Facts About The Woman Who Was “Buried” In a Obama T-Shirt That the MSM Won’t Bother Reporting On

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Tom Maguire does a stellar job at actual reporting here on the woman, whom Obama alleged, died because of the big bad health insurance companies and was then buried with a Obama shirt on.

All the more stellar since the MSM can’t be bothered to type in a few keywords on google:

Obama told the crowd that the woman had no health insurance, so viewed that way the Times reporting is literally accurate.  However, the woman, Melanie Shouse, did in fact have insurance – she had a catastrophic policy with a $5,000 deductible and did not want to drop a few hundred bucks on a routine exam and a mammogram, despite feeling a lump in her breast at age 37.

Tom links to an interview with Shouse in which she said she took a gamble on insurance because she had just dropped 30 grand into a new business.  She only took out catastrophic insurance in which the deductibles were high.  She felt a lump but did not go to the doctor, once again gambling.  Then, when she finally DID go see a doctor they told her what she already knew, cancer.  

When she did seek care, she went straight to Siteman Cancer Center.

“By then, I could have been diagnosed from across the street. It wasn’t a surprise,” she said.

Stage 4 cancer was the diagnosis and while she does admit the delay in diagnosis was a problem, she doesn’t see that as the only problem:

My chance of survival was pegged at just 13% as a result of the delay in diagnosis and treatment caused by inadequate health coverage.

and now no insurance would accept her so medicaid paid for her treatment.  After all this Tom has a few questions:

once diagnosed, she promptly availed herself of Medicaid.  So why the wait – wouldn’t she have been eligible for Medicaid six months earlier (or whatever), or did the business have to falter first?

In a story cited below we learn that Ms. Shouse and her partner had just put $30,000 into their small business in 2004, so cash was tight when she noticed the lump.  That would compare with the “monumental” annual expense of $10,000 in deductibles and co-pays.

In this video (she comes in at the two minute mark) Ms. Shouse says she ignored her problem for several years.  If she was diagnosed in 2005, she suspected something was wrong in 2003.  Wow – she had a lump in her breast but ignored it so she could max out her debt and open a store.  Maybe based on her age and family history (with which I am not familiar) that made sense.

People’s World, Feb 4 does not add much.

We get more background on her financial situation from an interview last September:

So she admits that she suspected something was wrong in 2003, and instead of going to the doctor she instead dumped 30 grand into a business, one third of that could of paid the alleged deductible, then who is at fault here?

She took a gamble and loss.  It’s sad.  But to twist and spin this as if Socialism would of saved this woman’s life is absurd.

Thats not even accounting for the fact that with Socialized health care you get sub-par health care.

The whole story is absurd.  From Obama using her as a pawn to push a program the majority of Americans DO NOT want, and then selling himself by telling the story about the t-shirt (in which she was cremated, NOT buried, but Obama is too busy to learn those basic facts….hell, he can’t even memorize her name) and then the MSM retelling the tale with no actual reporting being done.

If it wasn’t so sad all the way around this would be one big joke.

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Obama’s distorted SOOOO many of these stories about people and health care insurance. This is just the latest. And of course, Obama’s words are now becoming Clintonian for the strained parsing that he must do to pass along a misleading message to his listeners.

The woman obviously could afford health insurance. She just choose not to buy a policy that had a smaller deductible.

But the other thing that strikes me about this story is how Obama once again focuses on himself. The bit about the woman requesting to be buried in an Obama T Shirt is downright creepy on so many levels. Not least of all, Obama’s egotism in retelling it.

The fact that she wanted to be buried in an Obama Tshirt signifies what? That she was an idiot? And what about the sanctimonious narcissist who tells us about it? Is he proud of the morons that follow his lies and deceit in the ‘hope’ that he will bring a Socialist Revolution and make their pathetic lives much better without them making an effort, beyond wiping their own butts.

Oh yes, Mr Obama, your pathetic entreaties have broken the hearts of those who previously saw through your Socialism, now that a woman requested one of your asinine Tshirts for eternity, we are ready to be card carrying Communists.

Really Fearless Reader, you should hire a better speech writer, you are going nowhere with this witless tripe.

I wonder if the woman had to buy the shirt or was it donated by the Obama camp?

I made a video on this episode (click name) I added this link to the description. I’m most concerned about Obama’s malignant narcissism and his lack of affect in telling this bizarre story. The result: Madmen of History – Obama’s Becoming Unhinged.

If she would have only read her policy, she probably would have found that her high deductible plan DOES pay for mamograms, as most of them do (it’s an obvious advantage to the insurers)!

My guess is she was more afraid of the results, of the “knowing” than the small amount a mamaogram would have cost, if, by a longshot, she really wasn’t covered.

In fairness, I have not followed this story, just commenting mostly on catastrophic policies.

All you have to remember about Obama is, if his lips are moving he is either eating or lying. The reason he lies like this is the MSM will always back him up.

Once again Flopping Aces insists upon FACTS getting in the way of a “good” story!

It’s ugly, but not surprising, that Zero would use someone’s suffering to make another straw man argument for his own cause.
The real problem is that this episode is a typical use of a pathetic anecdote to determine huge policies affecting many people, based on the partially known situation of one person.
This ticks me off so much, and it is a huge manipulation tool in health care pitches. Cold as it may be, policies are meant to affect populations. And if they aren’t directed to some middle ground, then they are biased, and in the long run will breed arguments. The most generally useful programs are going to be compromises that everyone gripes about, because their own bias isn’t served. In my opinion bias often happens because of sob stories. It would be more realistic to accept that we can’t save everyone, everywhere, all the time, from all problems. At least not until someone dispenses more guardian angels to follow people around.
Not that I’m sobbing for this individual, she had years to deal with something she knew was wrong and there were many ways that health and business both could have been saved. I don’t feel any one failed her, she failed herself. And I agree, she probably was afraid of finding out the extent of the problem, just hoping it would go away because it was really not bothering her until it was incurable.
Moral: Don’t get distracted by straw men of pity! This is Zero’s number one way of deflecting criticism and bamboozling. He needs to be recalled to the topic every time he does that.

On top of not revealing the entire story, a complete lack of character. I don’t have anything good to say about the cinc. At all. Worthless slimeball.

@pat:

My favorite anecdote was Gore’s during the first Bush/Gore debate. He actually brought the poor old woman to the debate. He recanted the sad tale of how she had to choose between her medication and groceries. Then he told a national television audience about her corrageous drive to be at the debate. How she had driven cross country in her Winnebago. Trying to make a position personal is a cheap trick, usually played from a weak position. The liberals know that their policies won’t stand up to the scruitiny free ideas, so they need to resort to emotion.

Nothing, Nothing this man says is ever the truth. Are we REALLY to believe she wanted to be buried in a 0bama t-shirt… sure!

@Flyovercountry
They use that cheap trick because it works! Alinsky — make it personal. You remembered that poor old lady and so do a lot of others. They empathize with what they know about the story and assimilate it eventually as truth. If it doesn’t change their mind on the spot, it stays buried and gradually adds to a pile of similar “reasons” to support a point of view.
BTW — another sore point with me is saying Alinsky rules are evil in themselves. Alinsky was a shrewd observer of behavior who managed to distill some good communication techniques from his observations. HE may have been evil, his rules may have served evil purposes, but the rules themselves are psychological principles and they work for everyone. Just like the rules about gravity and mass conversion. So why not analyze situations and see if these principles are in use; if you can identify them, you can identify a counter strategy.

This seems to be more of a case of not wanting to know what she suspected.

In many states, there is access to low cost or free mammograms. Here in Colorado, if a woman cannot afford one, she’s directed to a program that provides a free mammogram and clinic visit. (Total cost to state medicaid: $55.) If the result comes back positive, then she’s directed to a program that can provide treatment on a sliding scale. And, we’re talking about top-notch care, not some second or third tier, limited treatment options.

Sort of like Cindy Shehan using the grave of her son as a soapbox and media whorehouse.

The woman made her choice. In Barrie’s America she would have had the freedom of the self-destruct option taken from her and she would have died waiting in a line.

It is a case of her not wanting to know, but most of all, it’s a case of her making poor choices in life.

As stated in this post already, why pour $30,000 into a small business when you suspect something wrong and that you probably need that money for your health insurance? She could have afforded it. Instead of taking a gamble and choosing to ignore what she shouldn’t have, she could have just taken care of herself. You’ve made your bed, now you must lay in it (no pun intended).

I’ve heard many absurd stories, but I think so far, this one takes the cake. Though it wouldn’t surprise me if the Dim-light bulbs come up with a more absurd story to try to push through another leftist policy.

I hope she was buried wearing a NoBama shirt. Obama should have been a used car salesman.

Pretty sweet… Nice info 🙂