According to news reports, during the latest Republican presidential debate Carly Fiorina stated bluntly that “Obamacare isn’t really helping anyone.”
Hmm. That is a curious statement given the fact that some 16 million people who never had health insurance before have it now and that the number of Americans without insurance fell to 9 percent, the lowest in years.
Some critics say Fiorina knew the facts and blatantly lied in order to score a political point. Others say her statement shows she is not well informed on the issues.
Both of those are possible explanations for her statement, but here is what I think.
I think Carly Fiorina said what she said because she doesn’t “see” the people being helped by Obamacare. They are invisible to her, not on her life’s radar screen. She walks past them, is waited on in stores and restaurants by them, but never notices them.
They even worked for her at Hewlett Packard before she got canned, but she never saw them.
In Carly Fiorina’s world people who are not rich, and most assuredly people in need, just don’t exist. She lives and moves and has her being among the wealthy who need nothing.
So when she thinks about healthcare, her family and friends come to mind, and they have insurance, or can pay for any medical need without it. That is her world.
The problem is that her world is not the world most Americans live in, yet she wants to be president of both worlds, ours and hers. So do all the other Republican candidates.
Yet I think all of them are like her, they don’t see 16 million people who now have insurance they didn’t have before Obamacare. They didn’t see them before health reform and they still don’t.
That is a noteworthy example of the dividing line that now exists in our country, and it is why Carly Fiorina could make the kind of comment she did.
But her problem is not with her eyes. It’s with her heart. People like Fiorina who have eyes but don’t see and ears but don’t hear have heart trouble.
When scripture refers to someone’s heart being hardened it is talking about their inability to see or perceive things clearly. I believe that is what is wrong with Fiorina.
Sadly, though, the problem may not be fixable, in part because of the company she keeps. When you live in a small circle of people whose world is isolated from the one most people live in, it is difficult to see anything but what you have been conditioned to see.
What makes this situation especially sad is that the 16 million people Carly Fiorina doesn’t see know she doesn’t. They know they are not noticed or even looked at.
And they don’t understand it. After all, they don’t want a handout. They work hard, too, and want to pay their own way. But they also want to be seen, deserve to be seen, in fact.
But seeing them doesn’t get much political support these days when you’re running for office. That’s what Carly Fiorina knew the other night when she said Obamacare isn’t really helping anyone.
Again, maybe she did know better and was trying to score political points. Actually that would be bad enough, but I don’t believe it’s what made her say it.
No, I think she said it because she just doesn’t see the people who need her to see them.
linnposts.com 
And there is no way I could see Firoina’s name on any ballot.
She doesn’t see them, nor do I think she cares to ever see them.
I’m not sure what “Obama Care” is, or how far it goes towards the system of universal healthcare that we have in the UK. I sincerely hope, however, that if Miss Fiorina were to sustain the heart trouble I had six years ago, when I underwent a procedure to put two stents in my main artery, her general attitude towards public health provision would change. On the morning after the procedure, as I prepared to go home from Southampton General Hospital, I asked the Ward Sister what the cost would have been, and she quoted me the sum of £6,000, of which I had to pay not a Sou. What would my situation have been, had I been an uninsured patient in your country, at that time and today?
In this country you might have had insurance, but would have probably has to pay a good sum anyway. Or you could have been like too many of our people who never benefit from surgery because they have no insurance and don’t seek medical care because of it. These are the people Fiorina doesn’t see. You live in a country that believes healthcare is a right. The U.S. believes it is a privilege you have to pay for or you don’t get it.
Yes, Dr. Linn, I believe you have it right. Carly Fiorina, and folks like her, may not be bad people, but they just don’t see things the way the other 99% do, and as someone said, “Perception Is Reality.” I hope come 11/16, enough voters will understand that people living in the rarefied atmosphere of the 1%, no matter what their moral and spiritual inclinations may be, are just plain unable to understand the environment in which the vast majority of the citizens in the USA live. Without such understanding, they are blind. Let’s elect someone who can see, and right now, the only person with that kind of vision is Bernie Sanders.
I watched the Democrat debate Saturday night, with interest. I also watched the Republican debate on Tuesday night. Obviously, you did not watch the Republican debate, because in your opening line you stated “according to news reports” (whose news report? how complete? etc.) with a very short phrase supposedly quoting Carly Fiorina, without the total statement, in context of meaning. And then you proceed with your simplistic quote ONLY, to “set up a straw man, and proceed to knock it down.” Pure conjecture on your part, no facts to back up your incomplete quote. By “guessing” about circles she moves in, never asking HER to back up the half-quote you used, or complete the sentence that was conveniently omitted. This was not very scholarly report.
Thanks for your comment, Dick. I posted this last week but I see it didn’t show up.
To P. J. – Here is the entire quote: “I understand that you cannot have someone who’s battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn’t helping anyone.” The context doesn’t change anything. And no, I didn’t watch the Republican or the Democratic debates, but I always read what is said, as I did with Fiorina. Re the circles she moves in. This woman received around 42 million dollars when she was fired by Hewlett Packard. How many people who got insurance because of Obamacare do you honestly think she knows? Don’t bother to answer. You’ve had your say and I have had mine.
Kay, I also responded to your comment, but it didn’t post. That has happened to several comments readers have made. The usual method of reply works sometimes and not others, but shows me it works every time. That is why I missed my replies not being posted. My apology to several of you whose comments deserved a response, but it’s too late now. Not sure what is going on with wordpress, but I will watch it more carefully from now on.
Just to add a suggestion, how about a column on Obama’s foreign policy concerning ICIS.
We are bombing them and using drones, and working with France and other allies in doing both, short of putting troops on the ground, he is doing all I believe he can do. Acting like a bully and savior of the world are what led Bush to get us into this mess to begin with. Obama didn’t create ISIS. The invasion of Iraq did.