Nurses Blanket Iowa With Ad: Cheney Would Be Dead Without Gov't Healthcare

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A nurses' union is running print ads in newspapers across Iowa pointing out Vice President Dick Cheney's access to publicly-funded health care has likely kept him alive. It says he has a bad heart but doesn't have to pay big bucks or face insurance company scrutiny for medical care. The nurses contention: Cheney receives medical procedures that most Americans cannot afford and, "If he were anyone else, he'd probably be dead by now."

There is a link to the ad available here. It was created to rally support for the National Health Insurance Act, an AFL-CIO-supported measure that would expand Medicare to cover all U.S. residents. The ad contends national politicians enjoy topflight care subsidized by the public at a time when millions of citizens have to fend for themselves. The nurses contend Cheney's history of heart problems -- four heart attacks -- and prognosis could lead to a denial of a claim for coverage in the private health insurance market. Said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee:

"All Americans deserve the kind of care that our Vice-President, President and Congress already have, but none of the candidate proposals can give it to them. All the current Democratic proposals keep the insurance companies at the apex of power and deny Americans the chance for guaranteed health care, and the Republican proposals are far worse."