Not to put too fine a point on it, but Tom Arnold is not exactly known as a towering intellect. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he's a very nice man; he's certainly built a pretty decent career in a notoriously difficult industry, no small feat. But when you think of politically astute Hollywood types, Tom Arnold isn't exactly the person that comes to mind.
Clearly, Hannity assumed that Arnold is a Republican (I'm guessing that Hannity's researchers got no further than a picture of Tom Arnold endorsing Arnold Schwarzenegger for Governor, since Tom has publicly said he's a Democrat), because I can't imagine Hannity asking a Democrat on.
But the multi-millionaire Hannity (who is so out of touch with everyday Americans he insists that ham costs on 79 cents/pound) didn't count on the former meat packer from Iowa whose whole act centered around being a common man actually championing policies that help the average American, instead of the corporate oligarchy. Progress Not Congress breaks down some highlights:
00:58 – Blakeman says: We got Medicare and we got Medicaid, what did we get for it? We got abuse, fraud, and mismanagement.01:11 Arnold replies: You don’t think the private sector has fraud and abuse (like the government)?
01:15 Blakeman replies: But not to the scale of government.
This whole exchange is laughable. The fact that Blakeman is even trying to claim that the private sector, which is strictly in business for profit, is not as corrupt as the government, is idiotic at best.
01:21 Blakeman asks: What’s your recourse if government provides you with substandard health care? What are you going to do, sue the government?
I would like to know what Mr. Blakeman thinks his recourse would be if he received substandard care from a private insurance company?
As for recourse if you are receiving substandard care from a public health plan, yes of course you can sue the government. Why would an American not be able to sue the government? It happens all the time.
But even before that, an American has a litany of contacts at their disposal in the form of public, elected officials that would act as the patient’s advocate, and they do it for free, and they would do it well because their job depends on making their constituents happy, and keeping their voters alive.
Blakeman has no idea what he is talking about.
01:59 Hannity says: You cannot deny someone care in this country because of their inability to pay…no it is not happening all of the time.
Hannity’s lack of knowledge on the issues is staggering. Hannity’s previous claim can be refuted in two ways.
1. It is true that if a patient comes to the emergency room of a hospital without health insurance, the hospital is required to treat them. The hospital can and will turn around and bill that patient for services rendered. This ultimately leads many down the road of bankruptcy. Keep in mind, that a woman with breast cancer, to build off of Hannity’s analogy, cannot go into a hospital and say “I need treatment, but I can’t pay for it.” The hospital is not required to, and most likely won’t, treat that woman’s condition.
2. Americans are denied care all of the time by insurance companies who refuse to cover certain procedures, or simply refuse to provide coverage to someone with a preexisting condition.
Tom Arnold was correct when he said “It’s happening all the time.”
Sean, Brad, dudes. You just got totally pwned by Tom Arnold.
