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Bosworth Fibs Again, Claiming Canada Doesn’t Have Handheld Ultrasound Devices

Don't be fooled by Annette Bosworth's Noem-plagiarizing campaign video: the only thing she knows about farming is how to spread manure.

Vscan handheld ultrasound device, available in Canada.
Vscan handheld ultrasound device, available in Canada. Photo from Annette Bosworth, Facebook, 2013.09.29

On Facebook and apparently in airports, Bosworth shows off her $7,900 Vscan handheld ultrasound device. Dr. Bosworth, who is not an ob-gyn, claims she had the following interaction:

On a jet-plane. Shared my ultrasound with a Canadian Pregnant woman. Access to an ultrasound is not possible when there is no free market. She was fascinated [Annette Boswroth, Facebook post, 2013.09.29].

The young mother from Canada was fascinated that such technology existed ... Big government reduces the drive for innovation & competition found in our free market [Annette Bosworth, another Facebook post, 2013.09.29].

Perhaps the young mother for whom Bosworth shook out the contents of her medical bag was fascinated. But she was also naïve. Canada has handheld ultrasound devices. Canada licensed the Vscan ultrasound device at about the same time the United States did. A Vancouver hospital got them in 2010. This Canadian doctor tried it out and found the handheld device solid but too clunky for convenient portable use. Innovators in ultrasound technology have included Canadians, Germans, Brits, Norwegians, and others whose socialized health systems have helped them provide better care to expecting mothers for less money than it would cost in America.

Bosworth's identification as a Republican stems from opportunism, not principle. But she epitomizes one core GOP strategy: never let facts get in the way of a good ideological talking point.

16 Comments

  1. Jerry 2013.10.01

    Typical republican who cannot tell the truth. Very common in America and especially here in South Dakota. Of course I am not saying that all republicans lie, I am merely saying that they all do. The higher up the food chain, the bigger the whoppers with these guys and gals. The chicken little's of our time that really are making the sky fall down around our shoulders. A perfect world for them and their masters.

  2. tonyamert 2013.10.01

    Wow, she is freaking retarded. Japan's single payer health care system utilizes by far the most advanced medical devices. Nearly every clinic has an inhouse MRI, CT, etc.

  3. Chris Francis 2013.10.01

    We need to create a practical litmus test (if only for fun) to distinguish a real, functional, and honest campaign from what appears to be a scheme for personal financial and commercial gain. My first suggestion for the test would be to question rather the campaign website was first employed to introduce the candidate and their message, or was it first employed to promote a singular page effort to raise capital.

  4. Cranky Old Dude 2013.10.01

    Is Bosworth just the East River version of Rhoden: an attempt to siphon off some of the "Anybody But Rounds" vote?

  5. Cranky Old Dude 2013.10.01

    And while we're at it...that "core strategy" is hardly a Replubicrat exclusive. How about the guy who told me I could keep my insurance if I liked it? I got a letter yesterday telling me it was gone at the end of the year.

    My take is that letting politicans mess with important things is a lot like letting the developmently disabled handle explosives: you better keep a close watch on them or you're gonna have problems!

  6. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.10.01

    I'll bite, Cranky: Who sent you that letter? How exactly did you lose your insurance?

    Politicians should mess only with important things, things worthy of community deliberation and cooperative action.

  7. Cranky Old Dude 2013.10.01

    Humana. I have no idea. My health profile has not changed (In fact, rather good for Geezer who will be 70 next week) I am fully capable of managing my own affairs and not kindly disposed towards those who want to meddle in them-of either party.

  8. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.10.01

    Hmm... sorry to be snoopy, but is this Medicare supplemental insurance?

    We might need more information to determine whether you should be cranky at the President who said you could keep your coverage or at the insurance bean-counters who are choosing not to do business with you.

  9. Donald Pay 2013.10.01

    Cranky really doesn't give enough information to respond. Cranky, of course, if he is 70 as he states, would not be covered under Obamacare, so it seems he really doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.

    My experience is more typical. My employer sent me a letter that my employer-based health insurance was more than adequate to meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. I will probably go to the healthcare.com website just to compare. Since my HMO is a big supporter of Obamacare, I expect they have made their plans on the exchange competitive on the individual market, but whether they would beat my group policy, I doubt. Still, it's worth a look, but I can wait several weeks before my company has open enrollment.

  10. Donald Pay 2013.10.01

    Old Thunytoons is at it again. Thune offers no details, gives vague notions about what he alleges someone said. Hey, I talk to businesses every day and none of them have mentioned Obamacare as any part of hiring decisions. I'd like to know who that clown is Thune is referencing, because he's clearly not a good businessman.

  11. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.10.01

    healthcare.gov, Donald!

    Jana, you are correct: no fact, no verification, just peddling the meme. Just like Bosworth.

  12. Jana 2013.10.01

    Shame on KELOLAND for not asking any follow up questions-or without any facts- running the story.

  13. Cranky Old Dude 2013.10.02

    It was a Medicare Advantage plan. The Feds have been telling us for most of last three years that they would kill these plans (Mostly as a sop to AARP which supported ACA) and sure enough, for once, they were telling the truth! I am annoyed, even though I knew this was coming, because I feel like it is an un-warranted intrusion in my affairs. I took the time to find this insurance at a reasonable price on my own and was quite satisfied with it. ACA (Additional Codswallop Again) will affect all of us in one way or another. You got to admit, it is making for more interesting political news!

  14. Donald Pay 2013.10.02

    It's hard to tell if Cranky really doesn't have a clue, or if he's being ingenuous. Medicare Advantage is written one year at a time, and is really not Medicare, but private insurance subsidized by Medicare. Unlike Medicare, it is written differently every year by a number of different health insurers. It must include, at minimum, coverage that is similar to Medicare or better. Most are far better, and include dental insurance and other add ons that the people on Medicare don't receive. Because too much of the subsidies were going to prop up the high profits and salaries of private health insurers, the ACA decided to reign in some of that corporate welfare that health insurers were getting.

    The truth is Humana didn't decided to drop Cranky. It wrote health insurance on him for one year, and there is no guarantee that it will continue to write insurance for him or anyone else in subsequent years. Read the fine print on your policy. When you decide to purchase Medicare Advantage that is the chance you take.

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