Sunday, September 25, 2011

Sunday Globe Special: The Health of the Perry Campaign

It's sick in more ways than one.

"A deep health care divide in Rick Perry’s Texas; The Lone Star State has the highest rate of uninsured residents in the nation. This has created a yawning gap between rich and poor for even basic treatment" by Tracy Jan Globe Staff / September 25, 2011

HOUSTON - Doctors recount horror stories of uninsured patients who die of treatable diseases because families delay seeking medical help or must endure long waits for appointments with specialists.

Dr. Katherine Yudeh King, a pediatrician at Ben Taub General Hospital, which serves a large uninsured population, said one of her patients, a 15-month-old boy, died from dehydration due to diarrhea because his family brought him to the hospital too late, assuming they could not afford care.

“This is the type of thing that happens in Somalia and other developing nations, not something that should happen in Houston,’’ said King, one of the founding members of Doctors for Change, a group that advocates for universal health care in Harris County.  

Also see the end of Somali Death March.  

Yes, it IS happening HERE!

Another uninsured patient, a 16-year-old boy, was repeatedly treated by emergency room doctors for chest pain because he did not have a primary care physician, King said. Doctors eventually discovered a tumor in his chest. The delay in care led to a more advanced cancer that was inoperable. The boy died within a year.

Other doctors tell of uninsured children dying from vaccine-preventable diseases such as influenza and hepatitis A, and patients being admitted into the emergency room for uncontrolled asthma and diabetes. Doctors here routinely see untreated infections of the ear, sinus, or tooth spreading to the brain, requiring surgery, and bone infections that result in permanent disability.

“This is an everyday occurrence,’’ said Dr. Claire Bocchini, another Houston pediatrician who specializes in infectious diseases and is president of Doctors for Change....

Instead of universal health coverage, Texas relies on a county-based patchwork system to care for the poor and uninsured. Operating in the shadows of the Texas Medical Center is a web of community clinics financed by a mix of county property taxes, private philanthropy, and government grants....

Gee, all of a sudden the Globe has discovered universal health care!

As underfunded as the state’s health safety net has been, conditions stand to worsen....  

Won't be helping Perry's bid for Prez then.

--more--" 

Ever get the feeling the Globe is working for Romney?

"Karl Rove persuaded Perry to become a Republican and take on Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower, a liberal Democrat with a national following....  

Related: The Wrath of Bush 

Oh, so the WHOLE TEXAS FEUD thang between W and Dick, 'er, Rick is a POLITICAL SHOW FOOLEY?

--more--"  

Also see:  Rove Reviews For Rick Perry 

House of Bush Converts to Mormonism

Romney's Law

Texas Shootout For Republican Nomination 

Yeah, SAME DIFFERENCE as we used to say!

"Poll shows Romney lead in N.H., Perry in fourth place

Rick Perry may have jumped to an early lead in national polls, but he trails far behind Mitt Romney in New Hampshire, where the former Massachusetts governor has added to an already commanding lead in the first-in-the-nation primary, according to a new Suffolk University/7NEWS poll.

The poll indicated that, despite Perry’s sudden burst onto the national scene, Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman stand a better chance of emerging as Romney’s chief rival in the Granite State.

Romney holds a 27-point lead in New Hampshire, with support from 41 percent of likely voters, up from 36 percent in June, when Suffolk last polled in New Hampshire.

Paul, the Texas congressman, is in second place with 14 percent, followed by Huntsman, the former Utah governor, with 10 percent. Both men have picked up 6 percentage points since June, signs of life for their campaigns which have not gained much national attention.  

Not good for Dick, 'er, Rick, sorry.

Perry, the Texas governor who has vaulted past Romney into the lead in national polls, is in fourth place in New Hampshire, backed by just 8 percent of those surveyed.

The rest of the field is polling in the single digits....

Despite criticism that he is too wealthy and wooden to connect with workaday voters, 68 percent of likely voters in the New Hampshire GOP primary said they think Romney “is comfortable around regular people.”

WTF kind of question is that?

And even though Romney has been criticized as a flip-flopper, voters were more likely to say he, and not the tough-talking Perry, will say what he believes, even if it is unpopular. Voters even said they would rather have a beer with Romney than with Perry, 49 percent to 29 percent. (Romney does not drink alcohol.) 

I'm feeling that way now as the football games get underway.

Perry shouldn't be drinking either, not if he's a born again, blah, blah.

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Maybe he needs a drink as his campaign implodes. 

Can't imagine why an idiot governor from the state of Texas isn't selling well, can you?