Republican Michigan Rep. Bill Huizenga, the guy who let his child suffer overnight with a broken arm because he didn’t think it was worth a trip to the emergency room, now says he probably shouldn’t have used that incident as an example for how to achieve health care reform. You think?
A conservative GOP lawmaker says he “made a poor choice of words” when citing a decision to delay treatment of his son’s broken arm to point out the benefits of a health care system in which consumers bear a greater share of out-of-pocket costs. [...]
Huizenga said in an interview with The Associated Press Wednesday that using the experience of his son’s broken arm was a bad example to cite and that the cost of an emergency room visit didn’t play a role in his decision as a parent. Huizenga’s family is covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield, he said.
Oh, that makes it so much better—he didn’t really have a good reason at all for not getting his kid’s broken arm treated immediately. Cost had nothing to do with it. That’ll make his kid feel just great. If this asshole was a black, single, and homeless mom instead of a Republican congressman, he’d be arrested for child neglect.
The larger point, he says, still holds. “We as consumers and users of this need to get better acquainted with what are the true costs.” In other words, people are using too damned much health care and shouldn’t get any help from anybody to pay for it.