Man Dies: Slimebag Gov. Bredesen Saves Money Via Medicaid Cuts

[Egalia]

If the TN Dem Party can't come up with anybody better than Bredesen, we are screwed, cuz I don't know anyone who will vote for the slimebag.
--
An East Tennessee man's lack of needed medicines — which had been capped by TennCare — was a contributing factor to his death last month, his doctor found, noting it on the death certificate."

"On August 1, they cut everything down to five prescriptions, and he had been on 12, 13 counting the insulin,'' said . "There was no way I could pay $700 out for medicine. I didn't have it. If I did, I would have.''

In the same article, the doctor makes the point that the man was seriously ill and it was the illness that caused his death. Yes, but in the advanced nations of the world seriously ill people take meds in order to stay alive.

http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2005/09/man-dies-slimebag-gov-bredesen-saves.html

[raccoon]

1. That is disgusting, not just the TennCare caps, but

also the way drug companies hold up American consumers, and that this country has no national health plan.

I wonder how many others there are like this man that we never hear about, who died because they couldn't afford the prescriptions they needed.

[Egalia]

3. Plenty die,

Now that we have the internets and since there has been so much organizing in opposition to this DINO's cuts, people are going to hear about some of the deaths.

Who needs Democrats like this? I expect TN to go Republican next year, and it will be due to slimebag Bredesen.

[sweetladybug]

5. Well the way I see it is, the Republicans here in TN has caused this

problem with TNCare. God fore bid if Bredesen raised taxes on the wealthiest Tennesseans (the republican run radio station's mouthpieces would be on Bredesen like flies on shit. They would be yelling at the top of their lungs to everyone listening to them, to go and protest a tax increase)So if the wealthiest people in the USA don't have to pay their share of taxes the only option is to start cutting social programs. So put the blame where it belongs, right back in the face of Stupid Republicans that are poor (which are uninsured, can't afford housing and with low paying job with no benefits)these folks are judgmental, prejudice, gun tot-en and CLAIM to be compassionate christians. These people really really piss me off. But I quess we all need to remember that this country might go straight down the shitter and the most needy in this country are the ones paying dearly with their lives but at least gays can't marry. (BUT,I quess that is the most important thing in the United States of America) So blame Republicans not Bredesen, he is doing all that he can and he'll continue to fight for the needy in this state.

[jojog]

6. This Tennessean

agrees with you Sweet Lady.

[asjr]

7. Right on Ladybug.! Our dear

former governor, Republican Sundquist, let TNcare slide to the point there was not much money left. For those of you bitching about Bredesen, find out the truth before you speak.

[FreedomAngel82]

8. Why doesn't he raise the top one percent tax's?

Wouldn't that help?

[SharonAnn]

9. He'd have to get an Income Tax passed to do that. There's no

way of taxing the top 1% now. Just sales taxes, property taxes, user fees, and the Hall's tax on dividen income (but that's not necessarily the top percent).

[sweetladybug]

10. There is no state income tax in TN and the Republicans will NEVER

agree to pass an income tax (especially on the richest folks in TN) We'll just have to let the sick and poor die (which is so sad and this breaks my heart). MONEY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD TO THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN OUR COUNTRY! THE SICK AND POOR JUST DOESN'T MATTER TO THESE RICH FOLKS (and they want to call themselves compassionate christians) God will remember these people when their time comes to be judged by him.

[indepat]

2. It's not just Bredesen but the wave of the future for Medicaid and Medicare

I might add: what we are likely to see is large scale euthanasia fostered by the neocon-type-policies of the Federal government on the really sick, but poor, IMHO, be they on either Medicaid or Medicare.

[raccoon]

4. I'm afraid you're right about that.

These same dickheads, who cry or pretend to cry large tears about Terri Shiavo and embryos, have no tears to shed for a cases like this.

[Egalia]

11. Maybe

we should seek asylum in Canada. We could ask them to take the weak and suffering, the tired and sick teemless masses or however that thing on the Statute of Liberty goes. It's just frickin amazing how all these other countries can take care of their people, but not this country.

Since Bredesen ran on the campaign promise to "fix" Tenncare, he does deserve blame. He presented himself as an expert. Any idiot can 'fix' Tenncare by making cuts that end up killing people. This drastic measure was not the only way.

[SharonAnn]

12. He had alternatives, but they were not permitted. Gordon Bonneyman

is a liberal lawyer who has sued TennCare for years over various coverage issues, would not permit any alterations to his agreements and various court judgments. So, since there could not be any changes without changing the entire program and moving back towards the minimum required by Federal law, that was what had to be done.

Bredesen came up with several alternatives that would've covered more people that this solution covers, but he couldn't get Gordon Bonneyman to agree to any of them or to negotiate in good faith. Mr. Bonneyman appears to be satisfied with throwing the baby out with the bathwater, rather than trying adjust the bathwater.

[Egalia]

13. Yeah,

that's exactly what Bredesen says, it's all Gordon Bonneyman's fault.

The last time I looked both the TN Justice Center and the TN Healthcare Campaign websites were linking to academic work that disagreed with Bredesen.

Bonneyman is a brilliant man who could have spent his life making lots of money. Instead he spent his life doing nonprofit work on behalf of the poor, the sick, and the disabled. He rides the bus to work everyday. If Gordon Bonneyman outwitted the hotshot millionaire Governor who devoted his life to making a profit, then obviously the wrong man is governor.

[tnlefty]

14. I like Bonneyman, but I still have to ask: when you live in a state

where voters vote to cut their own throats, what do you do? Bredesen stated that to come up with the funds for TNCare without increased revenue (income tax would get him thrown out on his ass in a heartbeat) then the funding would have to come from education funding and he wasn't going to go down that road. The schools that my kids are in have gone downhill since Bush** and NCLB, and when the locals don't want to increase local taxes to take care of their own, repugs will crucify anyone who mentions an income tax, we have a huge, regressive sales tax, please tell me what is the answer?!?!

I'll admit that I've wanted to get the hell out of this state for the past 6 yrs. 'cause I don't see things improving much and I think that my kids deserve better than to be living in a state where people cut their own throats and ours along with theirs.