Wamp: Health Care Is Closer To A Privilege Than A Right

25 Responses to “Wamp: Health Care Is Closer To A Privilege Than A Right”

1. BrassAss writes
   March 5th, 2009 12:46 pm

   And you get nearly-unrivaled health care coverage on our dime. F**k you, Zach Wamp.

2. Davy writes
   March 5th, 2009 1:55 pm

   This is the same Zach Wamp who said on the floor of Congress after the 2006 elections that the people we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are a greater threat than our opponents in World War II.

   Where is Wamp’s son? Volunteering in the US military?

   Hardly.

   He’s an official staff member on his dad’s campaign.

   Poor Wamp. The more he opens his mouth, the more votes he’ll lose.

3. Ft. Campbell Dem writes
   March 5th, 2009 2:58 pm

   Thank God, this idiot has no chance of being our next Governor.

4. Tom Paine writes
   March 5th, 2009 5:11 pm

   Wamp channels Yogi Berra on health care: “…if the uninsured don’t wanna buy health insurance, there’s nothing you can do to stop them…”

   What this dimwit doesn’t understand is that there’s a cost to having so many people uninsured. They still get sick, they still show up at the emergency room, hospitals are still required to treat them.

   And we (the insured) pay for that, Zach. We pay for it to the tune of 16% of GDP and growing!

   So, instead of giving the finger to those without health insurance, why don’t you use what little gray matter you have left after your coke-addled youth and try to come up with a workable solution, eh?

   The status quo is not an answer.

5. Chris writes
   March 6th, 2009 6:00 am

   It’s a privilege,eh? How do you explain that we are one of the wealthiest nations in the world and yet we are one of the countries to NOT have some kind of insurance plan for the uninsured?

   Most of the folks I have met in TN, DO NOT have the option for Health Insurance. It’s simply not offered by the employer or the plan is so bad they have no choice but to take it. Walmart is a good example of a company that cheats it’s workers by making them work 35 hours a week so they do not qualify for Full time benefits…

6. Sara writes
   March 6th, 2009 6:16 am

   That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Of course they chose not to have it, because they can’t AFFORD to have it and still eat and have a place to live. Are you sure this guy isn’t still using?

7. Kosh iii writes
   March 6th, 2009 8:30 am

   Typical GOP rhetoric from a member of the priviledged class: I’ve got mine; fork you.

8. Conservative Dem writes
   March 6th, 2009 8:33 am

   Can anyone show me in the Constitution where it says that you have a right to healthcare? If you can’t afford healthcare, then educate yourself and become competitive in the job market and earn a better paying job that has health care benefits. If you choose not to better yourself, then do not expect me to take care of you.

9. Idahoser writes
   March 6th, 2009 8:34 am

   It’s not a privilege or a right. It is the output of someone else’s labor that you can purchase or not. Like gasoline, booze or corn chips, you buy it if you can afford to and you want it; you do without or beg if you can’t.
   I want you proponents of destroying the last great country on earth to really understand, before you make one more idiotic comment about ‘rights’ that do not appear in the Constitution, that forcing doctors to work on your terms is slavery. Now you might accomplish it for a while, but when the next generation of doctors come along, who couldn’t make a living any other way than working for gov’t run health care, you’re not going to like having no free country you can run to no matter how much money you have. Not to mention, of course, the poor you claim to care so much about.
   You commies are making the mistake of the millenium killing the last free country. STOP IT.

10. Jim Dryson writes
    March 6th, 2009 8:36 am

    Womp is a dangerous dude. Is that really how he sounds or was NBC speeding up the audio?

11. Jim Dryson writes
    March 6th, 2009 8:36 am

    Go nekkid????

12. Jim Dryson writes
    March 6th, 2009 8:38 am

    And those caterpillars crawling above his eyes are distracting.

13. localboy writes
    March 6th, 2009 9:09 am

    The congressman is so transparent in trying to find the right buttons to push to motivate a select group - the mortgage deduction (the realtor lobby), charitable deductions (non profit fundraisers), small businesspeople (the chamber of commerce) - yet I don’t really see how he addresses the needs of the majority of his district by using propaganda to remain in power.

14. localboy writes
    March 6th, 2009 9:14 am

    I’m all for cutting the budget line item for health care, if the funds freed up in this manner are applied towards education - evidence of the need is no more apparent than witnessed here in some of the comments posted to this story.

15. Larry writes
    March 6th, 2009 10:01 am

    Wamp has his health insurance, at our expense, so everyone else can eat cake. Typical GOP nearsightedness and the reason their “tent” is so small. I hope the people that elected this idiot read this article.

16. Jeff Johnson writes
    March 6th, 2009 10:49 am

    Most of these dolts commenting on Zack’s statements are bums who want to lay back and have the government take care of them. No country that has socialized there health care system likes the results. Those are substandard care, long waits, high infection rates in hospitals and many other problems too numerous to name.

17. Marie Moore writes
    March 6th, 2009 10:55 am

    I worked for a member in Congress, and their insurance is paid, plus when they leave Congress they are paid enough retirement to purchase their own insurance. With the mess the Republican party has left our economy in, it’s someone who is totally out of touch with the working class and people who pay taxes to pay for Wamp’s insurance, to make such a statement. It takes money to have insurance, job or no job, and today, the majority of people don’t have jobs or incomes. If one of his children, brothers, sisters, parents, or anyone else that he loves were in the position so many of our citizens in this country, would he still feel the same? I doubt it very seriously. Grow up Wamp, and get in touch with reality for a change. I’m glad I saw his comment, as I was thinking I might vote for him. NO MORE!

18. DG writes
    March 6th, 2009 10:57 am

    Jeff, when medical insurance is tied to employment, the unemployment rate is rising dramatically, and COBRA premiums are unaffordable for people drawing unemployment insurance compensation, what are people supposed to do when they’re sick?

    Seriously, THINK about that. Don’t rely on worn-out rants against socialized medicine: what are people who work hard but lose their jobs through no fault of their own supposed to do for health care?

19. loulou writes
    March 6th, 2009 11:08 am

    Get Real!!! Screw healthcare in the Constitution - as Americans we have the right to LIFE, LIBERTY, AND PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS! Right now I have a close friend dying from Cancer - she worked everyday. Where? In a doctor’s office - SURPRISE - insurance wasn’t offered and she still could not afford it! So where is she now? In the hospital, uninsured, dying of cancer AND with no hope of receiving chemo - they have denied her chemo because she is uninsured! It is time for many of you to do a reality check and think about what you saying and realize that Wormy Wamp is a Dumba**!

20. jfarris writes
    March 6th, 2009 11:46 am

    Yea, im with the majority of you wamp is crazy. But, the people that I really question are those who think people who don’t have “good jobs” are those who haven’t “worked” to have them. There are millions of educated hard working people (i have a grad degree) out of work. Not because of a lack of education or desire, but a lack of opportunity. I would love to get my money back for all the tuition expenses and fees I spent to go to college but I cant. The sad reality is if I get sick, because we are in the good ole USA, I will be cared for at a ridiculous cost and will not be able to pay for it. So some will pay more for their care to also pay for mine. We could just do that on the front end and get it over with. We are all created equal so we all have the same basic expectation to live a happy healty life. I mean lets be realistic what we’re saying is we have the technology, the facilities, the people, to save lives and improve their quality, but because the people who use them might have to do so at a reduced rate that is a problem. Didnt you jerks learn to share??

21. DG writes
    March 6th, 2009 12:22 pm

    “So some will pay more for their care to also pay for mine.”

    Aside from the ad hominems, this is the key point.

    Look, we’re not going to have a society where sick people without insurance are going to be left for dead. I honestly believe that most, possibly all, conservatives agree with that basic point. Whether you call health care a “right” or not is immaterial. What does matter is how we, as a society, pay for health care for those who don’t have insurance as a work benefit. As the previous poster noted, we are collectively paying for it anyway. How can it be done in such a way as to minimize the costs stemming the fact that emergency rooms have become the first treatment option for the uninsured ill, without lowering the standard of care for the currently insured?

    That’s an actual problem that can’t be dismissed by rhetoric against socialized medicine. Fine, let’s NOT have a single payer system. Let’s NOT ration care. Those efficiencies may not be acceptable. But what can be done to make the current mess, and it is a mess, more effective?

22. Citizen Netmom » Health Care Heartburn writes
    March 6th, 2009 1:21 pm

    [...] Care Heartburn This morning’s video of Zach Wamp’s appearance on MSNBC regarding the President’s plans for universal health care was a little jarring — even [...]

23. Welfare writes
    March 7th, 2009 4:14 pm

    Just keep thinking thank god I am healthy and a working individal BUT if the day ever comes that you are no longer healthy unable to work and uninsured–see how the Good Ole USA treats you. It could happen to you.

    We keep wasting time on blaming those who don’t work, lazy, uneducated etc. Did you know that those are the ones who qualify for taxpayers Welfare–now does it make sense to give to those who are accustomed to taxpayers welfare and a Worker gets nothing in the end but a Bill? Makes no sense.

24. Welfare writes
    March 7th, 2009 4:17 pm

    Just to prove my point Nadya Suleman she now has 14 children plus herself. The taxpapers whether they like or not will be paying for her, her children, and her decision. Those kids will receive the best education, healthcare, and housing that money can by–It’s called Taxpayer Welfare.

25. Weekly News Round-Up « Women’s Health News writes
    March 8th, 2009 11:20 am

    [...] Beale, a fellow TN resident, offers the reaction. Lots of comments over at Post Politics, [...]