Eric Hananoki
Oct 7, 11:11 AM
ch: Read This!
Read This: Why Klobuchar Entered Public Service
The Minneapolis Star Tribune (Strib!) ran a lengthy biography of Amy Klobuchar examining why the prosecutor became involved in public service. Read it here.
Part of her commitment:
Within hours of Abigail’s birth, her parents knew the baby had a serious problem. She couldn’t swallow. Every time she nursed, the milk bubbled up through her nose. Klobuchar had to leave the hospital; the baby stayed behind. She rented a room nearby and shuttled back and forth. Eventually, doctors put a tube in the infant’s stomach and sent her home.
The next legislative session, Klobuchar was the primary witness for a proposed law to force health plans to allow new mothers to stay in the hospital for 48 hours. When insurance lobbyists tried to delay the law, she packed the hearing with pregnant women and their children.
“It was clear to the insurance companies that … they were up against a more powerful force,” said former DFL legislator Joe Opatz, who sponsored the bill. It passed easily.
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Yes, this is a moving story. However, this is the problem I always have with stories about how X was denied medical treatment Y by the insurance company except that plucky X was a strong advocate for her posistion re medical treatment Y and viola, X was proven wise because now her baby is alive:
The insurance company never denied the new mother a few extra days a the hospital. The insurance company merely told the mother that the medical plan into which she (the Mother) uncoersively contracted would pay for only whatever was in the contract. Mother could stay in the hospital for as long as she felt she needed to; she also couldn’t expect the insurance company to pay for something it and she were not contracted to. (Aarg! I don’t know how to cast that sentence to not end with a preposition.)
So, why is this story slanted so non-rationally? Isn’t that what Fox News does? Isn’t the real difference between liberals and conservatives merely the sob stories one fall for?
Al, I love what you and Air America are doing. I’m active in my local Democratic commitee. I went to New Hampshire in Dec 2003/Jan 2004 in that brutal sub-zero winter to volunteer my heart out for Gen. Wesley Clark’s presidential campaign. I belive in the Democartic Party and I’ve spent many all-nighters on GOTV. But, shhhh: between you and me: Where was the insurance company wrong in this story?
— Elizabeth Rosenberg Oct 7, 08:21 PM #
