to attacks from her GOP opponents over a contribution she made to Harry Reid many years ago. "That's what's wrong with Washington -- lies and dirty tricks."

But was the chickens statement taken out of context? Let's look at what Lowden said about three weeks ago: "Let's change the system and talk about what the possibilities are. I'm telling you that this works. You know, before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor. They would say I'll paint your house."

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NV-SEN

Dems Send Protester In Chicken-Suit To Lowden Fundraiser In Washington

Eric Kleefeld | May 4, 2010, 5:55PM

DSCC volunteers outside Sue Lowden fundraiser in Washington

The Democrats really aren't going to let Sue Lowden forget the "Chickens For Checkups" stuff.

Earlier today, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sent some volunteers to demonstrate outside a Lowden fundraiser in Washington, D.C. One volunteer was dressed up in a chicken-suit, in recognition of Lowden's promotion of the barter system as a means of lowering health care costs, and her discussion of how her grandparents' generation would bring a chicken to the doctor for payment. Another was dressed up as a doctor, with a sign saying "Don't Take Lobbyist $$ Barter."

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Sue Lowden

Liberal Group Releases 'Chickens For Checkups' Ad Mocking Lowden (VIDEO)

Jillian Rayfield | April 30, 2010, 3:14PM

Adding to the chorus of people mocking Republican Sue Lowden over her "barter with your doctor" comment, a liberal third party group has released a new TV ad called "Chickens For Checkups."

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NV-SEN

Poll: 'Chicken For Checkups' Could Hurt Lowden -- But Hasn't Yet

Eric Kleefeld | April 29, 2010, 4:52PM

Chickens; Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden (inset)

The new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll of the Nevada Senate race includes a question on Republican candidate Sue Lowden's comments praising the use of the barter system in order to lower health care costs. The poll shows that the "Chickens For Checkups" story has the potential to badly damage Lowden -- but for now, at least, she is still leading Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid by a narrow margin, and she is also ahead in her GOP primary.

The question reads: "As you may know, Sue Lowden has proposed reducing medical costs by having patients barter with their doctor instead of using health insurance. Under Lowden's barter proposal, patients would negotiate directly with doctors, offering services or goods such as painting the doctor's home or giving the doctor a chicken, in exchange for medical treatment. QUESTION: Do you think Lowden's proposal is a realistic way to bring medical costs down for most families?"

The result: Yes 14%, no 81%. Among Republicans only, the result is 27%-68%. It should be noted that this seemingly absurd question is in fact a fairly accurate and straightforward summary of Lowden's comments from last week.

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NV-SEN

Lowden Campaign: Bartering With Chickens 'Was Never A Policy Proposal'

Eric Kleefeld | April 27, 2010, 5:39PM

Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R)

Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R-NV) is now clarifying her comments on the use of barter for health care, claiming that she was never pitching this as a real policy idea. She instead claims that she was simply describing what people in rural areas actually do -- thought this doesn't quite match up with her earlier positive statements about the practice.

Lowden appeared with local radio host Alan Stock, and said that the Democratic attacks against her for what they have called "Chickens For Check-Ups" shows that it's Harry Reid who is out of touch. "I want to say that I know that bartering takes place here in Nevada," said Lowden. "It takes place throughout the country and that Harry Reid has been attacking me for saying something like that and the truth is it is happening and that's how out of touch he is."

Lowden also seemed to be using the terms "barter" and "bargain" interchangeably: "you know when I talk about bartering like you said it's also bargaining for the price, asking doctors if there's a different price if you're paying cash or paying by check. We know this is going on."

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NV-SEN

More Chickens-For-Checkups Fallout: Lowden Quips 'I've Become An Expert In Health Care'

Eric Kleefeld | April 26, 2010, 11:39AM

Nevada Senate Candidate Sue Lowden and a chicken

It's been nearly three whole weeks since Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden advocated using the barter system to lower health care costs and talked about how folks in her grandparents' generation would pay a doctor with a chicken. But chicken references remained part of the Nevada Senate race this past weekend, with Lowden joking about it and the Dems continuing to pounce.

The subject did not come up at this past Friday's Republican primary debate, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. But Lowden did make a sly reference to it, in a question over whether the candidates would repeal the newly-enacted health care legislation.

"I've become an expert in health care in case you didn't know," Lowden quipped.

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NV-SEN

Nevada Dems Hold Protest At Lowden's Campaign Office Over Chickens For Health Care Policy

Eric Kleefeld | April 23, 2010, 6:34PM

Nevada Senate Candidate Sue Lowden and a chicken

Nevada Democrats today held a protest outside Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden's campaign office in Reno, over her suggestion that people can lower their health care costs by using the barter system with their doctor.

Lowden first suggested barter as a good way to lower health care costs two weeks ago. She spelled it out further this past Monday. "Let's change the system and talk about what the possibilities are. I'm telling you that this works," Lowden said. "You know, before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor. They would say I'll paint your house."

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NV-SEN

Sue Lowden Isn't Alone: NV Papers Find Two Doctors Who Barter With Patients

Eric Kleefeld | April 23, 2010, 5:34PM

Doctors. Inset: A chicken, NV Sen. Candidate Sue Lowden (R)

Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R-NV) has been catching flak for for promoting the idea that people could barter for health care, as an alternative to health insurance. Now the local Nevada media has taken up the story, finding two local doctors who do indeed negotiate low prices or even barter transactions.

Lowden first suggested bartering would be a good way to lower health care costs two weeks ago. She has not backed down, and even spelled it out further this past Monday. "Let's change the system and talk about what the possibilities are. I'm telling you that this works," Lowden said. "You know, before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor. They would say I'll paint your house."

And as it turns out, some doctors actually do engage in this practice.

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NV-SEN

The Barter Bandwagon: News Coverage Of Trading And Haggling For Health Care

Eric Kleefeld | April 23, 2010, 2:07PM

Chickens; Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden (inset)

Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R-NV) has been getting roasted (or perhaps even rotisseried) for her suggestion that bartering could lower health care costs and her reference to how her grandparents' generation would pay doctors with a chicken. But, a close look at other media reports shows that Lowden is only one of many people to join the bandwagon over the last several years, with news organizations from the New York Times to the Fox Business Channel getting in on the action. Though of course, the use of barter does involve economic tradeoffs.

Here are some other examples of past news coverage about barter, pre-Lowden and her chickens:

• The Fox Business Network Happy Hour co-host Rebecca Diamond said in August 2009: "Hit or miss on whether bartering should be the way of the future for American health care. I say hit. I just don't know what I would give in exchange for a doctor's visit -- oh god I should not have said that." (via Nexis)

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NV-SEN

Fowl Math For A Chicken-Based Health Care Economy

Eric Kleefeld | April 22, 2010, 6:58PM

Chickens. Inset: NV Sen. Candidate Sue Lowden and a doctor

So with all the discussion surrounding Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden's idea to use bartering as a way to pay for health care, we thought we'd take a look at whether the idea would actually work. Since Lowden, a Republican, touted the fact that her grandparents' generation would bring a chicken to the doctor for payment, we decided to look at whether the math would work for a chicken-based health care economy. The answer? Absolutely Not. There aren't enough chickens in the world -- let alone the United States -- to cover the costs of health care in this country alone.

The numbers on chicken economics, right after the jump.

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Barter

Tennessee GOP State Rep.: Some People Pay For Health Care With Vegetables

Eric Kleefeld | April 22, 2010, 2:58PM

Assorted vegetables, state Rep. Mike Bell (R-TN), and a chicken

It turns out that Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R-NV) is not the only politician out there who has promoted the idea of the barter system as part of health care. Yet another pro-barter Republican, state Rep. Mike Bell (R-TN), has been talking up the practices of Mennonites who pay doctors with vegetables.

Bell's made his comments last week, during discussion of a proposed state law that would attempt to nullify the federal health care insurance mandate in the state of Tennessee. Here is a transcript of a dialogue in committee between Bell and Democratic state Rep. Joe Towns, courtesy of the Nashville Scene, as Bell explained that many people get along without insurance:

Bell: They're some of the healthiest people you have ever seen. They pay cash when they go to the doctor. They work out arrangements with the hospitals if their children have to be hospitalized. This is an individual choice that we're talking about.

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NV-SEN

Nevada GOP: The Left Can't Argue With Sue Lowden's Point About Barter

Eric Kleefeld | April 22, 2010, 2:15PM

Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R)

The Nevada Republican Party is standing by Senate candidate Sue Lowden's suggestion that people use barter in order to lower health care costs. Instead of focusing on Lowden's specific example of a chicken, which Democrats have pounced on, the GOP suggests looking at Lowden's overall message of moving away from insurance and then negotiating with cash.

Although the party is officially neutral in the primary between Lowden, former UNLV basketball player Danny Tarkanian and former state Rep. Sharron Angle, Nevada GOP communications director Ciara Turns nevertheless offered a vigorous defense of Lowden's statements, and condemned the Democrats for the way that Lowden is being attacked.

"Well it's pretty clear that they're attacking the way she conveyed her message because they can't attack her message," said Turns. "Her message is pretty clear. She was clearly trying to make the point that if we moved away from an insurance-based system and more people started paying cash for their health care, then prices would come down. But they don't want to address that. The left doesn't, Harry Reid's campaign doesn't want to address that, because it's a legitimate point that they can't argue. And so they've decided to go after the way she delivered her message instead of the substance of it."

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NV-SEN

NRSC: Dems 'Try To Inject Farm Animals' Into NV-SEN With Attacks On Lowden's Chicken Comments

Eric Kleefeld | April 22, 2010, 11:38AM

Nevada Senate Candidate Sue Lowden and a chicken

National Republicans are standing by Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden, against Democratic attacks in the wake of her positive comments about the use of the barter system in order to lower the costs of health care.

We asked the National Republican Senatorial Committee what they think of the Democratic attacks against Lowden over her discussion of the use of barter for health care, and how her comments end up affecting the race.

NRSC communications director Brian Walsh told us in an e-mail: "When you consider Harry Reid's history of lamenting that the war in Iraq was lost, pontificating on the President's skin color or praising the fact that 36,000 more jobs were lost in February, I can't imagine he seriously wants to engage in a debate over one-liners by the candidates in this race. Watching the Senate Majority Leader get down in the mud and desperately try to inject farm animals into his flailing re-election bid is frankly a bit pathetic."

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NV-SEN

Dems Fricassee Lowden For Chicken-Bartering Health Care Plan

Eric Kleefeld | April 21, 2010, 6:56PM

Nevada Senate Candidate Sue Lowden and a chicken

The feathers are flying in the political attacks over Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden's declarations that people could control health care costs through the use of barter.

On Monday, Lowden doubled down on the barter idea. "Let's change the system and talk about what the possibilities are. I'm telling you that this works," Lowden said. "You know, before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor. They would say I'll paint your house."

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee rolled out its new satirical website, "Chickens For Checkups," in which readers can send a form letter to Lowden asking how they can find a doctor who would treat various olden-days ailments such as rickets, "ill humours," "the vapors" and others, in exchange for various types of livestock or even "indentured servitude." (Hat tip to Greg Sargent.)

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NV-SEN

Lowden Campaign: 'Bartering With Your Doctor Is Not A New Concept'

Eric Kleefeld | April 21, 2010, 2:10PM

Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R)

The campaign of Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R-NV) is continuing to stand by Lowden's call for the use of the barter system as a means to bring down health care costs.

On Monday, Lowden doubled down on the barter idea: "You know, before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor. They would say I'll paint your house."

We asked Lowden spokesperson Crystal Feldman how this could ever be a workable policy, in an era of costly procedures, tests, pharmaceuticals and provider networks? "Americans are struggling to pay for their health care, and in order to afford coverage we must explore all options available to drive costs down," Feldman told TPMDC in an e-mail.

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NV-SEN

Lowden Doubles Down On Health-Care-By-Barter: 'Bring A Chicken To The Doctor' (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | April 20, 2010, 5:49PM

Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R)

Sue Lowden, the front-running Republican challenger to Sen. Harry Reid, yesterday doubled down on her idea that health care could be paid for using the barter system.

Last week, when Lowden suggested "that bartering is really good," it seemed that she may have been talking about haggling prices and just had her vocab mixed up. It happens to everyone.

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NV-SEN

NV-SEN Candidate Sue Lowden (R): 'Barter With Your Doctor' (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | April 12, 2010, 12:39PM

Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R)

Sue Lowden, a former Nevada GOP chair currently seeking the Republican nomination in the June 8 primary to run against Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, has detailed some of her alternative recommendations for health care policy: Encourage people to save as much money as they can in tax-free health savings accounts -- the number she mentioned was $20,000 -- and to barter with their doctors.

At a candidate forum this past Tuesday in Mesquite, Nevada, Lowden was asked what she would have done instead of the Democrats' health care bill. Lowden's message was generally deregulatory in nature, pointing to the ideas of interstate insurance policies and the legalization of stripped-down "mandate-free" policies. "I would have also allowed for us to have savings plans increase instead of being decreased like in this bill," said Lowden. "I would have said to all of you, if you have a health savings account, I don't really care how much you save, good for you. pre-tax, go ahead and save as much as you want. It's your -- it's for your health. And if you want to save $20,000, good for you. Save it pre-tax."

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