February 7, 2010
updated
Right when you think barry can’t get any more narcissistic he out does himself. Chatting up the DNC with the same old litany of all the problems he walked into and all? the things he’s accomplished, he gave an example of why healthcare needs to be passed. He mentioned a “woman in St Louis” who didn’t have healthcare and succumbed to breast cancer. He didn’t bother mentioning her name – probably because he didn’t know it – but made sure to mention “She insisted she is going to be buried in an Obama t-shirt.”
What did that sentence have to do with anything other than proving – once again – that it is all about him?
I read the transcript of his speech and this little fairy tale wasn’t in it.
martysoffice
Without TOTUS, he didn’t know what those “kind of exams” were that she needed. The audience reaction is interesting…especially the women. Don’t think he was expecting laughter. He better get used to it.
I got a letter, I-I-I got a note, uh, today, from one of my staff – they forwarded it to me – from a-a woman in St. Louis who had been part of our campaign, very active, who had passed away from breast cancer. Uh, she didn’t have insurance – she couldn’t afford it, so she had put off having uh, having uh, the kind of exams that she needed. And, uh, she had fought a tough battle for four years – all through the campaign she was fighting it – but finally she succumbed.
And-and she insisted she’s going to be buried in uh, an Obama t-shirt.
She was fighting not just to get MEMEMEMEMEME elected….
*Excellent comprehensive discussion of the woman whose name is Melanie Shouse by TOM MAGUIRE at Just One Minute. You’ll see she did have insurance and the means to pay for it but ended up on Medicaid. She also admitted she was aware of the lump in her breast but chose to “deny it”. Healthcare reform and being buried in a barry t-shirt (she was cremated) are not the morals of this story. Early detection, breast self-exams and routine screening are.
Just a note for women out there. In every state a woman can get a mammogram even if she does not have funds. Women’s organizations, family planning centers, breast cancer groups/websites, clinics and even hospitals can help if approached – especially if you feel a lump like Ms Shouse did. A good example of why the new guidelines recommending women stop breast self-exams are dangerous.
The Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act of 2000 allows for use of Medicaid funds for treatment of women who started their screening through the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP), which was started by the CDC to provide free or low cost testing for women unable to pay. There are programs in every state.
Here is another site that has other links for free mammograms.
Bottom line: every woman in America can get a mammogram if the effort is made. Free mammograms, however, do nothing to cure denial.
