Rush Says He’ll Leave U.S. If Health Care Passes

Ken AshfordHealth Care, Right Wing Punditry/Idiocy1 Comment

From Think Progress:

CALLER: If the health care bill passes, where would you go for health care yourself? And the second part of that is, what would happen to the doctors, do they have to participate in the federal program, or could they opt out of it? […]

LIMBAUGH: My guess in even in Canada and even in the UK, doctors have opted out. And once they’ve opted, they can’t see anybody Medicare, Medicaid, or what will become the exchanges. They have to have a clientele of private patients that will pay them a retainer and it’ll be a very small practice. I don’t know if that’s been outlawed in the Senate bill. I don’t know. I’ll just tell you this, if this passes and it’s five years from now and all that stuff gets implemented — I am leaving the country. I’ll go to Costa Rica.

Costa Rica?  Uh, Rush?  Did you know that Costa Rica has universal health care?  It's paid for by the government; you can opt out if you want.  And it works pretty good, too!:

Costa Rica, a small developing country of 4.6 million people, in Central America, surprised many people by having a health care ranking by the World Health Organization higher than the United States. The life expectancy of people in Costa Rica is higher than the U.S. and the infant mortality rate is approximately the same. What is incredible is they are spending $6,000 less per capita than the U.S. and they are covering all of the people.

This is the same Rush Limbaugh who praised the health care he received in Hawaii (following a heart attackish thing)…. without knowing that Hawaii has what amounts to universal health care (aka "socialized medicine").  The guy is two-for-two!

Still, Rush leaving the U.S.?  Of course it is hyperbole, but the remote chance that he will stay true to his word is incentive enough to get health care reform passed.