Bartering Chicken For Medicine Talk Emerges AGAIN, This Time In Kentucky Race

I don't know what part of "Sue Lowden's candidacy cratered the instant she suggested that chicken-bartering was a sensible option for health-care procurement" was so difficult for people to understand, but now a video has surfaced of some idiot Democrat in Kentucky -- Blue Dog health care reform opponent Representative Ben Chandler (D-Ken.) -- talking with nostalgic lament of those bygone days of swapping chickens for doctor's visits. So the GOP gets to have a turn, making fun of chicken-barter. Greg Sargent has the rooster poop:

Chandler's chickens-for-checkup moment took place in a meeting with constituents in November 2009, and was captured on video by someone present at the meeting.

In the exchange, a woman who identifies herself as a farmer objects to health reform, noting that when she was young, her family didn't have insurance and paid their own way when it came to medical care -- and that this is how it should be.

"They didn't have any kind of health insurance, they went to the doctor, and we paid for the call," the woman tells Chandler. Whereupon he nodded and replied:

"When you didn't have money, you gave him a chicken. You could barter if you didn't have enough money."

In a statement to Sargent, the Chandler campaign says, so what: "Yes, and of course before we had electricity, people burned oil lamps. Before we had automobiles, people used horse transport." None of this explains why Chandler brought this up in context of the November 2009 fight for health care reform. I suppose we're lucky no one was trying to upgrade the infrastructure of the power grid! "I remember when people just burned oil lamps! It was dim and hard to read by and extremely flammable and people liked it!"

Sargent goes on to note that Chandler's GOP opponent "plan to pounce" on this, which is interesting, given the fact that if they could convince enough people that trading capons for angioplasties was a viable alternative to paying the escalating costs of health care, they'd probably see that as a win.

No word yet on whether Kentucky will ban people dressed as chickens from polling places, to keep voters from being intimidated.

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Comments

[Indie2008]

06:33 PM on 08/02/2010

How about we give these congressmen a "chicken" as a parting gift when they leave office, instead of the lifetime taxpayer funded pensions they receive after (self) serving for a few terms?

[MaxineFox]

02:26 PM on 07/28/2010

Now I need to know...

Are we talking hormone free "free range" chickens or those artificially fattened hormone chickens whose feet never touched the ground?

Are we talking about pesticide fruits and veggies or organic heirloom varieties?

Big difference in the barter value wouldn't you say?

Maxine Fox
http://reverse-diabetes-naturally.blogspot.com/

[Bartolo27]

01:02 PM on 07/28/2010

This is also a good idea for political candidates you support. Don't send money to their campaigns send chickens.

[hazbro24]

12:49 PM on 07/28/2010

This will never work. this will end up worse than the tulip craze. Speculators will push chicken futures through the roof. KFC franchises will be worth more than exxon. The chicken feather parades down wall street herald a new age of opulence. The chickenline commercials on Glen Beck.

Then the great chicken bubble of 2012 will end like all the rest as we plunge into the great fajita recession in 2014.

I'm going to play it safe and invest in goats instead.

[BLACKCAT66]

12:45 PM on 07/28/2010

Another misleading HP hype piece. From reading the above article it does not seem that this guy was actually promoting barter, he was just paraphrasing the woman's comment back to her. The real test is if he goes on to promote chicken barter as an actual solution and then defend the position again and again. Then you will have another "Lowden" on your hands.

[mmsuki]

12:44 PM on 07/28/2010

Can we finally put to rest the term "Blue Dog Democrat" and call them what they really are: Republicans?

[rgateman]

12:37 PM on 07/28/2010

Kentucky sure is a great place to be from.

http://melaman2.com/cartoons/singles/mp3/super-chicken.mp3

[audadvnc]

12:27 PM on 07/28/2010

I think I'll send my daughter's orthodontist a bunch of chickens instead of a check next week.

[Gaylord P Farqua]

12:14 PM on 07/28/2010

Maybe these "chicken based service" nostalgists may actually be offering a not so subliminal warning that if the GOP returns to power Americans may be planting gardens and raising chickens to survive. It is reasonable to believe that major corporations are freezing hiring because they save millions and any drop in unemployment before November will help the Democrats. Of course no thought is given to folks who have run out of benefits, have no insurance and are losing their homes. According to some Republicans these people are lazy at best and include a bunch of drug addicts. Now even Democrats are looking for chicken solutions.

[AirViceMarshalPark]

12:13 PM on 07/28/2010

In my town, a short ride in an ambulance costs $1,500. With fresh whole chickens at my grocery running about $5 each, that means it takes 300 chickens just to get you to the hospital.

[Bartolo27]

12:10 PM on 07/28/2010

Can they start a chicken payment medical directory so I know where the doctors are that take chickens for payment? I live in a condominium without a yard and it will be hard to raise chickens but cutting medicare, social security and using chickens for money sound like the way of future. I'm also gonna sell my car and buy a horse and mule. Hot-diggity-dog.

[vonBeavis]

12:02 PM on 07/28/2010

A blue dog isn't really a Democrat. They're some kind of Cylon hybrid, and only the bad parts.

[Smoking Rider]

11:44 AM on 07/28/2010

Ask the GOP to demand that medical schools accept chickens in leiu of greenbacks for tuition.

Many of the rural parts of the country end up with new doctors who have received financial aid in exchange for working in small town rural America for a few years. But they have educational debts. Big time. So will the agencies and banks who loaned them money accept the chickens in payment of THEIR debt? Probably not. I guess now doctors better get into the chicken commodities futures game.

[Mariosright]

11:33 AM on 07/28/2010

Can you imagine the huge chicken farms most doctors would have? they would put Tyson out of business.

[TRRoughRider]

11:13 AM on 07/28/2010

I would not be surprised to learn in the not too distant future that people will be bartering for medical treatment with written promises of organ donations upon death or designating the provider of the medical treatment as beneficary of their life insurance policy.

[MaxineFox]

02:21 PM on 07/28/2010

Now, that's a scary thought. I bet if stats were analyzed, medical decisions on life-saving procedures may already be affected by whether or not you are an organ donor, especially for the indigent and/or people who have no family around to help make these decisions. Please note I am not suggesting this happens in the majority of cases, but I imagine it does happen on a small scale and could increase with such a barter system.

Maxine Fox
http://reverse-diabetes-naturally.blogspot.com/