Thursday, July 14, 2011

Reading Comprehension -- How Does It Work?

 

President Barack Obama’s mother had health insurance coverage when she died of ovarian cancer in 1995, a new book about her life claims, raising questions about the accuracy of a story that Obama often told on the campaign trail in 2008.

Pretty shocking story, if true!

Let's take a look, shall we? What precisely did Obama say on the campaign trail?

“For my mother to die of cancer at the age of 53 and have to spend the last months of her life in the hospital room arguing with insurance companies because they’re saying that this may be a pre-existing condition and they don’t have to pay her treatment, there’s something fundamentally wrong about that,” he said during a presidential debate with John McCain.

Dunham, Scott wrote, wanted to be compensated for the additional costs and living expenses under her employer’s disability insurance policy. CIGNA, Scott wrote, denied that claim.

Emphases added in both quotes, which came from the same story.  So Obama didn't say his mother didn't have insurance coverage, he said that the insurance company was playing hardball with Ann Dunham over paying an admittedly steep hospital bill, right?

So how would Glenn Beck spin this?

At the Blaze, Glenn Beck’s web site, Christopher Santarelli wrote that “Obama’s story about his mother’s healthcare struggle is inaccurate.”

Like I said, fucking stupid