Whining Americans Choose Caviar Health Care

Al Hubbard, architect of the Bush-cum-McCain health plan, compares Americans' use of the health care system to shoppers who indiscriminately buy caviar while someone else foots the bill, just as Senator Phil Gramm exits as co-chair of John McCain's presidential campaign after calling America a "nation of whiners" in a "mental recession."

Hubbard, former assistant to the president for economic policy, spoke at a Thursday event at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. He blamed patients for driving up health care costs because insurance insulated them from the real costs of treatment.

He suggested that American consumers would run similarly amok in a world where employers provided "food insurance" instead of health insurance. "Pretty soon you would start buying caviar, the most expensive steak, and you would start buying more than you needed," he said.

Hubbard crafted the health care plan unsuccessfully promoted by President Bush and subsequently embraced by GOP presumptive nominee Senator John McCain. It would eliminate incentives for employers to offer insurance, shifting the burden of health care costs onto individuals, who would be granted a tax break to buy insurance. Critics say the tax credits would be at an amount far below what would be required to purchase health insurance.

About eighty percent of health care costs are incurred by the sickest twenty percent of Americans, those whose doctors order expensive treatments for difficult diseases such as cancer. Hubbard is suggesting that Americans going through serious health challenges should be shoppers first and patients second.

This remarks comes at a poor time for Senator McCain, who was forced to jettison co-chairman Phil Gramm because his remarks made the GOP presumptive nominee seem insensitive to the Americans' economic difficulties. Do Hubbard's comments mean McCain is hoping to lower health care costs by forcing Americans to treat health care as a luxury as precious as caviar?

Comments

[jepysdad]

Al Hubbard is a tool for insurance companies and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In return for allowing employers to jettison that pesky health insurance benefit, insurance companies get to charge high premiums to cover completely healthy people. They may lose a few customers but their margins should sky rocket, along with the average citizen's health care bills.

People (that includes you) will pay both the premium and out of pocket costs as Uncle Sam and American corporations flee from their historical responsibilities. Guess who'll still eat caviar? CEO's maxing out their incentive compensation and our elected officials in Washington. A pox on all their houses!

[TrevorAlan]

ARE THEY REALLY F---ing serious??? When my child is coughing a lung out or has broken his arm, I should treat it like I'm comparing brands of caviar?? If a doctor says my wife has cancer I should consider simply NOT treating her (which is a valid choice when going to target for toothpase or an iPod)?

These pampered elite rich people who get money from their insurance stocks or funded think tanks and then tell ME I want too much when I just want to have a doctor confirm my child is healthy... they make me sick.

[CaptainVideo]

Economic conservatives believe that the economy should be organized on a dog-eat-dog, everybody is on his own, and the devil take the hindmost basis. This is an example of the implementation of this philosopy in the area of health care.

[CaptainVideo]

The major difference on health insurance between the Democrats and the Republicans is that Democrats think that ordinary working Americans have too little health insurance while the Republicans think they have too much health insurance. People who think they have too much health insurance should vote Republican and people who think they have too little should vote for the Democrats.

[who38]

Sounds reasonable. BTW, do you recall how much the tax payers spent for Cheney's "state of the art" heart surgeries?

[LorettaSingbiel]

Money well spent?

[nomobull]

mr hubbard should trade places with a few of those to whom he is referring . my guess he would be shocked at his own arrogance.

[DavidMG]

The Republicans are just sooooo empathetic.

[MarkInEugene]

Mr. Hubbard:

No system is without some level of abuse that requires mitigation. If we were any kind of an enlightened country we would agree to maintain the health of our people, just like we agree to educate them, build roads, libraries and public transportation. When people have their basic needs met, they are then free to pursue productive lives that contribute to the society. There will always be a few, who when supported, still fall down. But the vast majority of Americans would become supporting tax payers in our system.

It's the same old greedy, angry, stubborn, minimalist government ideology that has clearly failed us in this country. With 50 million uninsured American's who are burdening the system in so many ways that you and the likes of Phil Gramm are oblivious to, it's depressing and shocking to me that 45% of American's are willing to stay the course and vote for John McCain.

[walkthewalk]

I think Americans are finally coming around to recognizing that government, in and of itself, is not the problem. Government that advocates privatizing all of our needs, by proving to us how inept it is in meeting those needs (think Katrina) -- that is the problem. There is such a thing as good government and, if we're lucky, we'll experience it again with Obama's leadership.

[frappe]

Caviar healthcare? What a predictably Republican perspective: obnoxious. It would seem that if Republicans had their way from the start, the state of American healthcare would be structured much like what we had in the 1800s.

[OldPedagogue]

Who are these people? What really baffles is that they actually make significant money thinking up this stuff.
Right, so the average worker is going to ask their employer for time off, or a small business owner with a horrid schedule leaves his business, so they can spend however long in a waiting room, followed by time with a practitioner and perhaps tests because, well, because insurance companies make it so easy to do, they just can’t help themselves.
Never in my over 60 years would I have thought for a minute that these are the people who propose our national policies and sometimes, as in the monarchy we have right now, actually implement them. Further yet, if their party is in control, congresspersons from the opposition, many of whom are in frequent touch with their constituents, can't even get a hearing to ask these yokels by virtue of what did they make this astounding pronouncement. Oh, God... I’m whining.

[likeicare]

Of course, he's got insurance -- or can afford any medical care he needs. It's the great unwashed masses who deserve to die b/c they can't get healthcare -- without having to pay for it -- with money they don't have.

Like Ebeneezer Scrooge said, "It will decrease the excess population­."

[kasv]

Hey - guess who else was a speaker at this confab - Karen Tumulty - Time Magazine and one of Chris Matthews' favorite guests. Never met a GOP she didn't like, I guess.

[kasv]

Gee, did McCain get carviar or hot dog/beans cancer care? Anybody hearing "Let 'em eat cake" loud and clear from the GOP, led by McCain and his crew? All they need on the ticket is Romney - who can afford to throw away $43 mil on a failed presidential bid. Cindy probably ensures caviar is served to her guests aboard her private jet; just as McCain ensure his skin cancer and other illnesses receive the attention of the nation's top doctors - all at no cost to him since WE pay for HIS health insurance. They are a disgrace to this nation. I cannot bdelieve that all "every day Americans" are not as angry as hell. I cannot believe any regular "joe' would even vote for this crew that shows nothing but disdain for ordinary 'joes.'

[ubetchaiam]

Yeah, right. Highest's costs in the World for NOT the best care and the fault lies with the 'shoppers'; what a corporate shill. How do these people get any media access when their positions are ludicrous?

[Destin]

I agree with what you are saying, but I would like to point out something that I think would be of beneift contrary to something you mentioned. About the media access.

To think, this Al Hubbard fella sat in the background as one of the nameless, facelss, 406 "advisors" that GW Bush employed in the White House. Sure, we only knew about the chosen few allowed to be on camera, like Miers, Libby, Rove, Nanette Rutka-Everson, etc, etc, ..... and now it's revealed that even more folks were thinking alike, like this Al Hubbard fella, pushing agenda's like he does and he doesn't have to answer to anyone. And nobody knows who he is, because the media isn't given full access.

By the way, how come nobody, not even the Secret Service, ever followed up on the imposter who was at the W.H. every day by the name of Jeff Gannon?? Was he another one of those 406 paid "advisors" for Bush too??

[Destin]

I have a close female friend who lost her dad about 2 years ago. The family was limited on where and how they could seek healthcare for him when he found out he would need a triple bypass. The operation itself went ok enough, but carelessness in the type of care he recieved, led to a few massive infections that nearly killed him outright. Was in the hospital for more than a year and eventually was moved to a nursing home due to failing organs from the strep and staph infections he came into contact with while in this hospital in a big city. Eventually, after a long battle, he lost his life. Her family now stuck with more than $1 million in medical bills that the insurance comanies wouldn't pay off on. He was retired from Boeing after a long career with them, having helped build the very first 747 for example. So he had a decent retirement package and good insurance. Yet dies at the too young age of 63 due to medical neglect and incompetence, and as always, the insurance company only pays the bare minimum.

Al Hubbard can kiss our American asses.

I could only wish that we could choose our healthcare!