GOP Rep: Health Care Is A "Privilege"

President Obama held a health-care summit today at the White House where he made clear that reform was an administration priority. "If we want to create jobs and rebuild our economy and get our federal budget under control, then we have to address the crushing cost of health care this year, in this administration," he said. But he'll face some serious Republican opposition, as this clip from MSNBC makes clear.

Tennessee Republican was on the network this morning, railing against any health-care reform effort as move toward "socialism" and "class warfare."

"Health care is a privilege," Wamp went on to say. "It's not necessarily a right." He clarified that he had in mind people who choose not to pay for health care.

Watch:

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Comments

[chedet]

04:22 PM on 03/06/2009

When they need to be elected, healthcare is a right but now that they are elected it's a privilege now? Is this guy kidding? His medicare is being paid for using taxpayers money. Now he is ditching the very people who got him elected and paid for his medicare? Don't these people have brains?

[Veritas-equitas]

05:26 PM on 03/06/2009

Brains? Is is a privilege or a right to have brains? Is it all about money? Did you hear his attempt to frighten the ig norant by emphasizing certain words and certain groups of people? Does this nit wit think everyone is so naive. What is it with these re public ans? Are they the real Terrorists?

[Veritas-equitas]

05:28 PM on 03/06/2009

Thumping that "socialist" word again... At least Joe the Plumber took a minute to look it up in the dictionary ( or so he said)...

[Palemoon]

03:43 PM on 03/06/2009

Seems I upset some people with my comment about making everyone pay their way. I was being part sarcastic and part serious. Here's why I said it.

I'm tired of people blaming ME for problems. That if the economy takes a downturn and I can't pay my mortgage payment, that somehow I'm a deadbeat. Or that if I accept to go on food stamps, that I'm becoming a drain on society, that other people are paying my way. That if my employer doesn't pay for me to have medical coverage, then other people are having to take up the slack, again, because they'll claim I'm a deadbeat.

But yet, when I put the shoe on the other foot, and demand that everyone pay their own way to see how it feels, oh boy, we can't have that. We gotta have a fire or police department that are publicly funded through socialist programs. And people get mad when I put it like that, but that's exactly what it is. Everyone is being taxed so that someone can benefit in some fashion.

Look at Congress. In 1983 they were making $69,800. By 2000 they were making $141,300. January 2005 they start recieving $162,100. Speaker of the House got $208,100. I don't have the current 2009 rate of pay handy, but you can imagine it's gone up in the past 4 years. ;o)

[Chaimirija]

01:05 AM on 03/13/2009

Point taken. We need to look at all systems and use what works in each. Need t oboot the special interest groups oower in Washington, also...'member folks, it the people 'gainst them...if we stick together, who know what we an accomplish

[zorbarg]

02:45 PM on 03/06/2009

No! Taking advantage of someone's health misfortunes to make disgusting amounts of money is the problem. Health insurance companies are killing us!

[eudemonist]

01:22 PM on 03/06/2009

Is health care a "human right" or an "American right"? When did it become so? Is having enough food to eat a "right"? How about having a car? A refrigerator?

[Veritas-equitas]

02:33 PM on 03/06/2009

No, taking advantage of someone's health misfortunes to make disgusting amounts of money is the problem. Health insurance companies are killing us.

[Veritas-equitas]

02:36 PM on 03/06/2009

Do you think it is good to take advantage of someone's health misfortunes in order to make tons of money? Health insurance companies are killing us.

[eudemonist]

03:38 PM on 03/06/2009

I don't think treating someone for an illness is taking advantage of their misfortune, any more than selling a refrigerator to someone in Florida is taking advantage of them because they aren't fortunate enough to live in Alaska.

Health insurance companies are killing you? I guess without them, you wouldn't die?

[DakotaMinnesota]

01:16 PM on 03/06/2009

I don't know why these Republicans are so opposed to freeing Americans from medical costs in these tough times.

Oh, that's right --Keeping health care part of the corporate spoils system means that corporate stooge Republicans continue to weild a powerful instrument of mass behavioral control. "Undesirables" can be excluded until they decide to play ball.

Get a haircut and get a "real" job.

[Amy Quinto]

01:13 PM on 03/08/2009

hey construction, and mechanics, plumbing, electrical work, and many too many more are real JOBS and they ARE HARD, back breaking JOBS!!! And A lot of them have long hair(the workers) But they are not at all paid very well! You see they pay to be a pencil necked, pencil pushing, techno uber- geek when it takes nothing to sit behind a desk and write code... and beleive me I can! So can my DH who is a contractor! But Our country was NOT built on technology, It was built on the backs of hard workers with the promise of compensation for their hard work, ie.freedom, everybody seems to forget that! Even Benjamin Franklin said something to that effect, and he was an inventor, but he was a worker first!

[Chaimirija]

01:09 AM on 03/13/2009

Then write code...really, what is the problem? Free country, at will work---? why break your back if you can write code so easily? I still find it difficult, do tell your secret to success...

[Pyrrhus]

01:01 PM on 03/06/2009

"To the people of the State of Tennessee-

Thank you for your recent anti-human tirades and racist comments that come in a steady stream from your elected representatives. You are rapidly replacing us as the most backward State in the Union, and we personally cannot wait to tell jokes about you."

signed-
the Governors of Arkansas, West Virginia, and Kentucky

[Amy Quinto]

01:05 PM on 03/08/2009

No mention of Florida, hmmmm? Lol but that is entirely too funny!!!

[forty8r]

12:57 PM on 03/06/2009

Class warfare??? Sure is the GOP has committed genocide on the poor. At least they are now fighting back.

[DakotaMinnesota]

02:12 PM on 03/06/2009

Genocide on the poor? How uncouth of you to mention! Next you'll be accusing our nation's best people of committing genocide on America's native population. This is just too controversial for coffee talk!

[Amy Quinto]

01:32 PM on 03/08/2009

I think they've been there, done that(they killed off almost all the american natives). That's why it is the way it is today...negative karma as a nation.

[duffman13]

12:12 PM on 03/06/2009

Health care is a privelage, not a right. Doctors spend years in school and training that costs them personally hundreds of thousands of dollars to get to a position of knowledge and expertise to care for patients. I've known people who became specialists and/or went to top schools and paid or took out student loans of nearly $300k to cover the cost of it. To insinuate they should be paid less with that level of training and investment is ludicrous and disgusts me. Unless you want to pay them less, and subsidize the cost of med school, which would just result in more taxes.

Single-payer, coverage just seems like a mistake to me. It does not take into account personal risk and reponsibility like a nomal insurance company is supposed to. I don't want to subsidize smokers and they people who never exercise and eat 10 big macs a day, and if i do, i'd like for them to pay more money since they'll likely need more care than i'll ever need.

I'm all for insurance streamlining or removal for the most part. a significant portion of cost of any procedure is the insurance company's cut of the action, and getting rid of that would benifit the cost of routine care. Ideally a system where you pay your own costs for small things and had catastrophic illness coverage would be ideal to me.

[Chaimirija]

12:17 PM on 03/06/2009

If it is a privilage, then how come only Physicians have the right to diagnose and treat a person, by law?

[Pyrrhus]

12:47 PM on 03/06/2009

Since when it is a right that people who have a college education get to make more money? I didn't see that in the constitution anywhere.

[duffman13]

05:42 PM on 03/06/2009

Seriously? Someone expended the time, cost, and effort to earn a degree or several and you don't think they deserve more? This i the way a free market works, these people have a desirable skillset which commands more value. If you don't understand that or think that is in some way wrong, you had better move to china, comrade.

It's a privilege to earn more money, and these guys earned it by learning a high-demand, high-cost skill.

[Connolly1916]

11:40 AM on 03/06/2009

This is one of those irreconcilable divides in american politics. The right simply wants to commodify everything it can. The center is willing to recognize some services as public goods that benefit everyone and thus should not be subject to the whims of the market. The left pushes to expand the definition of "public good" to include things we all need, all benefit from, and should all support for the good of the nation.

This statement is staggering in its disregard for the sufferings of others. Seriously, what's the worse that would happen if we had a universal, comprehensive, single payer health plan? Rich people would pay more taxes? Boo Effing Hoo. The health insurance industry would disappear? Cry me a river. Physicians wouldn't be able to have the country club lifestyle they used to enjoy? To them I say, you're HEALERS, not plutocrats. Start acting like it.

For profit health insurance is nothing more than a blatant ripoff. Collect the premiums, but don't accept anyone who might need benefits, and try like hell to avoid paying benefits who might be sick. It's ridiculous.

Single Payer Health Care NOW, dammit! To everlasting hellfire with the insurance industry!

[indianadem]

11:51 AM on 03/06/2009

Yeah, yeah.....what you said. Ditto, to quote the beloved Rush Limbaugh.

[Indecent]

12:15 PM on 03/06/2009

I'll make you a deal. Pay for my medical education so I don't come out $200,000 in debt and I'll gladly take a pay cut. But if you want good doctors, you need to pay them well. Right now some doctors don't make nearly enough, while others make far too much. Blanket statements like calling them "plutocrats" doesn't advance your argument. A lot of people have an interest in this reform, and your attitude toward some of them isn't helping.

[Pyrrhus]

01:11 PM on 03/06/2009

Honestly, I don't GAS about how much money you rack up in student loans to become a doctor. And if you don't like your paycheck then do something else- there's plenty of other people willing to become doctors for the right reasons that will take your place.

You're just as expendable as everyone else so do what you want.

[redhead61]

02:47 PM on 03/06/2009

I think that this is a FABULOUS idea...We can as taxypayers subsidize the education of anyone who wishes to take the profession of doctor who qualifies as to grades and then THEY work for the taxpayer for less. GREAT idea.
Now that being said. If the taxpayer is paying for your education, you dont expect to be making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year do you?
Doctors need to get back to going into the profession because they want to help humanity and NOT because they want to make a mint off of the misery of others.

[whitebird46]

11:35 AM on 03/06/2009

SOCIALISM! TAKE AWAY YOUR MEDICARE AND MORTGAGE DEDUCTIONS! Why am I still surprised at the l i e s coming from the GOP. Which people choose to go "naked" and refuse employer paid health care? He is delusional and is spewing l i e s . Obama's plan does propose some limits on mortgage deductions and Medicare payments for the RICH who don't need them anyway.
Perhaps this congressman should also go "naked" and refuse the health care benefit he is given from our "socialist" system.

[Chaimirija]

12:21 PM on 03/06/2009

How much you want to bet he is getting paid by the insurance companies? It is sickening that a person is at their mercy without a group plan.

[whitebird46]

04:05 PM on 03/06/2009

Good point. He may also get contributions from the greedy pharmaceutical companies as well. I think most big pharma companies are now headquarterd offshore and pay little in the way of U.S. taxes. At the least Medicare needs to get the same prices for drugs that the V.A. gets. (much lower than now) Grrrrrrr!

[powerlift2201]

11:34 AM on 03/06/2009

There are a lot of people on that have posted comments for universal socialized health care. We should be emailing our senators and representatives with these same comments.

[NorthCalGal]

11:24 AM on 03/06/2009

I guess my family can be considered health care deadbeats. My husband is a local bus driver and the company, to save from paying benefits, will not promote him to full time even though he works 37 hours a week (35 is considered full time in his company). Now we just found out they're cutting his hours to 22 and changing his route. We already couldn't afford to pay for health care, now we will be barely able to keep up with rent. Part time workers, and companies try to keep as many as possible, do NOT get health care through their employers!

My husband has a blood red eye, that's getting worse, and has an almost black pool at the bottom of his eyeball. People keep saying to go to the doctor. Yeah, okay, who's going to pay for that? He also has high blood pressure and can't afford the medication. But I guess we're not privileged enough to get help for this. We make too much money to qualify for state help? Oy.

[Chaimirija]

12:22 PM on 03/06/2009

Contact your reps...

[DakotaMinnesota]

02:39 PM on 03/06/2009

Your story is exactly what Limbaugh and the rest pretend doesn't actually happen.

[adamfox]

10:45 AM on 03/06/2009

What you do to the least of my bretheren you do to me.

I can't imagine Jesus responding the way the GOP (many of whom profess to be Christian) has. A clear disregard for those less fortunate - the population Jesus advocated for throughout his career.

[Pyrrhus]

12:53 PM on 03/06/2009

Adam-

According to the rethugs, that passage is a typo and has been edited to say this: "What you do to the least of me ain't my problem."

[DeeDeeDaGumby]

10:40 AM on 03/06/2009

this is just too depressing,, time to go do something fun like pay my bills..........

[MMJones]

10:35 AM on 03/06/2009

I'll say it again. Those in Washington enjoy gigantic entitlement packages that include the best of the best health care coverage, voted in by themselves, A LUXURY SUBSIDIZED BY TAXPAYERS. Meanwhile, while not poor, it's not easy for my husband and I to pay $800+ monthly for our health care, which has a $5,000 deductible. One major illness and we'd be wiped out. The myth of the present-day health care coverage is in the word "coverage."

You go, President Obama. The time for health care reform is NOW.

[Chaimirija]

12:24 PM on 03/06/2009

you forgot to add the insurance comapny will dump you're ill but if you ever make a large enough claim