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Pro-Reform Doctor Wants Critics to Forgo Medicare
Washington Post ^ | Monday, September 7, 2009 | Stephen Dinan

Posted on 09/07/2009 9:38:34 AM PDT by nickcarraway

Mississippian's challenge to opponents to burn their cards called 'very cynical'/B>

Oppose a government health care plan? A Jackson, Miss., doctor wants you to put your convictions on the line by burning your mother's Medicare card.

It's the reverse of the challenge many citizens have been issuing to their own members of Congress to forgo the health care plans they get by dint of working for the government and buy into the "public option" plan instead.

"I want to have a demonstration - Boston Tea Party-like - and burn those cards," said Dr. Aaron Shirley, who has done extensive work in trying to extend health care to the uninsured.

His challenge is just one of the ones that's been made to lawmakers as they fanned out across the country this summer to make the case for or against a government overhaul of health care. Skeptical voters repeatedly demanded that their members of Congress live by the principles they espouse.

For Democrats who support President Obama's plan to have the government sponsor a "public option" health insurance plan, voters demanded that the lawmakers themselves buy into that government plan.

That challenge by-and-large has been deflected by lawmakers, who say they choose from among a number of plans and say the key is to give options to everyone.

"This is about choice, you understand? It's not about mandating a choice for anybody," Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi Democrat, told a woman who challenged him last week to buy into the public option plan at a town-hall meeting in Jackson.

"I choose your plan," the woman said, to which Mr. Thompson replied, "Well, that's fine - run for Congress.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Mississippi
KEYWORDS: halthcare; medicare; obama
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1 posted on 09/07/2009 9:38:35 AM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway
Except that enrollment in Medicare is mandatory if one wants to be able to collect on their Social Security.
2 posted on 09/07/2009 9:40:45 AM PDT by Excellence (Meet your new mother-in-law, the United States Government)
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To: nickcarraway

Then we don’t have to pay into Medicare right???


3 posted on 09/07/2009 9:41:48 AM PDT by GeronL (http://libertyfic.proboards.com ............. http://tyrannysentinel.blogspot.com)
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To: nickcarraway

Half the wealth in America is owned by those over 65. Medicare is just another handout to the wealthy under the guise of politically correct ‘caring’.


4 posted on 09/07/2009 9:43:20 AM PDT by aimhigh
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To: nickcarraway

I will burn my s.s. card and my medicare if they refund my money with interest.


5 posted on 09/07/2009 9:44:06 AM PDT by Lysander (Don't stand where I told you to stand. Stand where I told you to stand.)
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To: nickcarraway
Hey, "doctor"--give me back all the medicare taxes I've paid over the years, plus appropriate interest, and I will gladly forgo medicare.

You phoney unethical smirk-faced a-holes never want to face the real deal--that we didn't sign up for this voluntarily, we didn't have the choice in the first place.

But since we've already been forced to pay for it, heck yes we'll take it.

6 posted on 09/07/2009 9:44:53 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard (truth--the liberal's kryptonite.)
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To: GeronL

“Then we don’t have to pay into Medicare right???”

Starve the beast!! Tax avoidance is legal!


7 posted on 09/07/2009 9:45:04 AM PDT by timetostand
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To: aimhigh

Medicare is a handout?

Who paid into Medicare?

Who pays $96 per month for Medicare once they reach 65?

Half the wealth is owned by those over 65?

So Gates, Forbes, Kennedy, and the tech company owners are all over 65?


8 posted on 09/07/2009 9:48:35 AM PDT by Carley (OBAMA IS A MALEVOLENT FORCE IN THE WORLD)
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To: nickcarraway

FINE BY ME!!!!!

Give me back all my FORCED medicare taxes (with interest) and we will CALL IT EVEN.

I will take the SAME DEAL with social security.


9 posted on 09/07/2009 9:48:42 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: nickcarraway

No problem, give me my money back at 5% compunded and I’ll forgo Social Security, Medicare and the can keep the flag from my future demise as well.


10 posted on 09/07/2009 9:50:19 AM PDT by jwalsh07 (CommieCare: Need a Stent, Take a Red Pill. Next!)
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To: nickcarraway
These are specious arguments. First, once a program exists, and people are paying into it in some manner, it becomes part of their plans for the future. If Medicare did not exist, people would have made other plans, and private options would have arisen to fill this gap. In my view, people and the country would have been much better off with something other than Medicare.

Second, Medicare is bankrupting hospitals and care givers, and contributing significantly to the costs of private insurance. Medicare pays only a fraction of the real costs of care, and hospitals try to recoup the loses somewhat by shifting costs to those with private insurance.

Here's a nice example from a thread here earlier..
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2332980/posts?page=3

11 posted on 09/07/2009 10:05:34 AM PDT by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: GeronL

Even more, get a refund of all the money they payed in. I think most people would burn their cards if that was the deal.


12 posted on 09/07/2009 10:05:50 AM PDT by DManA
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To: nickcarraway
"I choose your plan," the woman said, to which Mr. Thompson replied, "Well, that's fine - run for Congress."

Clever retort. Too clever by half. By saying that, Thompson acknowledges that it's perfectly acceptable for differences to exist in health plans. Totally undercuts his position that everyone must have the same coverage. Well, everyone who is not him and the rest of Congress.

13 posted on 09/07/2009 10:09:23 AM PDT by Dahoser (The missus and I joined the NRA. Who says Obama can't inspire conservatives?)
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To: nickcarraway

OK, then pay me back all the money you took from my paychecks as Medicare deductions, with appropriate interest, and I’ll take care of my own healthcare.


14 posted on 09/07/2009 10:09:43 AM PDT by JimRed ("Hey, hey, Teddy K., hot enough down there today?" TERM LIMITS, NOW AND FOREVER!)
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To: nickcarraway

I would opt out of the Medicare system today if—
1) all my Medicare taxes were returned plus interest compounded at the T-bill rate
2) I could spend the money, pre-tax, on my own healthcare; or I could use the money anyway way I want after-tax

This is a choice we will never get. After the Democrats get through with health-care, our choices will be very-limited (the law will define what must be in your coverage, the government will run even private insurance by proxy). There is a story that a customer asked Henry Ford for a choice in car color, Ford responded, “You can have any color you want as long as it is black or tan.”


15 posted on 09/07/2009 10:17:49 AM PDT by wfu_deacons
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To: nickcarraway

Burn my mother’s medicare card? Here’s a radical thought: How about we let my mother decide for herself? That would be true choice, the exact element missing from HR3200, and any other version of liberal government-decided health care.


16 posted on 09/07/2009 10:28:53 AM PDT by DPMD (~)
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To: wfu_deacons

This Dr. Shirley sounds like another Black Marxist Rev Wright. I’ll bet this Dr. Shirley is running some scams of his own in the name of ‘free’ healthcare to the po’....time for a little investigation on this tool!


17 posted on 09/07/2009 10:59:35 AM PDT by iopscusa (El Vaquero. (SC Lowcountry Cowboy))
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To: Lysander
I will burn my s.s. card and my medicare if they refund my money with interest.

I'll do the same as long as the payment is in inflation-adjusted dollars or an equal value in gold! We'll both be rich!

18 posted on 09/07/2009 11:35:55 AM PDT by Bernard Marx ("Civilizations die by suicide, not from murder" Toynbee)
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People on Medicare have worked and paid into the system for years to be eligible for it. They also pay a monthly premium. Medicare isn’t required to draw Social Security, but if they have it the premium is automatically deducted from their monthly check. This moron should lead the way by burning his medical license. It would make as much sense.


19 posted on 09/07/2009 1:06:55 PM PDT by KarinG1 (You're just jealous because the voices don't talk to you.)
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To: socialismisinsidious


Socialized Medicine aka Universal Health Care daily digest PING LIST

FReepmail me if you want to be added to or removed from this daily digest ping list.




20 posted on 09/07/2009 4:50:37 PM PDT by socialismisinsidious ( The socialist income tax system turns US citizens into beggars or quitters!)
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