Rudy's health was taken care of this week. The guy who claims to be the most open politician has of course told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, regarding his recent hospital stay. In addition to a lesson in honesty, I am sure that there is much to be learned about Rudy's views on Health Care in America.
On Dec 19, Rudy instructed his plane to do a U-Turn and return to St Louis, MO. He wasn't feeling well. The campaign first said he had "flu like symptoms," which was subsequently downgraded to a big headache.
After being thoroughly checked out Rudi said
"I got checked out up and down, inside and out,” he said, adding, “I think I might have ended up being more tired from the tests afterward than I was from the headache.”
When it comes to a national health care policy, Rudi relies almost exclusively on the free market to control health care costs. He is also a big proponent of people taking care of themselves, and taking responsibility for the choices they make:
If we can empower "Americans to ...go out and make these choices, you're going to have the free market accomplish the thing that only a free market can accomplish -- and that is, lower costs and better health care" -Rudi, in an interview with Sean Hannity, A Leading Fox News Journalist.
He also thinks the consumer has to be realistic:
"Health insurance should become like homeowners insurance or like car insurance: You don't cover everything in your homeowners policy. If you have a slight accident in your house, if you need to refill your oil in your car, you don't cover that with insurance. But that is covered in many of the insurance policies because they're government dominated and they're employer dominated."
Yet when Rudi himself got a headache, one which was brought on by his own activities on the campaign trail, he flew to a hospital. He didn't fly onwards to Tennessee or Kentucky where there are cheaper hospitals; instead he did a u-turn to get to the Barnes Jewish hospital in Saint Louis. At the hospital he got a commuted tomography scan of his brain, as well as magnetic resonance imaging, an ultrasound of the carotid arteries and a spinal fluid evaluation. These tests are more often associated with a stroke, syphilis, and meningitis and multiple sclerosis than with a headache or flu. You don't cover a slight accident in the house, but you do cover, exorbitantly, a headache?
When he left the hospital and came back to N.Y., Rudi also had a trans esophageal echo cardiogram.
If nothing else, it was a relief to his current wife, Judi, who said:
"I spent most of the night on the telephone with the doctors and the wonderful nurses at Barnes Jewish Hospital and they assured me that Rudy is in very good health."
At what price did those "doctors and wonderful nurses" spend the midnight shift talking with Judi?
If Rudi needed half of the tests which he received, he is lying about the condition of his health.
It was a ridiculous waste of money, but at least Rudi proved that the principles of a free market and an educated consumer are entirely irrelevant when it comes to health care. Rudi has no real rationale for his Presidential run, which is why he is so desperately relying on the myths of 9/11 as Iowa approaches. Health Care is clearly not his issue.
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