President Obama calls Sandra Fluke

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Earlier this afternoon, Sandra Fluke received a personal phone call from President Obama, two days after she was called a "slut" on Rush Limbaugh's radio show. Ms Fluke attends the prestigious Georgetown University (a Jesuit school) and its president released earlier today a letter of support for Ms. Fluke, strongly critical of Mr. Limbaugh's comments, calling them "vile and misogynistic." Ms. Fluke broke the news about her call from the President during an interview on Andrea Mitchell's show. Fluke was the woman who was to testify before the Republican House Committee hearing but was denied by Darryl Issa, who instead had an all male panel testify on the subject of birth control and freedom of religion. A week later, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi held a non-binding hearing and asked Ms. Fluke to appear. Rush Limbaugh went on the offensive on his radio show and "...demanded that Fluke release tapes of her having sex in exchange for the contraception that she argued should be covered by employers." Fluke said the President's phone call was completely unexpected and added "What was really personal for me was that he said to tell my parents that they should be proud. And that meant a lot because Rush Limbaugh questioned whether or not my family would be proud of me. So I just appreciated that very much."

Joe Scarborough, a former conservative Republican member of the United States House of Representatives stated in an interview, he's had several conversations with what he described as "fire breathing conservatives" going into panic mode over the recent news cycles painting Republicans as opposed to women's rights and birth control when instead they are allowing President Obama off the hook, and thinks the election will be lost because of the focus on issues that don't matter, and were settled years ago.

It seems that the some in the Republican party are so intent on pushing it more to the right, at the expense of moderate and women voters, the chances of winning the Senate back (Olympia Snowe's retirement all but guarantees that her seat will go to a Democrat), or winning the White House are going to be severely crippled (this has happened already in a key state, Virginia, which has seen a significant movement by independent and women voters from Romney to President Obama because of the forced ultrasound amendment for abortions). While Rush Limbaugh doesn't speak for all conservatives obviously, he is the face for one of the largest audiences in talk radio, and the massive condemnation, he's now receiving should wake him up, or at least give him pause for making such reckless statements

Comments

[paft.livejournal.com]

Except where they didn't, and a student who needed it to minimize the risk of ovarian cysts ended up doing without and having an ovary removed.

For the record, no, I don't think employers should be able to decide what medical procedure their employees get access to.

[merig00.livejournal.com]

I don't think employers should be able to decide what medical procedure their employees get access to.

And noone think so. The question is which procedures their employer must pay for. You know better ;)

[paft.livejournal.com]

As anyone familiar with the American healthcare system knows, whether or it insurance will cover a procedure very frequently determines whether or not a patient has access to it.

[merig00.livejournal.com]

Nice try. Again, you know better.

Also, I was about to edit my comment to reply to your fist part regarding that friend of hers.

So I went for the transcript and it made me scratch my head - it's an insurance from georgetown but it is completely unsubsudized meaning that her friend was paying the full amount of insurance. Does not make sense unless Georgetown is self-insured and their expenses much cheaper than getting yourself any other insurance.

“A friend of mine, for example, has polycystic ovarian syndrome, and she has to take prescription birth control to stop cysts from growing on her ovaries. Her prescription is technically covered by Georgetown’s insurance because it’s not intended to prevent pregnancy. ... “As she put it, ‘...the insurance policy that I paid for, totally unsubsidized by my school, wouldn’t cover my prescription for birth control when I needed it.’

[paft.livejournal.com]

So are you claiming she made the story up?

Since I know individuals who have had their access to needed healthcare impeded by their lack of insurance, I know my statement about access is factual.

[merig00.livejournal.com]

No I'm saying that there's a huge gap between the two statements.

And Georgetown is not self insured. So either it is subsidized to an affordable level as in most universities or she was paying a hefty monthly sum.
http://studentaffairs.georgetown.edu/insurance/premierplanbooklet.pdf

[politikitty.livejournal.com]

My employer doesn't need to subsidize my health insurance for me to purchase health insurance through them. Georgetown could only be negotiating the rates without subsidizing a cent of insurance costs. They typically get good rates since students are such a low health risk.

After school, the variability in health costs gets much greater.

[merig00.livejournal.com]

Maybe. The two school I went to had rates on par with some employers I worked for.

Actually here are their insurance price
http://studentaffairs.georgetown.edu/insurance/letteraccept.html

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

Group plans are generally cheaper than individual plans, due to the shared risk pool. Thus, getting it from the university should be cheaper than getting it on your own, and there is no need for a subsidy.

[merig00.livejournal.com]

Yeah I just found it http://studentaffairs.georgetown.edu/insurance/letteraccept.html

[paft.livejournal.com]

m: No I'm saying that there's a huge gap between the two statements.

Meaning what? That the account she gave about her friend can't be true?

Which passage in that handbook you linked to calls her account into question?