Bill Frist fools Iowans on health care

In his last year as Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist took a trip to Iowa over the weekend as he pondered a possible 2008 presidential bid.  The doctor-turned-Republican Senator focused on the affordability of health care, which he considers to be his number one strength.

While speaking in front of Iowans, he claimed to be an advocate of lower health care costs:

"If we can't address that (health care) thataffects our global competitiveness ... we are in real trouble," Fristsaid at a forum on the topic with several prominent physicians andhealth care executives and Iowa GOP House candidate Mike Whalen.

Bill Frist, as is the case with others in politics, correctly relates health care costs to our ability to compete in that sector worldwide.

But if the Iowans who attended that speech took a good look at Bill Frist's health care record in the Senate, then they probably would have had looks of disgust on their faces while listening to him.  Back in 1996, Frist opposed medical savings accounts.  In 1999, Frist voted against a bill that would have guaranteed a patient's bill of rights.  In 2000, he voted no on a bill that would have established a prescription drug program through the Medicare Health Insurance Program.  In 2005, Frist even opposed a measure to allow the government to negotiate with drug manufacturers to ensure the best possible prices for consumers.  And just this year, as seniors groups nationwide begged the President to have the Medicare enrollment deadline extended, Frist opposed it.

Even though he consistently votes against the interests of patients, he does stick his neck out for other lawmakers.  In October of 2004, he used his Senate office as a make-shift clinic to give his colleagues flu shots.  This was during the same year that the country faced a severe shortage of flu vaccines.

As most of us know, part of the problem with health care costs being so high is that median wages are so low.  I bet you know where I am going with this one!  Frist opposes a minimum wage increase, while at the same time advocating for a repeal of the estate tax that only impacts the richest 0.5% of the country.

So please, if you are a health care voter, please think twice before listening to this man spin his record on health care.  It is a dismal one!

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Other blogs writing about the Republicans and their record on Health Care: Entertainment News, This side of the railroad tracks, The Examined Life, Dos Centavos, The Future was Yesterday, Democratic Governors Association, Steve Sailer Sucks, Politics in Mudville, Cato-at-Liberty, State of the Division, Confined Space, Equality for Feingold.