Hecklers at town-halls are a selfish bunch as people die without healthcare

By Mary MacElveen
August 12, 2009

As I view these servile town-hall protests where the topic de-jur is healthcare, some have become bellicose in their actions and words. They will disrupt the proceedings and I find it unconscionable to say the least. First of all, they who are doing the disrupting are a selfish lot and I would love to ask them this question: Do you have health insurance? As you bloviate citing that the President wants to kill off seniors which is patently false, I want to bring to your attention that people are dying without healthcare. Oh yes and that includes seniors.

According to SeniorJournal.com, only half were being screened for colorectal cancer which has taken the lives of many and the reason for the other half not being screened is due to lack of insurance.

Pay close attention to this passage within the article: "Colorectal cancer is one of the leading cancer killers in the United States, behind only lung cancer. Screening has been shown to significantly reduce mortality from colorectal cancer, but a lot of people are still not getting screened," said Jean A. Shapiro, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).” Shapiro also stated: a major problem appears to be insurance coverage.”

I would have to opine those who died because they could not be screened is the reason they are dead in the first place and they will continue to die unless they are covered. President Obama did not kill them: Our country’s lack of affordable health care did.

I would love to know the opinions of those who have died due to lack of medical insurance are thinking right at this very moment as these hecklers shut down these town-halls. Oh wait, I cannot due to the fact they are DEAD!

As I read this KTAR.com article which was published on April 8th, 2008, they cited where one quarter of Arizona residents DO NOT have health insurance. That is a staggering number.

As one reads this passage: "In the period 2000 to 2006, we estimate that more than 3,500 people died because of a lack of health insurance coverage," said Ron Pollack with the advocacy group." Um, who was in charge during those years? Oh yes, the Republicans. So, 3,500 of our fellow citizens died on their watch. That is roughly the same number that died on September 11th, 2001. Yet, their cries from the grave still go unheard because hecklers at town-halls refuse to be their advocates.

I would love to know where Senator John McCain's voice was when this article cited: "In Arizona, in 2006, approximately 720 people died due to a lack of health insurance." He is after all still their senator. Also that was the last year that the Republicans controlled this country's agenda. 720 call out from the grave asking, why they had to die in the land of plenty.

In reading this beautifully worded op-ed piece by Marianne Wright-Edelman titled: "Children Dying, Lacking Healthcare" tears came to my eyes as she wrote, "How did America get to the point where Deamonte Driver, a seventh grader in Prince George's County, Maryland, died because he didn't have health insurance to cover an $80 tooth extraction and his mother couldn't find a dentist to treat him?" I would love to shove this article in the faces of those bellicose hecklers.

Many children of course died when President Bush vetoed the SCHIP program. Thankfully coming to the rescue of these children left behind was, President Barack Obama as he signed it into law.

As these hecklers and their backers cite the cost of healthcare reform, the total cost of Deamonte’s was $250 thousand dollars as opposed to the original cost of an $80 tooth extraction. What should be frustrating to all is that he died.

I am sick of hearing folks like Limbaugh and Dobbs bloviate out of their pie-holes as children have died, seniors have died and over three thousand citizens of Arizona. I am most assured that there are stories equally maddening and saddening out there where people have died and could have been saved. They are the ones who we all should be listening to now, instead of hecklers.

To anyone distorting the facts, disrupting civil proceedings at these town-halls, give it a rest as your fellow citizens are dying from a lack of accessible healthcare.

We have always prided ourselves as a can-do-nation, but we seem utterly pathetic and weak in passing this healthcare reform. We are showing our soft-underbellies to those countries we have chided in the past and present who do provide healthcare which is a most basic human right for their citizens.

At least Deamonte Driver would not have died in Cuba as one reads: “where 9,877 dentists serve 11 million people (a ratio of approximately 1:1,100). The clinics care for an average of 700 to 900 local residents from cradle to grave. They provide annual dental examinations for all Cubans (twice annually for those under four years old or over 60), pre- and postnatal infant oral health instruction, and 16 annual fluoride mouth rinse treatments for all school-age children.” For a small island-nation who we have basically turned our backs on through the Cuban embargo, I would say they are doing an outstanding job in caring for their citizens especially the most innocent; their children and seniors.

Oops, did I forget to mention: At least Cuba did not illegally invade a country, namely Iraq which has cost us $1 trillion dollars. Imagine how many lives we could have saved in this country? Talk about sticker-shock brought to us all by a government controlled by the GOP.

Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net

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