Is That an Amendment in Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy to See Me?
Sen. Ben Nelson’s controversial proposed amendment to prohibit federal funding of abortion was attacked by Sen. Barbara Boxer, who thinks it’s grossly unfair that women seeking abortions would be forced to purchase special riders but men wouldn’t be forced to obtain special riders for Viagra prescriptions. (Despite the fact that the Hyde Amendment already bans the use of federal funds for abortions.) Now I’m all for restricting 48-hour erections in 80-year-old men—the real culprits in hurting Grandma—but this particular comparison seems like a bit of a stretch. Anyway, is she suggesting that Cialis gets a free ride? Levitra? ExtenZe?
BOXER: “The men who have brought us this don’t single out a procedure that’s used by a man, or a drug that is used by a man, that involves his reproductive health care and say they have to get a special rider. There’s nothing in this amendment that says if a man some days wants to buy Viagra, for example, that his pharmaceutical coverage cannot cover it, that he has to buy a rider. I wouldn’t support that. And they shouldn’t support going after a woman using her own private funds for her reproductive health care. Is it fair to say to a man you’re going to have to buy a rider to buy Viagra and this will be public information that could be accessed? No, I don’t support that. I support a man’s privacy, just as I support a woman’s privacy.”
I support the right to privacy. God KNOWS I support the right to privacy. But come on. This argument is seriously lacking. I can totally see the bullshit of allowing pharmacists with certain “moral beliefs” to discriminate between filling a prescription for Viagra and not emergency contraception pills. (Of course, erectile dysfunction drugs are much better marketed.) But the liberals who are threatening to oppose the entire health care reform bill because of this amendment aren’t doing the rest of us any favors.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as it’s called in the Senate, will increase health care coverage of legal U.S. residents under 65 from 83 percent to roughly 94 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office, while making it easier and more affordable for the self-employed and small business owners. There will be a public option to compete with private insurance plans, although states can opt out. Insurers would no longer be able to deny coverage or charge higher premiums based on pre-existing conditions or gender. (That’s a biggie for someone like myself and my numerous pre-existing psychological conditions, including shyness and delusions of grandeur.) The Medicaid program will be expanded. And private insurance would still be able to cover abortion. Here’s a good side-by-side of the House and Senate plans.
So to derail the entire bill that would do much more good than harm because of one amendment that you strongly disagree with seems pretty stupid. Or at least that’s what I see from my perch.
Tagged: abortion, barbara boxer, ben nelson, viagra
Nate says:
I agree in principle, but not always in practice. As more people realize the far-reaching implications of the Stupak Amendment, its easy to see why Boxer is opposed to any more language on abortion when the Hyde Amendment already does exactly what Nelson says his language would do.
To understand just how stupid our United States senators are, you just have to look at what this Gang of 10 confab has been doing behind closed doors. Word is that the public option is dead because Ben Nelson and the Conservadems killed it. But to compromise with the progressives, they would allow people as young as 55 to buy into Medicare.
The liberal dream of a single-payer system was a non-starter at the outset. Now it is somehow the more conservative option because it is not called the “public option?”
Thank you Ben Nelson. Thank you Mary Landrieu. IF you weren’t such effing morons who didn’t know what you arguing about in the first place, Sen. Jay Rockefeller wouldn’t have been able to sneak in single-payer right under your noses and get you to agree to it.
Yay Democracy!
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potted meat says:
The only people more stupid than these Senators are the people who elected them.
The whole 2 Senators for every state deal has really gotten under my skin, since so many of the friggin’ idiots are from states with a population the size of Tyler.
If Texas had about 8 senators, maybe the new 6 could kick the 2 we have in the butt.
More than half the legislation in a long time has been decided by a bunch of bozos from these ‘states’ with a total population the size of 2 counties in Texas.
that ain’t right.
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Jed Reply:
December 8th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
if texas had 8 senators, the stupid contingent would be 6 bigger.
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Cindy A says:
Seems like the abortion issue is America’s Middle East. While the vast majority of us are firmly in the middle, the shrieking on the left and the right is horrendous.
The dirty secret? It’s not about abortion. It’s about contraception, the real way to prevent unwanted children. Because, obviously, abstinence just doesn’t work.
Personally, I agree with denying coverage for erectile dysfunction drugs, but for a totally different reason. They are recreational drugs and should be treated as such.
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Jed Reply:
December 8th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
i think the middle east is america’s middle east.
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potted meat says:
Don’t you mean ‘creational drugs’?
Naaa, I guess re-creation is correct as well.
So you think sex is recreational….Cindy, Cindy , Cindy…….GAWD hisself is looking down, doncha know…..
/Man, that Sarah P is more the Sportswoman than I thought.
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Rog says:
I think the lawmakers, in their infinite wisdom, should just pass on to the rest of us the same health care package each of them currently enjoys.
How tough could that be?
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Nate Reply:
December 9th, 2009 at 3:30 am
Because the public employee option which they enjoy offers a wide variety of plans with government subsidies and competition driving down costs.
Which of the plans to choose to give to us mere mortals would take until the next August Recess.
Oh, and keep your government hands off my Medicare! Rabble, rabble, rabble!
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Cindy A says:
Potted Meat — You are right. Sex might not be recreational for everyone, but I’m pretty sure it is for Viagra fans.
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potted meat says:
Darn: I was starting to take your POV:
Rush order mini trampoline and SPIN-O-MATIC ceiling swing (!) arrived about an hour ago.
Recreational sex, you see, I always just thought of as sportfxxxing…which I am in favor of…a quick look at the thesaurus for dumbasses rectified my view. yes yes, I know …self imcrimination, self depreciation….but hey no self esteem problems here.
Anyways, we doan need no stinkin’ viagras, although a Jamba Juice sounds pretty good about now.
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jean-mechelle says:
I can’t believe you made it all the way through this post without bringing up Gene Seaman’s brave stand a few years ago on the House floor. That’s self control.
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