Many Americans assume the new health care reform act will benefit mostly the poor and uninsured and hurt everyone else, according to polls. As Matt Yglesias wrote, “Basically, people see this as a bill that will take resources from people who have health insurance and give it to people who don’t have health insurance.” Those who still oppose the reform say that people ought to pay for their own health care.

We all believe in the virtues of hard work and self-reliance, but these days it’s a fantasy to think that anyone but the mega-wealthy will not, sooner or later, depend on help from others to pay medical bills. And that’s true no matter how hard you work, how much you love America, or how diligently you take care of yourself. The cost of medical care has so skyrocketed that breaking an arm or leg could cost as much as a new car. And if you get cancer or heart disease — which can happen even to people who live healthy lifestyles — forget about it. The disease will not only clean you out; it will leave a whopping debt for your survivors to pay.

And the truth is, we all pay for other peoples’ health care whether we know it or not. When people can’t pay their medical bills, the cost of their health care gets added to everyone else’s bills and insurance premiums. When poor people use emergency rooms as a doctor of last resort, their care is not “free.” You pay for it.

Another common fantasy about medical care is that the “free market” provides incentives for medical companies to develop innovative new drugs and treatments for disease without government subsidy. It’s true that private enterprise is very good at developing profitable health care products. But not all medical care can be made profitable.

For years, the U.S. government has been funding medical research that the big private companies don’t want to do because there is too much cost for the potential profit. This is especially true for diseases that are rare and expensive to treat. An example of a recent advance made possible by government grants include new guidelines for malignant pleural mesothelioma treatment developed by MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers. Another is a blood screening test developed by mesothelioma doctors like thoracic surgeon Dr. David Sugarbaker. The health reform act provides for more dollars for such research, from which even many of the tea party protesters will benefit.

The biggest fantasy of all was that people who had insurance didn’t have to worry about health care costs. But the fact is that in recent years millions of Americans have been bankrupted by medical costs, and three-quarters of the medically bankrupt had health insurance. And yes, insurance companies even dumped hard-working, law-abiding patriots. But the health care reform act will put an end to that, and now America’s hard-working, law-abiding patriots are more financially secure, whether they like it or not.

(More Politics)

EPA: Day of Prayer Fails to Halt Gulf Spill

5 Other Jobs That Are Just Like Being President of the United States

Dr. Teabag Pisses on the Hippocratic Oath

In calling for a Day of Prayer, the GOP governors and national party leaders had hoped to pre-empt a rumored attempt by President Obama to subject God to a “Chicago-style shakedown,” which, if successful, would have given the Democrats momentum heading into fall’s midterm elections.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour disputed claims that the Day of Prayer had failed, arguing that as a federal agency, the EPA was under the control of Obama, the known anti-Christ, and thus could not be trusted to report objective data.

Barbour said an environmental team from The 700 Club will soon file its own report from the Gulf.

(More Humor and Politics)

5 Other Jobs That Are Just Like Being President of the United States

General McChrystal’s Top Ten Excuses for Dissing Obama Team in Rolling Stone

If the Gettysburg Address Were Run Through Cursebird

On Wednesday’s Fox and Friends show, host Gretchen Carlson, discussing whether President Obama should fire General Stanley McChrystal for his negative comments in Rolling Stone about the White House team, likened her job to that of the president:

“This is what being President of the United States is all about. It’s these tough, huge, monumental decisions. It’s not about how you run a campaign, it’s not about whether or not you’re popular, it’s not about whether you’re a celebrity or good-looking or tall or short. It’s in a time of crisis, making these executive decisions. It’s just like our job…what’s the role of an anchor during huge breaking news? You remember growing up? You’d tune to the television, and that one moment during the year, they would have to carry a story all along, It’s the same thing as being the President of the United States!”

While it’s easy to mock Carlson (which I did on Today in Stupid), upon further reflection I totally see her point. She’s on the firing line every day, and not just during a crisis. Each time Carlson walks into the Fox studio, she faces monumental decisions. What dress to wear, what kind of eyeliner, which Tea Party talking points to push. It’s endless pressure!

But it’s not just Carlson. When you think about it, many other jobs in this country are just as hard as the president’s and require the same cool-headed decision-making. Here’s a small sample:

Job: Rodeo clown

Sample Executive Decisions: Happy or sad face? Joy buzzer or squirting lapel flower?

Job: Stand-up comic

Sample Executive Decisions: Two drinks or three before set? F-bombs or work clean? (Fuck it, f-bombs.)

Job: Health insurance claims executive

Sample Executive Decisions: Deny treatment coverage to cancer patient before or after lunch? Lexus or BMW?

Job: Porn star

Sample Executive Decisions: Black or red dildo? Dimpled or smooth?

Job: Sarah Palin

Sample Executive Decisions: Spout ignorance or nonsense? Trash Levi or “lamestream” media? Black or red dildo?

So, really, when you think of it, we’re all like the president!

10. Figured with Lady Gaga on cover of Rolling Stone, no one would even notice what he said on inside pages.

9. Sandbagged by weaselly media aide Duncan Boothby.

8. Was “taking a bullet” for Commander in Chief by creating new controversy that would make public forget about Gulf oil spill.

7. Anyone who thinks this is a big deal wants the terrorists to win.

6. Succumbed to reporter Michael Hastings’ “Chicago-style shakedown.”

5. Was fed his lines by former President Bush.

4. Saw opportunity to curry favor with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who he eventually hopes to shag. Is that so wrong?

3. Assumed that under modern journalism rules, everything was automatically off the record.

2. Did I mention that anyone who thinks this is a big deal wants the terrorists to win?

1. It was the booze talking.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

Sneer care

A doctor who considers the national health-care overhaul to be bad medicine for the country posted a sign on his office door telling patients who voted for President Barack Obama to seek care “elsewhere.”

The sign reads: “If you voted for Obama … seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes to your healthcare begin right now, not in four years.”

“I’m not turning anybody away — that would be unethical,” Dr. Jack Cassell, 56, a Mount Dora urologist and a registered Republican opposed to the health plan, told the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday. “But if they read the sign and turn the other way, so be it.”

Give me a fucking break. Someone from the media called him on it and now he’s trying to split hairs. What Obama supporter in his right mind would read that sign and then walk through the door to let this arrogant, angry wingnut shove something up their dick?

Having said that, and knowing it’s not his specialty, I’d be perfectly comfortable letting Dr. Teabag treat me as a proctologist. After all, it takes an asshole to know one.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgec9WX21ik

And really, who could argue with this kind of reasoning?

“I am originally from Nicaragua, I run away from Communism. I realized that Communism does not work, Socialism does not work, and the death of America will be socialized medicine. That is so clear, because I came to this country looking for freedom, for the freedom to choose my own doctor, not for the government to tell me when to live and when to die!”

I’m normally not in the business of helping the teabaggers, but listen up, teabaggers, that quote above would make an excellent bumper sticker or rally button. You might have to bump down the font a bit, though.

From boston.com:

William Gunn is angry about big government, the bailouts, and especially the big health care package President Obama signed earlier this week — so much so, that the Western Massachusetts resident came all the way to Washington, DC and got himself arrested Sunday night after heckling lawmakers in the House gallery.

Gunn, by the way, works for the town of Palmer and administers federal grants for a living.

“It’s sort of ironic,” said the 48-year-old Gunn, who is scheduled to come back for a court appearance in the nation’s capital next month.

Gunn administers Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs), a federal program meant to spur local economic development.

“Absolutely, it is” a “big government” program, Gunn acknowledged. But “if I lost my job because they didn’t have it any longer, I’d be fine with that,” he said.

Full. Of. Shit.

The great political thinker also was worked up by “arrogant” House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi for walking through the gauntlet of sputtering (and, in one case, spitting) teabaggers “almost as if she was trying to incite people to do something,” boston.com reports. Because, you know, until that unprecedented provocation, it had been a peaceful, respectful gathering. (See video below.)

And, of course, if she and the other lawmakers had taken the underground tunnels from their offices to the Capitol, then they would been “cowards.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ3bNhSYG6Q

Here’s O’Reilly’s latest pathetic effort to position himself as the Christian holiday’s noble and heroic defender:

“We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term,” she told Sean Hannity.

Whoa. Roll back the tape.

“We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term,” she told Sean Hannity.

Perino made the comment during a conversation in which she suggested that by refusing to call the Fort Hood mass shootings a “terrorist attack,” President Obama may be playing politics.

“I hope they’re not looking at this politically. I do think that we owe it to the American people to call it what it is.”

Yes, because the political thing to do is not label the murders. The non-political thing to do is confer blame on all Muslims and then, I don’t know, maybe bomb Iran.