Eric Cantor: Private Health Care Rationing Better Than Government Rationing

The Hill:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Tuesday that private healthcare plans ration care for profit but that consumers should be free to buy whatever coverage they can afford rather than depend on government rationing.

Read the whole story: The Hill

Comments

[Ottis Reid]

06:56 PM on 05/20/2011

Mr. Smith Im sorry you have run out of your yearly allotted ration of health care. You are going to have to try and hold on till next year for that kidney transplant and hope there is enough money to cover it then. Oh and by the way , there will not be enough money for anestesia.

[Ruler721]

05:27 AM on 05/06/2011

Big Money Getting what it want or trying to Private and Healthcare got a divorce

[Boomer946]

02:50 PM on 05/05/2011

Prior to the French Revolution the French nobility had adopted a similar view of the masses. They had plenty and lived in luxury while the average Frenchman was barely surviving. History tells us the French revolted and executed their royalty. It seems throughout history those who would abuse the common folk ultimately are held to account in some manner or another by those same common folk who eventually tire of the mistreatment. Eric Cantor and Repug'icans beware that your callousness may not yet result in your total extinction!

[bronceye]

02:19 PM on 05/05/2011

What if the health industry had to spend as much money on actually helping the health of Americans as they spend on politics?

[NorCalSurfer]

01:35 PM on 05/05/2011

American privitized health care system? More robbing of the American people will be allowed by our elected elites.
We vote for this non-sense, we want this type of person running our country.

If you get sick, grab some Tussin...

[follygirl]

01:29 PM on 05/05/2011

But what if you can't afford any plan because you're unemployed because the GOP is wasting time on BS instead of finding ways to create jobs so people can work and afford health insurance? Bottom line - if you're not a corporation the GOP doesn't care.

[Spike5]

01:14 PM on 05/05/2011

Hmmm. Cantor says that "consumers should be free to buy whatever coverage they can afford. Ok, I can go along with that. Why not? What good is money if you can't buy things?

But how does universal health care coverage for everyone prevent some people from buying more? That's as absurd as saying that having a Social Security safety net for all elderly people means that no one is able to retire with more than that.

Rich people can still have concierge doctors if they want them, they can pay extra for private suites in the hospital instead of semi-private rooms, and they can hire around the clock nurses to soothe their fevered brows and fluff their pillows. But everyone else will at least have a basic level of care without regard to 'whatever coverage they can afford.'

The only rationing that these folks want is strictly based on wealth, preferably untaxed. People with enough money get kidney transplants, people without die. People with enough money get heart transplants, people without die. People with enough money get surgery, chemo, and radiation treatments for cancer, people without die. That's the 'private health care rationing' he supports.

[trusgift]

03:55 PM on 05/05/2011

Thank you. That is the 800 lb. gorilla that EVERYONE continually forgets, doesn't understand, or doesn't want to acknowledge. If you are not getting what you want from government run health care (if there will ever be such a thing in this country), concierge doctors will always be available (at least to perform eventually illegal abortions on spoiled, rich Republican daddy's girls). The rich are always going to have more options, but it is uncivilized not to provide some level of a "guaranteed outcome" across the board.

[SkelDaddy]

01:02 PM on 05/05/2011

TooIs like Cantor have absolutely no conception of what it is they are saying. What he advocates is simplistic nonsense, the end result of which would be anything and everything on demand for the well-healed while the average person would self-ration by virtue of unaffordable premiums. How he can possibly think that this is good for America is unfathomable.

[Spike5]

01:16 PM on 05/05/2011

He doesn't care if it's "good for America." He only cares if it's good for the wealthy people and rich corporations who fund the conservative politicians' election campaigns.

[Bayleon02]

12:50 PM on 05/05/2011

My previous comment didn't post, not sure why. Our politicians need to wake up. Most people can't afford anything beyond what I call catastrophic health insurance. You're covered for major medical expenses if you're lucky, and that's it. Fewer and fewer of us get good medical insurance through work. Mr. Cantor is one of the lucky few. Interestingly, he admitted that we don't all get the same quality of care and therefore can't expect the same outcomes based on the care we receive. Huh, I bet his care is the best available. So much for free market health care.

[lowlycitizen]

12:34 PM on 05/05/2011

The smug look on his face. He is completely convinced that people do not need help from the government in order to get decent healthcare. The gov't is involved now and healthcare is still not ideal, so going purely free-market will make it costlier and even less-guaranteed for people who need it the most.

[1southernbelle]

12:14 PM on 05/05/2011

Gotta love these guys--they are so honestly mean spirited:

Cantor said Republicans want a safety net for people who can't afford care but that "we're not for everyone having the same outcome guaranteed."

In other words: only the wealthy deserve good health care, let the peasants suffer.

[SisterAnn]

12:00 PM on 05/05/2011

Hell has no fury like a senior who has their Medicare turned into vouchers.

[Spesabsquemetu]

11:48 AM on 05/05/2011

Don't you just love guys like Cantor who profess that "private health care rationing would be better than government rationing" - so long as you DON'T TOUCH HIS PERSONAL RATIONING OF HIS GOVERNMENT FUNDED HEALTH CARE.
What a hypocrite!

[Greg Petty]

08:28 PM on 05/28/2011

Cantor sucks

[Pennstategirl]

11:42 AM on 05/05/2011

"Later, Cantor said Republicans want a safety net for people who can't afford care but that "we're not for everyone having the same outcome guaranteed."

And he's thinking: Just as long as I have my outcome guaranteed by the federal government for the rest of my life.

My health insurance approaches my mortgage payment. With the economy in the tank, how do I continue to pay it? What happens when I can't?

Maybe I should run for office so I can have health care for life too.

I am disgusted with the GOP.

[ez14livin]

11:33 AM on 05/05/2011

hey eric, i believe the term you are looking for is.... DEATH PANELS