In yet another twist to chickens-for-checkups-gate, Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sue Lowden has now tripled down on her call for Americans to barter for health care, claiming that the idea has support from doctors, too.
Asked to clarify Lowden’s stand, her spokesperson, Chrystal Feldman, sends over this:
“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. Bartering with your doctor is not a new concept. There have been numerous reports as to how negotiating with your doctor is an option and doctors have gone on the record verifying this.
“Unfortunately, Harry Reid’s failed leadership forces us to take drastic measures. The fact remains that instead of producing a health care solution Americans support, Harry Reid spends his time focusing on attacking his biggest threat to another six years in Washington, Sue Lowden.”
HUH??!! Ummm... Last I checked, Harry Reid produced a health care solution that will start providing more affordable and more accessible health care, and a solution that doesn't require us clearing out our back yards to raise farm animals to pay for it!
Even Chuckie Muth isn't trying to defend Suzy Lowdown on this!
Still, the Lowden campaign has been molasses-slow in recognizing how bad this “macaca”-like moment really was when it first became public, and excruciating horrible at defusing it. Indeed, Ben Smith’s blog post this morning in Politico blares this headline: “Bring a Chicken!”
Add to the problem all the ridicule being heaped on the candidate by people commenting on the blog posts and columns which are commenting on the issue. Here’s just one example found this morning on [Politico reporter Ben] Smith’s post: “In April, we have take-your-kids-to-work-day. But in Republican senate candidate Sue Lowden world, it’s take-your-chicken-to-the-doctor-day.”
Ba-da-boom. [...]
Make no mistake; this incident probably won’t kill Lowden’s primary chances. She’s still way ahead in the polls and the election is just seven weeks away.
But Harry Reid ain’t Danny Tarkanian or Sharron Angle. And this out-of-control mess is a warning sign that Team Lowden’s quick-response messaging machine might not quite be ready for prime time. If they don’t get their act together soon, by the time Harry Reid really aims the vaporizer at her after the primary, should she hold on and win, there might not be anything there to vaporize.
Well, what can I say about that? Muth and other GOoPers wanted to anoint Suzy Lowdown as their candidate, so she is now their hot mess.
And now, we can all write to Ms. Suzy, thank her for her lovely idea of bartering, and ask her where we can find these doctors who will take our chickens for checkups. Maybe this was part of her favored health insurance plan at Santa Fe? After all, her company did break the law in forcing workers to sign away their health insurance benefits!
“When Sue Lowden headed the Santa Fe hotel-casino, management forced a group of workers to shift to part-time status and sign away their health care coverage, said a judge who ruled the company violated fair labor practices. He ordered the Santa Fe to pay two dozen employees almost $188,000 in back wages and benefits and to reinstate three workers who lost their jobs, records show … The complex legal battles between the union and Santa Fe management came after workers from Sept. 30 to Oct. 1, 1993, voted 300-241 for unionization in a labor board-supervised election, according to published reports. The Lowdens refused to recognize the results and dealt directly with workers in reducing hours and benefits instead of bargaining with union representatives … After the judge’s ruling, the Santa Fe was ordered to post a three-page notice to employees in the hotel-casino, admitting to the labor violations and promising not to repeat them.”
So I guess this is what it's all really about? Suzy Lowdown is simply out of touch with reality. She never had to worry about her own health care, and she certainly never bothered to even abide by the law in providing health care for her own workers. So should we be surprised that she still doesn't understand the health care problems all the rest of us in Nevada have been facing and why we needed real solutions instead of "Chickens for Checkups"?
"More affordable insurance" requires divorcing insurance from employment and sadly neither option is doing that.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who will be losing coverage in 2014 because it's just cheaper for his employer to pay the fine. I suppose the irony is that he's a hard-right tea party kind of guy and doesn't realize that his situation is a result of Democrats trying to not rock the boat too much and maintain some pieces of status quo.
But then again, at least he has a job...