Rep. Anthony Weiner found 55 Republican Congressman who are already on the public option

Posted on October 22nd, 2009 by ecthompson md

I really like this guy. He is a strong and thoughtful. Where has he been?

From TP:

Rep. Anthony Weiner’s (D-NY) office today released an internal study showing that 151 members of Congress “currently receive government-funded; government-administered single-payer health care — Medicare.” Of those 151 members, 55 are Republicans who also happen to be “steadfastly opposed [to] other Americans getting the public option, like the one they have chosen.” Included on Weiner’s list are anti-public option crusaders Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Orin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), Rep.Virginia Foxx (R-NC), and Rep. Peter King (R-NY).

This morning on C-Span, Weiner explained the idea behind the project:

WEINER: It’s more another way of looking at this debate, this discussion about the public option, to put it in focus. We went, just out of curiosity, looked at how many members of Congress get the public option. And I know a lot of people have said, “Well under the new bill, how many of you members of Congress would choose the public option?”

Well there already is one; it’s called Medicare. And we found 55 Republicans and 151 members of Congress are on Medicare right now. So they’re already getting the same type of public option that we’d like people who are without insurance to be able to get. And I guess the purpose of this list was to kind of point out some of the hypocrisy of this debate.

“You have members of Congress thumping their chest how they’re against government health care,” Weiner noted, adding, “and yet when it’s time for them to accept Medicare, they’re like, ‘Sign me up!’”

Watch it:

Back in July, Weiner offered an amendment that would eliminate Medicare, saying at the time that it was “put-up or shut-up time for the phonies who deride the so-called ‘public option.’” Of course, no one voted for the measure.

“Even in a town known for hypocrisy,” Weiner said in a statement today releasing his study, “this list of 55 Members of Congress deserve some sort of prize. They apparently think the public option is ok for them, but not anyone else.”

Tags: Healthcare, Party Politics // 5 Comments »

  • Bud Brooks

    SOOOOO?  It’s irrelevent if the members of Congress have Medicare or not; they are fighting for their constituents who have said time and again they don’t want a public option.  It’s about CHOICE!  And these members are actually doing the right thing by protecting their constituents’ rights to have CHOICE in their health care plans.  It has nothing to do with hyprocisy — it is about CHOICE (and FREEDOM).  Those very same members have the choice to select a private plan if they want to, but they have chosen this plan. 

  • Just A Regular Guy

    So, the majority of constituents of all 151 members of congress who are enrolled in Medicare do not want a public option???
    I find that hard to beleive when 57% of the nation approves a public option.  You cannot mix the desire of constituents with the person political desire of elected officials.  Lets see howmany of these 151 members of congress are still in office if they vote against the public option. 
    If they are truely against the public option, they should renounce their enrollment in Medicare to show their support for their constituients.  Better yet, introduce legislation to repeal Medicare.

  • ecthompson

    Bud - 

    Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your input. 

    We have discussed your Choice argument before. It has no merit. No one other than industry hacks are arguing that this is about choice. It isn’t.  No one of my patients over more than 20 years, has told me that they wish they had more choices in their insurance coverage. Not one. 

    What poll are you looking at? I don’t see any poll where the public option hasn’t been even or favored. 

    As far as the freedom argument, I agree that we all have the freedom not to die with universal coverage. 

    Why have they chosen the very public Medicare? Because it is simple, easy to use and they get taken care of by their doctor. This what everyone wants. You can jump up and down all you want. You can hold your breath. You can try to obscure the truth with words like freedom, choice … and you forgot liberty. The bottomline is that health insurance companies have had over 50 years to provide a cost-effective method to deliver healthcare. They have failed. They have failed to cover everyone. They have failed to control costs. They have made coverages so confusing that most people don’t understand the coverage that they are getting. 

    This debate is about life and death. It is about the several studies that have proven that insurance is an independent predictor of outcome. 

    Thanks again for your comments. 

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  • Anonymous

    keep pushing this in the media……please.  It takes a lot of effort to overcome the loud wailing from FOX.

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