"Good news and bad news" emerged from a hastily assembled Census Bureau news conference on the topic of health insurance this morning. "The good news is that the number of uninsured Americans has dropped for the sixth straight month," Steven Barner told reporters. "The bad news is that more uninsured Americans have died for the sixth straight month, too."
Barner defended the Bush Administration policy of allowing uninsured Americans to die as a means of reducing both health care costs and the number of uninsured citizens.
"It shows we're doing something," Barner said.
More than 45 million Americans lack health insurance, but Barner said this was "primarily their own fault. I mean, did President Bush go to their jobs and get them fired so they wouldn't be insured? We're Republicans, yes, but we would never go that far."
Barner said that the greater crisis in America was "the lack of willingness for people to take personal responsibility for their health care. If you eat right, get enough exercise and sleep, you shouldn't need to see a doctor in the first place. I don't see Chinese factory workers complaining about not having health care. Why are Americans whinier than people who make eleven cents an hour?"
Barner said that if enough uninsured Americans die of illnesses between now and the end of the year, "We could bring down the total number of uninsured to a level that even Teddy Kennedy would find acceptable. But that's not going to happen if they get treatment. We all need to work together to make this approach to health care a success."
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