Some Notes from the AAPS

I've gotten on the email list for a number of conservative organizations; apparently I'm on a PA press list somewhere.  So I get some messages that are contrary to my stated political biases.  The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons is a group to the right of the AMA.  Their executive director has been sending me blast emails for the past few months.  One arrived yesterday and I've found it online so you can get the full flavor.  She's writing to point out how liberal New Gingrich is.  Here are a few quotes:

Republicans have other laws to answer for: the Clinton fall-back plan of health insurance coverage for children (SCHIP or KidCare), the Clinton-Gingrich automatic fee cuts to physicians if Medicare spending exceeds a certain target (the “Sustained Growth Rate” or SGR problem that Congress overrules year after year); and a huge new entitlement, Medicare Part D (prescription drug coverage), which added trillions to Medicare’s unfunded liabilities. Gingrich, though not in Congress in 2003, lobbied heavily for Part D, calling it “the most important bill to vote on in your career.”

This is my favorite:

Like Romney, Gingrich has favored an individual mandate to purchase insurance. This is the big-government, progressive answer to the problem that some do not or cannot meet their individual responsibility to pay for the medical services they use.

After all, the poor should know better than to get cancer if their employer doesn't offer medical insurance or if their state doesn't have a low-income program for medical insurance.  And what kind of person is irresponsible enough to have a child with a medical issue?  Poor planning on someone's part [sarcasm].