Last updated on 2013.10.26
Hey, Eve! The Mitchell Daily Republic found that ad you were talking about!
Allen Unruh, Ben Van Deest, and other Sioux Falls area Tea Partiers need you to believe that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a Bolshevik plot. Their ad—so bad that even conservative pundit and prof Jon Schaff calls it "absurd," "dated," and "over the top"—tells Americans that the PPACA will take their privacy away and subject them to government control.
But they aren't describing the PPACA. Their ad more accurately describes the effects of Wisconsin's authoritarian fetal protection law:
When Alicia Beltran was 12 weeks pregnant, she took herself to a health clinic about a mile from her home in Jackson, Wis., for a prenatal checkup. But what started as a routine visit ended with Beltran eventually handcuffed and shackled in government custody – and at the center of a first-of-its-kind federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state’s fetal protection law [Daniella Silva, "Shackled and Pregnant: Wis. Case Challenges 'Fetal Protection' Law," NBC News, 2013.10.24].
Give your information to the doctor, end up in jail: sounds pretty Stalinesque, doesn't it, Allen?
Beltran had been hooked on Percocet. She got herself off the addiction before she went for her prenatal checkup. She gave the physician's assistant an honest account of what she'd done. Two weeks later, the cops hauled this pregnant woman out of her home and off to jail. At her first hearing, the state provided a lawyer for her fetus, but not for her.
At the center of Beltran’s case is a 1997 Wisconsin law that grants courts authority over the fetus of any pregnant woman who “habitually lacks self-control” with drugs and alcohol “to a severe degree” such that there is “substantial risk” to the unborn child. Beltran’s lawyers argue that she was not using any controlled substances at the time of her arrest [Silva, 2013.10.24].
Unruh's ad pretends to be concerned about constitutional rights and liberty. But Unruh has a long history of supporting laws that subject women to government control.
In cases like Beltran’s, “the woman loses pretty much every constitutional right we associate with personhood,” said Lynn Paltrow, executive director of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women and a co-counsel in Beltran’s case.
Experts say that criminal prosecutions of pregnant women, as well as forced drug or psychiatric treatment, have been on the rise in recent years in cases of suspected substance abuse, especially as some states adopt laws granting rights, or “personhood,” to fetuses [Silva, 2013.10.24].
Unruh and his cohort will surely purr that laws like Wisconsin's protect innocent babies. But such laws degrade women and make it harder for women to take care of their unborn children:
For Beltran, the consequences of her case have hit hard. Her family struggled to visit her regularly during her stint at Casa Clare Women’s Facility in Appleton, Wis., a two-hour drive from her home. After being away from work for an extended period, Beltran lost her job in the food service industry, according to her lawyers. She was released earlier this month, but with the case still open, she is still at risk of being taken into custody or ordered into further treatment, Paltrow said [Silva, 2013.10.24].
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is not a Marxist plot to take away your Constitutional rights. Fetal protection laws are... if you're a woman.
Unruh earned my contempt when I attended the final hearing of a legislative committee hearing in Pierre in either 2005-6. It was the committee appointed to work on an abortion law. It was the first abortion law that was referred and defeated. His behavior was so shameful I was appalled. He was dishonest, arrogant, belittling. He seemed to be devoid of ethics or even common decency. I was so disappointed and disillusioned by such reprehensible behavior at a State of South Dakota Legislative committee hearing.
Well no wonder, that tea bag Unruh dude looks like Glen Beck, you know the other anti-communist.
Let the baggers fight communism while the rest of world deals with reality.
Actually, fetal protection laws are Talibanistic (Is that a word?), whereas laws requiring an abortion are Marxist, like the Chinese ban on a second child. Pro-choice is the American way, because it empowers the women and her doctor and not the State.
Talibanical.
Thank you! But does that mean that something which is Marxist is actually Marxical?.... Now that is whimsical......
The ad makes its point in a silly way, and I believe in a very counterproductive way. (Note Schaff's commentary.)
Putting President Obama's picture in the commercial - tantamount to calling him a communist - is beyond the pale.
Tricare for all.
Reproductive rights exist only for rich women while women at lower income levels are breeder slaves to red states like South Dakota.
I'm surprised these people came out of their bunker to make this ad.
The ad calls for some parody TV-- an Unruh lookalike with pictures of Bozo the clown and an outhouse behind him. You can fill in the script.
Meanwhile, Rep. Noem goes to a socialist organization (a co-op) and talks about her support for socialistic policies (farm bill/subsidies).
I think that voters are beginning to sense that they can't have it both ways. If Obamacare is socialistic because it provides health insurance subsidies to low income people, then crop insurance subsidies for wealthy farmers are socialistic too. And disaster aid for uninsured and underinsured businesses is socialistic too. This idea that you're a socialist because you accept help but I'm not a socialist when I accept help is pretty hard to sustain.
The pairing of private business and government control is usually considered to be Facism-not Marxism.
The difference between your co-op and statism, is that nobody forces you to join a co-op. This argument is often used by folks who confuse society and community, which are voluntary, with various collective schemes which are not.
Here is the real threat to liberty, our medical field drying up. Soon there will be no doctors to treat us as they will no longer want to be in the field. Terrible news https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/358410/20131024.html
Oh wait, I was kidding. You know, with this Obamacare, we may even see more doctors in rural areas. What a hoot that would be. The more you know, the more there is to love.
If only we had representation in Washington and not obstructionism.
“At a time when the nation faces a shortage of more than 90,000 doctors by the end of the decade and millions are gaining access to health insurance, we are very glad that more students than ever want to become physicians. However, unless Congress lifts the 16-year-old cap on federal support for residency training, we will still face a shortfall of physicians across dozens of specialties,” said AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D. “Students are doing their part by applying to medical school in record numbers. Medical schools are doing their part by expanding enrollment. Now Congress needs to do its part and act without delay to expand residency training to ensure that everyone who needs a doctor has access to one.” From aamc.org
Gibiliscare for all.
Do we put the dash between the "s" and the "c" or between the "i" and the "s"? ... That is the question.
I, for one, would much rather trust to Gibiliscare. Indeed. And I bet the web site works better.
I think that you should trust Gibilscare with much enthusiasm, a perfect fit for the doubtful. Me, I think not. Also, who says you have to use the web site?
This is GibilisCare. Or, rather, StanGibilisCare (some of my kin will disagree with me).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpNP4N-T01k
We call that Medicare Stan, you described Medicare completely. You are on the correct track though. Keep working on it. The $100.00 deductible is now on what is called "Cost Plans"
Funny about that shortage of Docs. Who is it again that dictates the number of docs we can have? It certainly isn't limited by the number of smart people we have. The shortage is artificial.
That is another reason why this Obamacare is such a big deal. As noted in my post,
However, unless Congress lifts the 16-year-old cap on federal support for residency training, we will still face a shortfall of physicians across dozens of specialties,” said AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D. “Students are doing their part by applying to medical school in record numbers. Medical schools are doing their part by expanding enrollment. Now Congress needs to do its part and act without delay to expand residency training to ensure that everyone who needs a doctor has access to one.” From aamc.org
No one seems to question the health care industry and why the costs of care are so high. We just go along with them like they are some kind of special folks that bill honestly and therefore, we must pay. If the illusion is that there are not enough doctors to take care of us, I think we get a little skittish about questioning what they do. Here is a chance to put more docs in the pipeline and give ourselves better and more economical services.
Jerry, your point highlights yet another hypocritical action by the GOP. Imagine that...they are against the free market...again.
Kind of like limiting the number of insurance companies allowed in SD to help drive PPACA rates down through free market principals like they are in other states. ***sigh***
Just saw the KSFY story on this ad. Unruh is a moron. More whining and no solution. Typical Tea Bagger.
http://www.ksfy.com/story/23793524/new-sd-ad-compares-healthcare-to-communism
Jana, NOem and the rest of those in the Model T Party are against the free market, without a doubt. You have nailed it completely. When they want to shut down the government and default on our outstanding bills, that is the door closing on the free market. They are in fact, practicing the Communist manifesto, and if they would have succeeded in their coup, we would be looking at the bourgeois exploiting the proletariat through more wealth in private hands. Think of NOem's bosses the Koch Brothers and you get the idea, and even they finally had to put the brakes on. NOem did not get the message though, probably on the cell phone.
It is no accident that NOem and those that hate democracy want to see Obamacare fail. By its failure, they can then say that government does not work and that by giving them the upper hand of private ownership, they can deliver us to the promised land.
We have 33 plans in the marketplace and we have this one other thing, the 80% rule of loss ratio. Whatever the insurance companies collect, they must pay out 80% to actual claims. I know that we will see these premiums drop because of that. Stay tuned and check it out. You do not need to use the web site either, try the call center, it's all good.
Check out who Unruh is with his energy medicine. Of course, he hates Obamacare because when you have real health insurance coverage, his energy medicine practice will drop. Why not go to a real doctor and to get yourself fixed up instead of whatever he is talking about. If you want to get shocked, stick a screwdriver in the wall socket and hang on. Obamacare is a fly in this dudes ointment and he is worried about his own pocketbook, not about yours.
According the this new Wisconsin report, Minnesota is once again leading the pack in how to get things done in a businesslike way. So once again, Minnesota shows why there is no need to leave the state to do business in South Dakota. Why on earth would you leave a place that cares for its people and come to a place that spits on them?
http://www.citizenactionwi.org/report_mn_wi
This report shows the difference and why the difference of premium amounts in the two states of Minnesota and Wisconsin. If we needed further proof that the Medicaid increase would be so dramatic, here is that proof. There is a Bolshevik plot only in the minds of the Model T Party and other extreme right wing misogynists. The more noise they make and the more ridiculous they act, the more you should look behind the curtain and see them for what they are. They are doing it for their own personal gain and to keep enriching themselves on your hard work and sacrifice, the true new republican way. Find out for yourselves and don't get discouraged, you have plenty of time to get enrolled to save yourself a lot of money both in premiums and exposure.