Stephen F. Kislock, III – 3/24/05

This page was last updated on March 25, 2005.

Schiavo move a political stunt; Stephen F. Kislock, III; Beaver County Times; March 24, 2005.

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“The extraordinary effort by the Republican-controlled House and Senate for Terri Schiavo is/was a political stunt, period.”

[RWC] Mr. Kislock never explains how Republican efforts on Ms. Schiavo’s behalf don’t reflect core Republican beliefs regarding protection of life for the helpless.

Let’s look at Mr. Kislock’s logic as well. Various polls report 60%+ of Americans support letting Terri Schiavo die. If these polls are accurate, is it a “political stunt” to support a position an alleged majority of Americans oppose? On a side note, at least some of poll questions were worded to get a predetermined result. This is called “push” polling.

“According to the Census Bureau, in 2003 45 million American adults were without health care. Our U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum - the pro-lifer, pro-family man - is leaving 8.4 million American children without health care. Why?”

[RWC] Here are facts Mr. Kislock doesn’t want you to know. First, the Census Bureau acknowledges its 43 million figure overstates the uninsured because the survey is not primarily designed to gather this data. Second, if you went without insurance for even a few days between jobs, you are counted as uninsured for the entire year. This alone greatly inflates the uninsured figure. Third, the number of persons covered by Medicaid is underreported. For some reason, the number of persons who report they are covered by Medicaid is lower than that shown in Medicaid records. Another reason is some persons eligible for Medicaid don’t sign up.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the chronically uninsured is roughly 9.1 million persons. Of that 9.1 million, approximately one million simply choose not to purchase health insurance because they don’t feel they need it.

How many chronically uninsured people want but can’t afford insurance? The CBO doesn’t have this figure. A lot of those persons surveyed complain about the expense, but there are no figures to say how many of the 8.1 million really can’t afford insurance vs. how many simply choose to spend their money on other things.

In any case, the number of chronically uninsured people who want but truly can’t afford insurance is less than 18% of the uninsured figure liberals like to throw around. That’s less than 3% of the population. Remember, not having health insurance is not the same as not having health care. As with education, however, providing healthcare is definitely not a federal responsibility and should not be a responsibility of any level of government.

“Terri Schiavo, has been in a vegetative state for 15 years. Vegetating means ‘to live in an inactive, passive or unthinking’ state (Random House College Dictionary).”

[RWC] I didn’t know Mr. Kislock was a doctor who examined Ms. Schiavo. If you accept Mr. Kislock’s definition of “vegetating” and see video clips of Ms. Schiavo interacting with her parents, it’s hard to come to a conclusion she is in a “vegetative state.” That said, I’m not an expert so I try not to jump to conclusions.

“Our pro-life senator does not vote for health care for Americans. Why?”

[RWC] What Mr. Kislock meant was Mr. Santorum doesn’t vote for a nationalized healthcare system, like those in socialist countries. In general, these are the same countries with far greater unemployment, far less economic growth, and who depended on the United States for protection during the Cold War. As noted above, not having health insurance is not the same as not having health care.

“He voted ‘no’ on a $40 billion bill for limited Medicare prescription drug benefits, ‘no’ on allowing prescription drugs from Canada, ‘no’ to letting American patients sue HMOs and collect punitive damages.”

[RWC] Mr. Kislock deliberately tries to mislead us about the “$40 billion bill for limited Medicare prescription drug benefits.” The name of the bill was the “Prescription Drug and Medicare Improvement Act of 2003.” Sen. Santorum voted against an early version of the bill but voted in favor of the final version passed in November 2003. The source from which I believe Mr. Kislock got his information has not been updated since June 2003.

As a side note, I can’t believe Mr. Kislock actually supported the Medicare drug bill given his virulent opposition to anything President Bush supports.

Regarding prescription drugs from Canada, here’s a link to a critique on this subject.

Regarding the HMO issue, I don’t know enough to make an informed comment. About all I will write is that the issue is probably not as simple as Mr. Kislock would have us believe.

“The cost of keeping Terri Schiavo in a vegetative state is how much?”

[RWC] A Miami Herald article reported the cost of Ms. Schiavo’s care at the hospice is about $80,000/year and the vast majority of that cost is donated by the hospice. The article also reports Medicaid pays for medications, but that Ms. Schiavo “does not require much medicine.” The article states, “Schiavo is given occasional pain medication.” Again, I’m not an expert, but does a person “in a vegetative state” require pain medication?

Ms. Schiavo won a malpractice lawsuit award of $1.3 million designed to care for Ms. Schiavo for decades. Of that award, The Miami Herald reports only about $700,000 went to Ms. Schiavo’s guardianship fund. If nearly two-thirds of the award had not been spent on lawsuits to force removing her feeding tube, the award would be paying for her care. According to The Miami Herald, at least $440,000 of the guardianship fund went to lawyers for Michael Schiavo, Ms. Schiavo’s husband.

“What does our pro-life and pro-war senator say to the families of those Americans killed in Iraq about his fight to keep Terri Schiavo alive?”

[RWC] Mr. Kislock must be blinded by partisanship to ask such a question because the answer is not one he will like.

By fighting so hard to protect the life of a defenseless American, Mr. Santorum and Republicans in general are showing they don’t life lightly. When you don’t take life lightly, you don’t authorize military action lightly. That’s the message Sen. Santorum is sending “to the families of those Americans killed in Iraq.”