Reactions to the Supreme Court decision
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For Dr. Brian Bonnyman, the U.S. Supreme Court's health care decision hopefully means he'll hear a fewer horror stories.
As medical director for the nonprofit Cherokee Health System's Center City Clinic, Bonnyman treats many of Knoxville's poor and indigent. It's a world away from the patients he previously saw as a family practice physician in West Knoxville.
"Now I treat the poorest of the sick, and the sickest of the poor," said Bonnyman, who spoke at a downtown rally in Krutch Park on Thursday to cheer the high court's ruling upholding much of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
"The disparity I see … is horrifying."
Speaking to a crowd of about 50 people, the physician shared several examples of his patients who should receive direct benefits, including an otherwise healthy 45-year-old mother and breast cancer patient.
"Now, because of the affordable health care act, she doesn't have to lose her health insurance," Bonnyman said. "And her children don't have to lose their insurance because they have a genetic, pre-existing condition."
Or another patient, who Bonnyman said suffered gallstones and vomited every time she ate — and lost some 40 pounds in two years — because she couldn't afford surgery.
"What's really going to be the game-changer," he said, "what I look forward to, is not having to hear these stories."
HIV activist Larry Frampton also praised the health care act as one that "provides real answers" to HIV patients who question how to pay for life-sustaining medications.
The act could qualify many Tennesseans living with HIV for Medicaid, if state leaders choose to opt into the health care act's provisions to expand the program.
"But even if they don't, (patients) will still get better care than what's available now," Frampton said.
Many low-income patients who currently are on a waiting list for the federally funded AIDS Drug Assistance Program will now at least qualify for insurance pools, he said.
The rally was one of several across the state organized by the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group that is lobbying Gov. Bill Haslam and state legislators to fully implement the act's Medicaid expansion option.
"The Supreme Court … has marked the end of partisan political games to block implementation of the Affordable Care Act," THCC Executive Director Beth Uselton said in a news release.
"There are no more excuses for delay. The (act) is the law of the land, and it is time for state lawmakers to start taking responsibility for ensuring that Tennessee families have the rights and protections guaranteed to them by the law."
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Comments » 140
JoeyB writes:
wow, a whopping 50 people !!!
and most with sob stories to boot.
"affordable health care" will ultimately prove to be anything but.
southknoxone writes:
Finally we are on the road to a healthcare system that works for the whole country, not just the rich and the indigent, but for all.
goodolecountryboy writes:
Is this the same Brian Bonnyman who went to the Webb School of Knoxville and whose family owned Blue Diamond coal company?
Patriot71 writes:
We will see how well you think it works when you can't find a doctor to see.
leon writes:
It makes me feel so great that I can now pay the medical costs for those who contracted HIV.
bstan writes:
I am not rich but I pay for my healthcare. It is funny how there are do many people on the streets cheering for thIs. Don't they have jobs?
Nopers writes:
Yes when taxes go through the roof to pay for your universal health care then we will see how great it is.
Butterbeans writes:
President Obama and his Supreme Court can't make us buy health insurance. We have a right to go to the hospital or clinic and get free care and make others pay for it. In America they won't let me go without treatment. Somebody or some church will step up. It's all about personal responsibility. That.is, somebody please take personsibility responsibility for me. Romney will get government out of our lives. We are counting on him to bring us a fair and unobtrusive healthcare plan like he did when he was a governor
goodolecountryboy writes:
If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait till it's "free."
knoxvillecwby writes:
You would not feel that way when you become infected or a family member and Medicaid is for all low income people who qualify not just people with HIV.
UU writes:
Do you know how to make a East Tennessee red neck`s neck redder? Ask them how Obama is doing, then ask how they like the health care act tax. Hello Knoxville
Caneoverthere writes:
I am not positive your conclusion is accurate.
knoxvillecwby writes:
This plan was modeled after what Romney did in Massachusetts. He has no room to bash it. Romney pushed for universal health care in Massachusetts.
Teavenger writes:
This scam is not about healthcare for all. It is about democrats having control of all phases of our lives. All activities can be claimed to affect health and cost to the sacred government. Think Sarah Palin is a lunatic screeching about "death panels"? Wait until your mother is declared too old and sick to warrant expensive Government healthcare. As obama said during the campaign, “Maybe you’re better off to tell your mother to take a pill, take a painkiller.” See, we have to have rules. “We have to have rules. Your mother should have died five years ago, lady. She would have been better off taking that painkiller.”
missycooper writes:
Who and when did someone say that healthcare will be 'free'?
Virgil_Tutwiler writes:
Here's what we should learn from the welfare state.
Despite billions spent on free food....we still have hungry
Despite billions spent on free housing....we still have homeless
Despite trillions spent on public education...we have millions of dropouts
Despite trillions spent on unemployment compensation....we still have unemployed.
Despite billions spent on encouraging healthy eating habits and exercise...we have fat people.
There are few real victims in society. Sure the media seek the relatively few out for interest stories but for the most part we are victims of the choices we make.
Despite all the observation that few problems have ever been resolved by a government program; we are left to believe that poor misguided Dr. Bonnyman has found the one program that will solve this problem without creating a worse problem elsewhere.
With all the "free" healthcare in the world; many of the people that visit this clinic will still have health problems.
We are threatening the best healthcare system in the world due to a financial access problem that effects a relatively few people (the involuntarily uninsured) We are swatting a fly with a tank. A simple few changes would eliminate most of the problems.
But know, we are on the trail to a program that is failing everywhere it's been tried. Will these poor people Dr. Bonnyman see be in any better position after the inevitable rationing and long waits?
We have tried decades of governmental pity and and feelgoodism in the western world and no problem has been solved. It's time we start expecting better from humans.
“The world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrificing.”
I don't expect to change the minds of my opponents. They have been trained, educated and brainwashed into believing that just a little more money; a little more aid; one more law will solve all of mankind's ills. Anyone who thinks otherwise is racist, sexist or a hater.
I care for my fellow man. However, charity and government programs are now enabling bad choices. I care for my fellow man as I believe every man is capable of taking care of themselves. I do not think they are helpless.
trollhair writes:
Well....I hate to interupt your celebration of the Obamacare Victory today....but I thought you might want to know that the individual mandate is a tax YOU -- not your employer but YOU will be FORCED to pay out of your pocket the tax or else the IRS will take it out of your tax return, levy a fine against you, seize your bank account or any other assets you may have.....but hey.....party on soon you won't have the extra money to party with.
namexA (Inactive) writes:
The turnout would have been higher but the supporters of Obamacare were busy working to carry the rest of you guys.
Number69 writes:
Where 50 or more are gathered in Obamas name so shall KNS gather also.
Look, I know it was not the best of days...but relax and know that Mitt will fix all of this after the first of the year!
heart_art writes:
Wow....very well said. Why would I want to take care of people who don't take care of themselves? I work hard to have what I have, not share it with someone who expects me to give to them.
Icthus writes:
Just some ignorant people who have no clue of what really happened today.
secondcreek writes:
Folks, have fun posting under aliases while it lasts. knoxnews.com is one of the last places where dialogue takes place without being tied to a Facebook account. I will miss it once knoxnews.com embraces this sad, censorship tactic.
Number69 writes:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/r...
knoxvillecwby writes:
Your not positive yet. You or anyone who is having unprotected sex could contract HIV very easy my friend.
buzzwordbob writes:
"I care for my fellow man."
Bull hockey.
You can not make such a claim and follow with a disclaimer.
Luigi writes:
Obamacare TAX is the biggest screwing the middle class has ever received. Hope and change....indeed!
JoeyB writes:
"you guys" ???
i'm out there every day working my tail off only to be taxed to feed, clothe, and house others that have less than a fully responsible work ethic to drive them.
and after all that, i can't afford my own health ins. but now i'll be further taxed because of it ???
i get tired of funding freeloading lifestyles that are better than my own.
its5oclocksomewhere writes:
....what exactly to you mean second??
I have a face book account...have for years...
same anonymity that I have with KNS....
You only have to have a brain...and know how to use it.
SO... what that tells me is that you are clueless. (and I'm being nice)
tom_cogburn writes:
It just floors me to see people actually say nasty things about sick people--griping and moaning about how they're going to have to help these people out.
When did it become fashionable to be so heartless?
Look, people who don't have health care coverage currently have to wait until their illness becomes so severe that they MUST see a doctor in an emergency room. Often times they have to be admitted to the hospital and treated--creating a huge expense that is paid for by state and federal taxes or grants.
With this new program, millions of people will now be able to access a doctor when their illness is in its early stage--making treatment far less expensive for everyone.
And let's face it, a healthy community is good for everybody--not just those with low incomes.
If TB becomes a problem in the poorer neighborhoods, how long do you think it will take before it finds its way to upper and middle-class neighborhoods?
And a lot of these people who are complaining like to think of themselves as good Christians! Do you HONESTLY believe Christ would support a health care system that allows people to fall through the cracks all because some so-called Christians are afraid that their taxes might go up a few bucks each year?
Come on!!!
its5oclocksomewhere writes:
Well south, I'm not rich and I'm not indigent...
I just want to know when do we get to find out what this Health Care Plan entails???
namexA (Inactive) writes:
LOL, maybe you should suggest to your congressman that they support an effort to mandate people buy their own health insurance.
Virgil_Tutwiler writes:
There's always one ignorant schmuck who does not read what was written.
Too many shallow intellectuals think the best way to help someone or to solve a problem is to throw money at it.
Those solutions are only temporary.
I'm sorry you fail to understand that. I'm sorry you dont' see the intergenerational poverty "Your way" has created. I'm sorry that you do not see that "Your way" destroyed an African-American middle class that was growing exponentially before the "Great Society" was passed. I'm sorry that you don't understand what happens in the real world.
You simpletons have created a permanent underclass with little chance or even desire to get out of lower classes.
We here liberals saw the best way of getting more of something is to fund it. Why that concept does not extent to the negative I have never understand.
For almost 50-years we have subsidized poverty and got more poverty. We have subsidized homelessness and got more homeless. We have subsidized helplessness and got more helpless. We have subsidized failing schools and got more failing schools. It certainly appears money is not the best means to solve a problem.
What will it take for you to concede your way is not working? Will the absolute failure of a premier health system be enough? I suspect not. You have placed ideology and obliviousness over what is is right.
Don't question my desire to help other people. I'm not the one making them poor, hungry, helpless and stupid.
buzzwordbob writes:
Here is the Republican health plan for the unisured:
"Let him die!"
Not 2500 pages. Just three words!!
Virgil_Tutwiler writes:
The bums are not going to buy their own insurance.
The plan is to increase the number of otherwise healthy people buying insurance so more freeloading bums will get free insurance so these bums will continue to vote Democrat at a 95% clip.
Why else propose a huge punitive place when just a few minor corrections would solve the problems better.
The healthcare finance system is being mauled by a huge pander bear. You could always get more votes by buying them than by appealing to logic.
its5oclocksomewhere writes:
+100 Great post!
I especially liked this: "Too many shallow intellectuals think the best way to help someone or to solve a problem is to throw money at it".
Enough said with that...
namexA (Inactive) writes:
Well, Number 1 health insurance works because people who don't use it buy it. That's how all insurance works. Think about it, if everyone who bought life insurance died during the term could a life insurance company stay in business?
And Tennessee has about a 20% poverty rate with some counties, mostly rural, reaching 25%. Voting wise, and please look this up for yourself, you'll find the more rural the county the more Republican it votes. Poor white people on public assistance in Tennessee who vote, vote overwhelming for Republicans. Bums however, probably never vote.
Huge punitive place? Please.
Pandering, I think it's clear from the false "tax" slant of all the right wingers today who is doing the pandering.
buzzwordbob writes:
Virgil, for those fifty years YOU and I have subsidized millionaire farmers, oil tycoons,the Leona Helmsleys and many others.
My point in the referenced comment was that when you say "but" or "however" after a comment, it indicates that you have reservations about what you have just said.
As to that "I care for my fellow man.", I personally think that the person doesn't give a fat damn for any of their fellow men who do not measure up to their standards.
My way isn't working? Hell, I do not expect that much of anyway will cure the ills of the world.
I also do not think that the "let them eat cake" or the "let them die" attitude will contribute 1/1000th of a peercent of what attempting to make things better will.
What price would you put of someone close to you were they going to die without care for an ailment that they could not afford?
Imagine yourself unemployed, broke and you and a loved one are involved in a car wreck where that loved one needs care beyond your means and the means of anybody you know!
Let them die??????
Ask yourself that question every time that you put a price tag out there.
Incidentally, poverty rates and homeless rates are up more because we count them more than we did 50 years ago.IMHO
I would expain where I am coming from, but long ago I was excoriated for useing personal experience to point things out.
pinhook writes:
My doctor has agreed to wear bells so that his patients will be able to locate him just in case the sky actually falls as you seem to think.
gameover writes:
Dear Moocher: You have real talent for copy and paste. How's it going on the plantation tonight?
Peachez writes:
I think it is wonderful that you have learned how to copy and paste, trollhair. I have now seen this exact post 3 times since this afternoon. Please, post it again on several more sites. I think you missed the New York Times and Highlights.
pinhook writes:
Another attempt to place one ton of crud in a 20 pound grocery bag. It is nice to learn that the health care act is not about health care.
I have a friend who recently got both knees replaced. Under our current system he had to wait 9 weeks before the surgeon could work him in. Once this awful health care system is implemented it may require an 8 week wait. I think the Governor of Texas may be the most active death panel in the US.
Agent13 writes:
I am not a huge fan of Romney, but actually you are wrong. Romney did not push for "universal health care." The people in Mass. who did not have health insurance (fewer than 10% of the population) were required to either pay the state or to pay an insurance provider. Mass. did not become the default healthcare provider in the state nor were insurance companies nationalized. Romney's plan was designed to keep the few from sapping Massachusetts' taxpayer dollars. Obama's plan is a pretty much a national take over healthcare. It is what you would define as "universal healthcare." Healthcare that is free is really not free. We will pay for it one way or the other. They will just raise taxes elsewhere to get the money. I could see the plan making a little more sense if the government wasn't selling an insurance plan. To me, that seems like a conflict of interest in itself. For a good comparison on Romneycare and Obamacare check this link out
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/02...
Peachez writes:
Oh, Its5, have you never heard those words before? It is a tired, old saying that is almost as boring as the rest of the GOP rhetoric. Was that really your "Ah-Ha" moment? If so, you need to watch Oprah to get some new ones.
gameover writes:
Another Moocher steps up to the plate!
pinhook writes:
Intergenerational poverty in Appalachia was not created by LBJ's great society. It was there long before he picked up his dogs by their ears. It was caused by low life thieves who took peoples land, mined the coal, took the money and left them sick and on land that would not sprout peas. Do not try to pass on the lie that government assistance created poverty. That is a silly statement that willl not hold up. In fact the Scotch-Irish who came over the mountains brought their poverty with them in the 1700s. Government program my ...
sweet_dreamer01 writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
its5oclocksomewhere writes:
Exactly! Not in my lifetime ...and I'm younger than most posting here.
I really can't see much change happening, if at all, for quite some time.
The sky is falling..the sky is falling.... It's Democrats...It's Republicans....It's Liberals...Its Conservatives...It's Tea Partiers, It's Left..It's Right...
I'm dizzy....Knock it out.
its5oclocksomewhere writes:
Oh..Peachez...I don't watch Oprah...but I don't watch TV much...
I don't know about an Ah-Ha moment???What does GOP stand for??
its5oclocksomewhere writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
sweet_dreamer01 writes:
Just to let you know, buzzwordbob...in your scenario the car insurance would pay the bill.
And, again people! This bill is not about healthcare- it is about healthcare coverage.
Everyone that goes into a healthcare facility, usually a hospital, is treated- especially if it is life theatening. The only difference is-is with Obamacare YOU will pay the bill(s) that everybody else runs up...and FYI- most of these people (about 95% or more) are the drug addicts and not the ones that are actually ill or injured. Enjoy!
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