In “news that you could have predicted”, everyone’s favorite “libertarian”, Rand Paul, is headed to Canada for hernia surgery.
www.courier-journal.com/…
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, one of the fiercest political critics of socialized medicine, will travel to Canada later this month to get hernia surgery.
Paul, an ophthalmologist, said the operation is related to an injury in 2017 when his neighbor, Rene Boucher, attacked him while Paul was mowing his lawn. The incident left Kentucky's junior senator with six broken ribs and a bruised lung.
I think my main issue with this is that Rand Paul and others claim that the “free market” is what we need for healthcare innovation. Obviously, as we can see here a private facility can be innovative within a broader universal coverage system.
Rand Paul was most recently famous for being beaten to a pulp by his neighbor. Rene Boucher was sentenced to 30 days in prison for pummeling the senator from Kentucky.
Sen. Rand Paul's neighbor was sentenced Friday to 30 days on a federal charge of assaulting a member of Congress.
Rene Boucher, 58, is also facing one year of supervised release and 100 hours of community service, according to Tim Horty of the U.S. District Attorney's Office in Indianapolis. Boucher has been ordered not to make contact with Paul or his family and he must pay a $10,000 fine.
It’s a fairly expensive procedure. I read about Shouldice years ago in one of Atul Gawande’s books. It would either have been “Surgery” or “Complications”. I recommend his books if you’re interested in healthcare stuff.
The procedure is estimated to cost anywhere from $5,000 to $8,000, according to court documents. MDsave.com lists a hernia repair costing between $4,000 and $8,000.
Shouldice Hernia Hospital markets itself as "the global leader in non-mesh hernia repair," according to the clinic's website.
Rand Paul has had some harsh things to say about universal coverage. For instance, in 2011, he said that it’s just like slavery to think that we have a right to healthcare.
With regard to the idea whether or not you have a right to health care ... It means you believe in slavery," Paul said in 2011.
If you follow Rand’s logic, then Senator Rand Paul is doing business with a country which has legalized slavery. But, since every other developed nation besides the US has universal coverage, it seems like he really should be staying here and getting lower quality work done. That’s just the price of “freedom” in US healthcare.
Rand Paul’s spokesperson blurted out lame talking points when asked about the issue.
“This is more fake news on a story that has been terribly reported from day one — this is a private, world renowned hospital separate from any system and people come from around the world to pay cash for their services,” Cooper said in an email to the Courier Journal.
Two other notes-
Ron Paul’s campaign manager sadly suffered from cancer. He unfortunately left behind a large bill, but when they tried to have a charity drive to pay it off, they came up short of the goal. The debt became someone else’s problem.
When he died on June 26, 2008, two weeks after Paul withdrew his first bid for the presidency, his hospital costs amounted to $400,000. The bill was handed to Snyder's surviving mother (pictured, left), who was incapable of paying. Friends launched a website to solicit donations.
They started a donation fund, but after a few weeks only had $32,000 dollars.
I was diagnosed with epilepsy in 1992 or so. I was 21 years old, and had never been insured in my life.
So I tried to follow the advice I was given. I tried to buy insurance. The insurance company told me that they wouldn’t sell me any insurance, because I had a pre-existing condition. As a result, I spent the next four years as an untreated epileptic, before finally graduating and getting a job as a teacher.
This is what I wrote in my journal.