Clinton Hospital Story May Actually Be True

ABC's Political Punch:

The New York Times had a real attention-grabbing story over the weekend indicating that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, had been irritating an Ohio hospital by telling a false story about a poor, pregnant woman denied health care.

"The hospital said, 'Well, you don't have insurance,'" Clinton said. "She said, 'No, I don't.' They said, 'Well, we can't see you until you give $100.' She said, 'Where am I going to get $100?' The next time she came back to the hospital, she came in an ambulance," Mrs. Clinton continued. "She was in distress. The doctors and the nurses worked on her and couldn't save the baby."

Read the whole story: ABC's Political Punch

Comments

[DRaymond]

It still indicates a disturbing attitude about the facts. If a president or aspirant makes something a centerpiece of their presentation ot the american people, whether it is a woman who died for lack of insurance or that a country is secretly trying to buy yellowcake uranium (remember that one?) the country deserves something more than 'well one guy mentioned it at a campaign rally'.

All you have to do is spend a few minutes on snopes.com to learn all of the things that lots of folks presume are true which are nothing but urban myths.

If a president, or an aspirant to the job, has to rely on the blogosphere to discover whether they are in fact telling the truth or repeating an urban myth there is a big problem. When this came up the Clinton campaign should have had the substantiation readily available or it never should have been in her stump speech in the first place.

[researcher]

we do not need universal health care my medicare is doing me just fine. why should I pay for some one elses medical care? I agree with glen beck let charity pick up the tab for those that cant pay.

besides if they get real sick go to a hosptial they have to take care of you. move to a socialist country if you want universal health or socialism.

this is america greatest nation on earth we have even figured out a way to make corp profits off the sick and needy. god i love america truly god's country.

my health care stocks and my oil stocks and my industrial military stocks are doing just fine thank you. god bless america.

after mc cain gets elected my stocks will even do better. god bless we americans truly god's children. bomb bomb iran bomb bomb iran love that song. what a great hero mc cain is. he is such a hero he would have bombed every north vietnamese man woman and child to win that war and the respect of his grandparents. bless him for that.

signed
evangel neo con repub

[BlueStateMan]

If I work at Universal Studios...­. would I get universal health care?

[presto]

If you don't have insurance and you get sick and you go to the hospital - THEY don't take care of you. WE do. Thanks buddy.

[Pharos]

why should I pay for some one elses medical care? Our answer to that question is unimportant, the important answer will be to the question "did you pay for someone else's medical care" when it's asked by St. Peter. I hope, for your sake, that you will have a good answer.

[OregonRusalka]

Yes, but your story about how Mrs. Clinton supposedly lied is the one that readers first see when they go on your website. Your correction gets second billing. Why is that? Why can't you remove the false story from your lineup?

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

Latest breaking details are that the woman did have health insurance at the time she died, but did not have health insurance earlier in the beginning of her pregnancy.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1325874~Fact_Check__Clinton_tale_is_right_in_essence__wrong_in_details.html

[truthyguy]

True - Not True. It's Hillary so it's all the same. The question is does it advance her campaign. If it does, then say and fact checking can wait.

[presto]

Truthy - give it up. You sound lame.

[V4Vigilance]

credibility - noun - the quality of being believable or trustworthy

One of Hillary's biggest problems at this point is that her credibility is shot. She can be telling the God's honest truth but because of all the lies and distortions that have come out of her mouth and her campaign, a lot people wonder if she's lying again.

Sad, but as the saying goes, "what goes around, comes around."

OBAMA 08

[marthavalley]

Obama advisor "IRAQ STABLIZATION PLAN......­......STAY IN WITH 60-80,000 TROOPS UNTIL 2010.

THAT'S NOT WHAT HE SAID AT THE DEBATES, IS IT? IN FACT, HE SAID HE'D BE THE ONLY PERSON WHO WOULD HAVE A DATE CERTAIN EXIT WITH TOTAL CLARITY.

[nellie]

Looks like everyone is failing to fact check this story—the Clinton campaign AND the press.

[billrott]

Even if the story is true, this incident still shows a lack of judgment. Hillary's campaign staff should have vetted the story thoroughly prior to running with it. Hillary herself should have refrained from repeating the story over and over again if it was not vetted. These types of actions were demonstrated by Cheney when he ran around saying Sadam had WMD and Sadam was in league with Osama. You can not go around just spouting off bull without first checking it out for validity. Did Hillary really think no one was going to ask her for the details?

So even if it is true, it shows poor judgment.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

True, and it reminds me that she didn't bother to read the NIE.

If you don't bother to research the facts, the decisions you make become questionable.

[billrott]

I did not think of that. Thank you. You are so very very right on this one.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

If you present at an ER it's illegal for a public hospital to refuse care, because you don't have health insurance. http://injury-law.freeadvice.com/malpractice_law/hospital_patients.htm If it's a life or death situation, a private hospital must also provide treatment.

It often doesn't matter if you have insurance or not, because the fact is that HMOs make their money from denying care. Having health insurance doesn't guarantee you life saving care:
http://spanohio.org/content/view/132/55/

[kcinci]

and the reporter didn't do the same thing HRC didn't do... didn't fully vet the story before putting it out there... the family has now refuted the story as well.

[sarainitaly]

Brian Holman tells hospital story to Clinton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wqpEt_CdBk

However, you can read the whole story here, about Trina.
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/04/07/the-real-trina-bachtel-story/

Regardless of whether this story is 100% true (which Hillary thought it was, since the sherrif sat on the couch with her and told it to her, and it is looking very much like it is 100% true), hundreds of people die every year because they do not have health insurance.

So, the media, instead of jumping at a chance to slam Clinton, could have done a story on the hundreds that DO die every year.

Like Manny Lanza who was denied a surgery because he didn't have health insurance. He died. Now they have Manny's law.
http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/issueoftheweek/20051205/200/1669

Or Delbert Davis, who incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical debts, declared bankruptcy and ultimately died because he wasn't able to get insurance or self-pay for a liver transplant.
http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/uninsured-patient-dies-after-transplant-is-denied/2006-11-13

A new report has been released showing that on average one person dies every day in Oregon due to a lack of health insurance.
http://www.blueoregon.com/2008/03/one-oregonian-w.html

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

And hundreds of thousands of people die when they DO have HEALTH INSURANCE.

[sarainitaly]

3rd part cont.

"I don't think my sister died because she had cancer," Vincent said. "She died because she didn't have insurance.­"
http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/03/many_skip_medical_care_study_s.html

Three Connecticut residents die every week because they don't have health insurance and cannot afford to see doctors for regular checkups, screenings and other preventive care, according to a new report released Thursday.
http://theday.com/re.aspx?re=5846e4d9-e5b6-417a-9fba-63d6544ec5bd

And those are just a sample I pulled in five minutes...

So...what is more important? Nitpicking the specifics of a story that was recounted to Clinton, or solving the health care crisis in America?

[sarainitaly]

second part cont.

Almost three people a day die in North Carolina for lack of health insurance, a medical-consumer nonprofit group reported Friday.
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080405/NRSTAFF/980074266

An estimated 210 working-age West Virginians die prematurely each year because they don't have health insurance, according to a report released Tuesday.
http://wvgazette.com/News/200803180653

These are scary numbers when you consider that 47 million Americans don't have health insurance. That's 47 million people who are taking a chance, whether by circumstance or because they have no choice, that they won't become seriously ill; 47 million who may have to rely on emergency rooms if they do; 47 million who don't have the luxury of calling their family doctor to ask about a pain in their chest, or a lump in their breast. They just have to grin and bear it, or hope that it's nothing.
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/blogs/paging.dr.gupta/2008/02/without-insurance-cancer-often-found.html

A number of studies have shown that the uninsured are given less attention than those who have insurance.
http://www.enotes.com/everyday-law-encyclopedia/treatment-without-insurance

Lack of insurance kills five Nevadans every week
http://dailysparkstribune.com/pages/full_story?hash=comments_55716&page_label=news&article-Lack-of-insurance-kills-five-Nevadans-every-week%20=&id=55716&widget=push&instance=news_special%20_coverage_right_column&open=&#comments_55716

[Doofus]

But, but, but... Ohio mandates 'free care for the poor'...

Free Health Care at Hospitals in Ohio

Patients who need medical care, but are unable to pay for it, may be eligible for free or reduced fee care at Ohio hospitals through HCAP or hospital financial assistance programs. For both programs, the patient must fill out an application and provide proof of income.

Hospital Care Assurance Program (HCAP)

Under an Ohio law, HCAP (Ohio Administrative Code 5101:3-2-0­7.17), hospitals are required to "provide, without charge to the individual, basic, medically necessary hospital-level services" for patients at or below the federal poverty level. To see the complete rule, look for 5101:3-2-0­7.17in the Ohio Administrative Code at http://onlinedocs.andersonpublishing/com/oac

To be eligible for HCAP:

1. You must be an Ohio resident, and
2. You are not a recipient of the Medicaid program, and
3. Your family income is at or below the 2003 Federal Poverty Guidelines OR you are covered by the Disability Assistance Program

Federal Poverty Guidelines are described on the next page.
To figure annual income, use the lower sum of:
· 3 months prior to date of service and multiply by 4 ; or
· 12 months prior to date of service

http://www.uhcanohio.org/reports/fact_hcap.html

[PJay]

Even if --BIG IF --- if it were true, the fact that she is using an awful tragedy for political purposes is shamefully disrespectful and insensitive to the family whom she did not consult any more than she consulted the hospital.

[Pharos]

She's using a tragedy to illustrate why we need to improve health care. Should she use an example where everything worked out for the best, that would make a lot of sense.

[Lisette]

I think this is just damage control
Nice tryHillary

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

The other thing I find revolting about Clinton telling this story, is that she's exploiting the death of two people, for her political and personal gain, without the permission of the family.

[PJay]

Oops, I said basically the same thing - didn't see your comment, which I obviously completely agree with.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

Great minds think alike. ;-)