Clinton Told True Tale of Woe, Says Kin

[AGirl]

The aunt of a young pregnant woman who died after a hospital told her she needed to pay $100 up front for care said in an interview on Monday that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been telling the story accurately on the campaign trail -- following claims by a different Ohio hospital that it did not turn the patient away.

For weeks, Clinton repeated an anecdote she heard in Ohio on Feb. 28 involving a young woman who lost her baby and later died because she lacked health insurance and did not have $100 to gain access to a nearby hospital.

But over the weekend, Clinton came under fire when officials at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital, after reading about her remarks, demanded that she stop recounting it because the patient, Trina Bechtel, was admitted there and did have insurance.

That part, it turns out, is true. But so is Clinton's claim that Bechtel did not get care at another hospital that wanted a $100 pre-payment before seeing her, according to the young woman's aunt, Lisa Casto. "It's a true story," said Casto, 53.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/04/07/clinton_told_true_tale_of_woe.html

[dkf]

1. She got it wrong...the girl had health insurance.

She wasn't turned down for care.

The girl didn't want to go back to the closer hospital because she had been through a collection process with them earlier. But they didn't turn her down for care before she died.

I don't see why anyone is saying this story was true...it was all off and unrecognizable.

Even if she were under Hillary's plan, this girl would probably have avoided the 1st hospital because she had insurance and it made no difference to her, she didn't go there anyway.

[rodeodance]

21. There was a "$100 barrier"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080407/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_hospital_fact_check;_ylt=Aj8tCd33RLr6StI4EZRVYAKs0NUE

But recent accounts of the episode have omitted key details that suggest there was more truth in the essence of Clinton's tale than her critics, and even her presidential campaign, have acknowledged.


THE FACTS:

Clinton said she heard the story from Meigs County Deputy Sheriff Bryan Holman during a visit to Pomeroy, before the March 4 Ohio primary.

In a March 26 phone interview with The Associated Press, Holman said he had told Clinton the story in essentially the same way she was retelling it in her speeches. He said he knew the Bachtel story only second hand, and lacked several details.

The AP then spoke with Bachtel's aunt, Susie Casto of Middleport, who helped raise the woman. She said Bachtel, who worked at a pizza parlor, did in fact have health insurance when she and her baby died.

But at an earlier time, Casto said, Bachtel lacked health insurance and ran up unpaid bills when treated at a clinic near her home in Middleport. When she returned for treatment when pregnant, the clinic demanded $100 per visit to help retire the outstanding debt, Casto said. Because Bachtel could not afford the fees and found it difficult to travel, her aunt said, she postponed receiving treatment.

Bachtel eventually went to O'Bleness, about 30 miles to the north, for attention.

Casto declined to name the clinics or hospitals involved, and said she felt medical professionals did all they could to save Bachtel and her unborn child.

Pomeroy has about 2,000 residents and two medical clinics. One is affiliated with O'Bleness, the other is the Holzer Clinic, part of a nine-facility chain.

O'Bleness Health System spokeswoman Lynn Anastos said Monday that Bachtel was not a patient at their Pomeroy facility and "she would not have been turned away for lack of payment" if she had sought treatment there.

Holzer associate administrator Jim Blevins said his company has no record of Bachtel being a patient for the past five years. About half of Holzer's patients are "charity cases," he said, and the company tries to work out payment schedules with those who fall behind on their bills.

In some cases, Blevins said, Holzer clinics place "credit restrictions" on patients believed to be able but unwilling to pay their bills. That would not apply to patients needing immediate or emergency care, he said.

Clinton erred in telling audiences that the Ohio woman lacked insurance when seeking help for her troubled pregnancy. But according to Casto's account, Bachtel's medical tragedy began with circumstances very close to the essence of Clinton's now-abandoned account: the lack of insurance created a $100 barrier to needed medical attention close to home.

[dkf]

24. She doesn't know if she had a $100 barrier...she didn't even try to go while she had health ins.

Which goes back to my argument I keep making here. Health Insurance does not equal health care.

And that is why I think Hillary and Obama's plans suck.

Thank you for helping me make my point.

[Noirceuil]

2. Can you believe...

that tonight Keith Olbermann spent 30 minutes bashing Hillary for lying when all she did was recount a story that a citizen told her. I stopped watching Olbermann weeks ago but a friend called me and told me to watch the rebroadcast. I must say it was ridiculous seeing his fat face turn red and his pitch rise as he tried to hype this thing as the crime of the century.

[AGirl]

4. I really don't even waste a second on Olbermann.

[TLM]

8. Funny since KO said she should get a pass on this one...

because she was repeating a story, and just didn't know it was inaccurate. But the fact she used it without checking, was dumb and makes her look bad.



And BTW her grandmother confirmed she had insurance and was not turned away or denied care.

[DemVet]

19. Olbermann is an asshole of the highest caliber.

[grantcart]

3. Hillary spoke the truth and we need to stand with her on this one

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5424177

[MercutioATC]

6. How can you say that?

Clinton used this story to describe the plight of those without health insurance.

This woman HAD health insurance.

[LisaL]

15. Did you read on OP? The woman DID NOT have health insurance

when she owed money to the first hospital. She was able to get health insurance later on.

[DemVet]

20. Please....

...you make WAY too much sense. How dare you use facts when arguing with an Oba-maniac?

[MercutioATC]

22. She had health insurance when this incident occurred.

At some point in the past she didn't, but this incident had absolutely NOTHING to do with a lack of health insurance...she had insurance when it happened.

[LisaL]

28. What incident? Are you seriously calling a birth of the baby

an incident? Do you realize that pregnancy lasts nine months?

[MercutioATC]

30. I'm not going to duplicate posts in the same thread. See post #29.

[MercutioATC]

5. The real story still differs from the Clinton story.

...and it had nothing to do with lack of insurance. It was due to unpaid bills.

The issue she was trying to make was that the lack of insurance was a tragedy...the tragedy did exist, but not for lack of insurance.

[dkf]

7. Exactly, the tragedy was not due to a lack of health insurance.

Hillary's story does not prove the point she was trying to make.

If she is trying to say that the whole health care system is screwed up, then she would have a point. But saying that this girl died because of a lack of health insurance is just plain wrong.

[LisaL]

13. The woman didn't have insurance. Then she was able to get insurance.

When she owed the first hospital money, she didn't have insurance, according to the aunt.

[MercutioATC]

23. She had insurance when this incident happened.

Yes, in the past at some point, she was without insurance (as many people are at some point in their lives). However, she was covered at the time of this incident. Lack of health insurance isn't an issue here because it doesn't apply in this case.

[LisaL]

27. What incident? For crying out loud, pregnancy lasts nine months.

Pregnant women should get pre-natal care.

[MercutioATC]

29. Nobody's arguing that...that's not the story Clinton told, however.

Stop moving the goalposts. Nobody is saying that the plight of those without health insurance doesn't deserve discussion. Nobody is saying that this woman was covered the entire time. Nobody is saying that this might well not have happened if she had continuous health insurance coverage.

The fact remains that the story Clinton told wasn't accurate...and to opponents, that calls into question the credibility of the message.

[TLM]

9. That's not what her grandmother said...

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04062008/news/nationalnews/a_painful_lie_105295.htm

"Trina had good insurance. She was a good girl, and she worked hard. That story made her look like she was a welfare bum," her 80-year-old grandmother May Mayle told The Post yesterday.

Mayle confirmed that Bachtel died last August from complications related to a late-pregnancy miscarriage, but said she was never turned away from a hospital.

***

Mayle said Bachtel went to the O'Bleness Memorial Hospital on Aug. 4 for a routine check-up and was told her baby was stillborn.
"They told her to come back the next day, and she did, and they made her deliver the baby even though he was dead. Then she just didn't get better."

The family transferred her to a different facility in Columbus, where she died Aug. 17.

[LisaL]

14. Grandma is 80 and seems to be very concerned about

the fact that people might think Trina was a "welfare bum," in other words, poor.

[Warren Stupidity]

10. Wow! Clinton didn't lie about something!

Congratulations are obviously in order.

[C_U_L8R]

11. True or not, Hillary did not have the compassion or sensitivity

to ask this young women's name and get her mourning family's permission.
Just imagine if she started telling stories on the road about your own dead daughter
without your knowledge or permission. How would you feel?
Hillary took a self-serving shortcut for her own political gain and got the story wrong.
All she had to do was ask the family.

But she didn't. And that says everything you need to know about Hillary Clinton.

[LisaL]

12. Hillary wasn't naming the woman or the hospital.

As for asking the family, whatever in the world gives you an idea you need someone's permission to tell the story?
You have different individuals in that family, some seem to approve of Hillary, some don't.
The woman who died was an adult, not a child.
Hillary wasn't naming her.
Why on Earth would she need permission to tell the story and whose permission would she need, considering the woman was an adult?

[C_U_L8R]

16. My point is she didn't ask ANYBODY

Not parents, not spouse, not hospital, nobody,
she just took some deputy's story and ran with it.
That is the definition of self-serving and insensitive.

No she doesn't NEED permission to do anything.
But if it was my wife, daughter, sister or mother
she was exploiting like that, I'd be heartsick.

[LisaL]

18. The hosptial is not allowed to reveal medical information, so it's

useless to ask it.
And she wasn't naming the woman or the hospital.
The fact that Hillary is getting attack for telling this story is ridiculous, IMO.

[Vinca]

17. With 18,000 a year dying from lack of health insurance,

there are an equal number of heartbreaking stories to relate. I don't fault Hillary on this one. I wish she'd tell a new death-by-lack-of-healthcare story every time she's in public. Obama, too.

[MercutioATC]

25. Yes, but it would be nice if they were ACCURATE stories...

It hurts the credibility of the argument when one uses inaccurate examples.

[LowerManhattanite]

26. The nutty OP is gone, baby, GONE. n/t

[cooolandrew]

31. I never really disputed this one as you couldn't entirely disprove the story.

[MadBadger]

32. Stop talking to dead people.