Hour 3: Limbaugh's Health Care Plan: Health Savings Accounts

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire also brought to you by name-calling -- spelled out for your safety
By Greg Lewis

El Rushbo kicked off the final hour of today's program by continuing to argue in favor of health savings accounts (HSAs). Rush explained the principle behind them: The government gives individuals a set amount of money for you to spend on health care and health insurance each year, and you're allowed to keep what you don't spend. Rush argued that this incentivizes shopping for health insurance, would put individuals in charge of payments, and would result in employers having more money to increase compensation. But Obama won't do HSAs, said Rush, because he wants to build a massive monument to himself with "this disaster of a plan," and that HSAs would not allow the government to regulate your behavior.

Rush then went back to the 1960s, explaining that the War on Poverty and other liberal programs always need to be reformed, and when they're reformed, liberals just break them more. He also singled out Ted Kennedy, claiming that Kennedy "devised" HMOs in the 1960s, and now he rips the hell out of them. It's just like Katrina, explained Rush; Congress members get to sit by like spectators like they had nothing to do with the levee repairs.

Next up was a "homeless update," accompanied by Clarence "Frogman" Henry's "Ain't Got No Home." It's really amazing how Rush is able to take "the greatest example" of New Orleans' "goofy" rhythm and blues and turn it into something offensive. Anyway, Rush read an article reporting that New York City is providing homeless families with one-way tickets to Georgia and South Carolina. Rush said that the "homeless problem" is another example of how liberal programs have failed to solve social problems.

After the break, Rush briefly cited a Reuters article on weak demand at recent bond sales, then took a caller who was incensed that Barney Frank said it was not the government's job to help you make money. She explained how the recent increase in the minimum wage is one of several factors making it difficult to keep her small business operating. Rush's response was as classy as ever: "To people like Barney Frank, you're a demon. You are a villain. You are raping your workers. You are not fair to them. That's why they have to raise the minimum wage; so that you will make them, or pay them a -- something they can live on because you are dastardly." Rush played the audio of Frank from Monday saying it isn't the government's job to help you make money and proclaimed it to be outrageous and offensive. But Rush has yet to explain what he -- a devotee of laissez-faire economic -- finds so objectionable about a government official saying it isn't his job to affect private sector profits.

Rush then moved on to a Weekly Standard blog post about the repercussions of raising "lifestyle taxes" -- such as taxes on alcohol -- to pay for health care reform. After lamenting the possible unintended consequences that the blog brings up, Rush compared lifestyle taxes to taxes on housing, as if that made any sense. He then noted that right now there are tax incentives to buy new houses, and they're working, but if you added a 10 percent tax to this instead, nobody would buy them. Rush said they're raising taxes because they think they're punishing the rich. We're not exactly sure how a regressive tax like one on alcohol would punish the rich.

After another break, Rush had more "fat stuff" to bring to the table. The first was a CNN Money report on taxing fat in food. Rush objected to the article for stating that taxes on tobacco have decreased smoking rates and reduced related health care costs. Then he read from an article from Massachusetts General Hospital's Proto Magazine asking if obesity should be socially shunned, similar to how smoking has been shunned. Rush stated that the article posits the idea that if you look a certain way, you won't be allowed in a restaurant. We'd just like to point out that the article doesn't say that -- in fact, one of the experts quoted in the article specifically says we shouldn't stigmatize the victims of obesity.

Then Rush took a caller who explained that the only doctors who joined HMOs were ones who couldn't get patients, because doctors have realized you can't make a lot of money by joining HMOs. Rush didn't understand why doctors would do this, or support bundling. "Why would any quality doctor put up with this way of making a living?"

One more break, and Rush was back with more to say on the topic of obesity. He played a series of audio bites from last night's Campbell Brown, featuring a debate between MeMe Roth, president of the National Action Against Obesity, and Mia Amber Davis, creative editor-at-large for "Plus Model" magazine. Rush was rather annoyed that Roth advocated that society needs to make healthy food available, cheap, and accessible. Rush said it's none of your damn business, and an individual's decisions don't cost you anything. After playing another sound bite, Rush referred to Roth as a "B-I-itch." Anyway, Rush rounded out the program with one more caller, who said that taxing cigarettes led to people quitting smoking, and therefore put on more weight -- they just shifted from one cost to another.

We realize that it's probably too much to ask for to hear a reasonable discussion on nutrition, obesity, and food policy on The Rush Limbaugh Show, so for the sake of raising the debate here at the Wire, we're going to refer you over to The New York Times' Mark Bittman for an interesting take on eating well. And after you've taken a gander at that, we also recommend the nutritious and delicious Limbaugh Wire archives.

Simon Maloy, Zachary Pleat, and Zachary Aronow contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: You have to understand something. And I'm sure -- you may not put it in these terms, but once I explain it to you, Sara, you're going to understand it. To people like Barney Frank, you're a demon. You are a villain. You are raping your workers. You are not fair to them. That's why they have to raise the minimum wage; so that you will make them, or pay them a -- something they can live on because you are dastardly. You're an employer. You're a business owner, and you take it all for yourself and you don't care about your employees.

And this is what Democrats have been telling their voters for years. So the minimum wage has come along to punish you. Now Barney Frank can say, "It's not -- we're not here to help you make money," but he certainly is there to help you give it away when it's unwarranted and, of course, always it's the unintended consequences that always end up bugging everybody.

Ladies' man

LIMBAUGH: Did you catch what this Roth B-I-itch here said at the beginning of the bite? You're supposed to be working out every day. You're supposed to be working -- you're supposed to eat fruits and veggies. You're supposed to be -- you're supposed to be. And Mimi Roth, who nobody has ever heard of, is now the sole authority on what you ought to be doing.