Rachel Maddow Nails South Carolina Health Care

On last night's Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow took viewers through what she called a "magic map trick," in which she crunched the numbers on a handful of health-care statistics, such as teenage pregnancy rates, infant birth weight, premature births and infant mortality.

Her findings? At the tail end of all of these quality-of-life measures are various Southern states. And the worst among them? Mississippi and South Carolina! And hey, speaking of South Carolina, isn't that where some of America's Next Top Health Care Reform Obstructionists come from? Why, yes! That's where you will encounter Jim "Waterloo" DeMint and Joe "Will Forte Correctly Captured You As A Cringing Milquetoast, Didn't He?" Wilson in their natural habitats.

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So there you have it! South Carolina is trying to kill you. Having been to Myrtle Beach, I should have suspected this.

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Comments

[PIN News]

Anything with Rachael Maddow says is twisted and biased as she knows nothing about jounalistic integrity. Seriously, does she even have a clue anymore? Watch this and you decide:
http://politicalintegritynow.com/2009/09/still-think-socialist-is-the-new-n-word-watch-this-video-and-you-wont/

[BigPictureReg]

T R O L L A L E R T

24 posts in less than your first 24 hours on the board.

I've added your site to my kindling pile, along with WorldNetDaily and NewMax

And, oh by the way - regarding the subject matter of the article, which you totally ignored - the citizens of South Carolina appreciate your lack of empathy - facts don't l i e, but deniers do.

[beherenow54]

I believe another article revealed that Joe Wilson and his sons enjoy Tricare, government-run health care. What a hypocrite. I wish this fact would be brought out more by the media. He trashes the public option but relies on government health care himself.

[PlaceboStudman]

I just want to know why so few people can wrap their tiny little minds around the fact that calling a bill "health care" when it makes absolutely no mention of real health care is offensive and insulting to those people who are facing real serious medical crises that have absolutely nothing to do with a lack of insurance. What about a lack of proper care because there is simply no cure or treatment for a disease or disability? Do they not count as much as those who do not have insurance, but who probably don't need insurance anyway because they live a generally healthy life? All this insurance reform will do is play into human nature and our greed and gluttony and give people an excuse to be lazy and gluttonous, because none of them believe they will ever face a REAL medical crisis that makes them realize just how worthless money really is

[Demarcus Jackson]

I love Rachel Maddow! She nailed it on the head by pointing out that South Carolina has one of the worst health care systems in these United States. It is a damn shame that their leaders are so ignorant and hateful they cannot work on behalf of the citizens of South Carolina.

[taddles]

Can't say it enough, Love Rachael!

[One more Thing]

Yes we do love Rachel.

I would like to point out that Rchel loves the people of South Carolina too!

Judging from many comments posted on this article some people missed some of the message she conveyed on her show: South Carolina politicians are working against the needs of their constituents.

Any criticism to be taken from her statistcs should be directed at politicians such as Joe Wilson, Jim Demint, Lindsey Graham and Mark Sanford ...

[swift goat pet for truth]

SC pols works EXACTLY for their constituents - the SC RICH.

[SethBLiNK]

How dare she inject facts and statistics into a conversation that is dominated by fear and slogans. She's so out of touch.

[Manhattanite]

Tsk, tsk... "Value voter" states have the highest rates of teenage pregnancy?

[senorlou]

Great work by Maddow. More GOP insanity on display. Let's hope they wake up down there.

[alexdog]

I am a resident of SC and there are many wonderful citizens of this state. Our state legislature has literally wasted entire sessions on the most mundane, ridiculous "issues". Until we level the playing field for public education we will continue to lag. This I feel is the true elephant in the room and continues to be ignored. Throwing a school district an extra $2k per student when the district only has 900 students vs. the district with 20,000 will never solve the inequities. There is a short youtube video on this page that shows the challenges some of these school districts face.
http://www.corridorofshame.com/index.php

[One more Thing]

Maybe a Habitat for Humanity program for school buildings? I am sure the Masons and Shriners throughout the state and the country would gladly pitch in.

[HHarvey]

wow, you get $2k per student. Here in our district in CA we only get 750 per student. The whole of the U.S. is behind in education.

[alexdog]

No in SC this year it averages $11,400 per student plus local bond amounts. But some districts get $15k per student while some get $9k.

[Rmath]

Abstinence makes the hard grow fonder..

[One more Thing]

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has demonstrated that!

[BOin08]

From what I see many of the uninsured could afford health care if they lived within their means. Our min wage part-timers drive luxury cars (lease) and have blackberries-they simple have higher priorities for their income. With the public option (tax payer dollars) they can keep the cars and gadgets -what's not to like? Who will make the value judgments? Do you have the right to drive a Bimmer and vacation in the islands while on the public dole for health care?

[senorlou]

What is your deductible payment each month, please?

[thinkingwomanmillstone]

I am not living outside my means. Our family's health premium costs us 24,000 dollars a year. My husband drives a 10 year old van. We also own a 6 year old PTcruiser. Why not do some real research about health care issues instead of spouting the republican mantra that the poor are poor because they want to be poor. We are not poor but I can tell you it's not easy to pay this premium. BTW, this does not include the premiums for our two grad students.

[ginger-kid]

i am uninsured, the only job i was able to get after 11 different interviews pays minimum wage, i drive a '92 buick that i got for 2 grand, i live in a small apartment and take no vacations. tell me again why i am so undeserving of health care?

[macohmz]

Because you're not a lobbyist with a whole bunch of other people's money to bribe some damned politician with. That's why.

[One more Thing]

Because you were not born south of Broad in Charleston, did not go to W&L and have all the benefits of civility Joe Wilson is so proud of.

[MajorKong]

Be careful how high you pile up that straw-man. It's likely to be a fire hazard.

[SethBLiNK]

Are these sweeping generalizations based on statistics or personal observation? There are over 30 million people living below the poverty level in America. That's an income under $11K for a single person or under $22K for a family of four. Seriously... how many of those do you think drive luxury cars? How many drive any cars at all other than junkers? How many of them have blackberries? If as many of 5% of them live beyond their means with luxury items, is that a reason to deprive the other 95% of health care? Without it, those who squander their money will still crowd our emergency rooms, along with those who don't. Who is that benefitting?

Besides, the majority of Americans living in poverty are dependent children who don't get to make decisions on car and blackberry purchases.

And what does any of this have to do with the abysmal statistics of the Loud Mouth State, South Carolina?

[davism97]

One more piece of data that would've been interesting is to throw up high school graduation rates by state. I bet SC has one of the lowest there as well (I don't actually know this but I wouldn't be surprised).

[wagthedog1001]

That list will yield the same states in the bottom ten.

Of course, these states all have low taxes which is SO important to them.

[taddles]

Yes, but they have the highest amount of federal money being poured back into them....if MN or WA got the kind of government handouts that SC, LA, GA and MS get they would scream about the socialists stealin all their tax money. Instead, they pay the lowest amount of taxes in the country and get the most government handouts and scream they are being taxed too much...poor babies.

[condew]

A liberal armed with facts can change the world, and Rachel does her part to make sure we all have the facts.

I still love her analogy of ordering pizza to the Republicans position on health care reform; Republicans say they want reform. but are opposed to every ingredient of reform, or at least the kind of reform that would benefit all Americans by improving coverage and cutting costs.

[ladyvader]

That made me laugh and was true at the same time. It was perfect.

[mindoro33]

Rachel is the best.

[Mike Kilpatrick]

Man I wish we had lost the civil war. The North would be so much better off without the huge drag of the South.

[dawlishgal]

We did lose it. The South came out much better than the rest of the country.

Almost every southern state gets back from the feds more than 100% of what they pay in. Mississippi gets over 200%....last I heard S. Carolina got back around 134% of what they pay in. They are parasites on the northeast, the midwest and the Pacific coast. And they are still the ones who whine about taxes.

And we have the senate, in which southeners are greatly overrepresented if one considered their populations. Since when does S. Carolina deserve as much senatorial clout as, say, California and New York. As long as the Senate gives unequal representation to backward states, our country is not going to be able to advance to the level of other countries that actually respect the concept of one-man, one-vote.

[wagthedog1001]

The House of Representatives is supposed to take care of that 'population' problem. The Senate evens things out so places like NY and California don't run over everybody else. I like that.

[alexdog]

You fail to mention that there are 32 states that receive more than they pay in. So unless you have a different map of the US than I have it is not just southern states.

[wagthedog1001]

It's an interesting premise. Maybe one of the writers here will take that idea and run.

At times I'm not sure that war is completely over, at least in the minds of some white Southerners.