# Barack Obama catches fainting pregnant woman during speech



## Northerner (Oct 22, 2013)

Barack Obama helped catch a pregnant woman when she became faint during his speech about the troubled Obamacare website, joking: "This happens when I talk too long".

Karmel Allison, who has type 1 diabetes, began to swoon as she stood behind the president during his 25-minute speech in the White House Rose Garden.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...es-fainting-pregnant-woman-during-speech.html


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## trophywench (Oct 22, 2013)

Oooooh - that's utterly brill, you couldn't get a much better advert for Obamacare, could you?

.................... but I expect the conspiracy theorists will no doubt declare it was pre-arranged and she was paid to faint !


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## Northerner (Oct 22, 2013)

trophywench said:


> Oooooh - that's utterly brill, you couldn't get a much better advert for Obamacare, could you?
> 
> .................... but I expect the conspiracy theorists will no doubt declare it was pre-arranged and she was paid to faint !



The reason why she was there was because she wrote this:

http://asweetlife.org/karmel/blogs/news-politics/what-obamacare-feels-like-to-a-diabetic/34121/


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## Copepod (Oct 22, 2013)

Pretty sure I spotted pump cannula on back of her left arm, as she was led away.


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## Pumper_Sue (Oct 22, 2013)

As soon as I saw the wobble I guessed hypo


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## trophywench (Oct 23, 2013)

How will that fact alter what the CTs will say?  

When did they ever let facts alter what they think ? 

It wouldn't be so newsworthy if they did so it couldn't happen LOL


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## Northerner (Oct 23, 2013)

trophywench said:


> How will that fact alter what the CTs will say?
> 
> When did they ever let facts alter what they think ?
> 
> It wouldn't be so newsworthy if they did so it couldn't happen LOL



Sure enough, there have been sections of the media who have claimed it was staged, saying things like how would the President know that she was about to pass out given that she was behind him (tv monitors, anyone?).

Apparently the faint was not due to hypoglycaemia though, more to do with her being pregnant, I read this morning.


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## Redkite (Oct 23, 2013)

Doesn't matter even if it WAS staged.  It has still drawn attention to people with diabetes in the USA, who through no fault of their own are at a huge financial disadvantage.  Obamacare will be much better for people with diabetes.


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## Northerner (Oct 23, 2013)

Redkite said:


> Doesn't matter even if it WAS staged.  It has still drawn attention to people with diabetes in the USA, who through no fault of their own are at a huge financial disadvantage.  Obamacare will be much better for people with diabetes.



I've been reading some anecdotal stuff relating to Obamacare and diabetes this morning, and apparently a lot of people with diabetes are seeing big rises in premiums and co-pays. However, this appears to be in States where Obamacare is being blocked and also if people are not taking advantage of what there is available. There is also talk that some smaller companies are reducing hours and laying people off because of the potential hike in their costs, which is also hitting some people. However, on balance, I think that being tied to a job I hated just because it came with good health insurance would be intolerable - even worse if I had to change jobs and couldn't get insurance because of a pre-existing long term condition!

Part of the problem is the fact that the costs of the drugs etc. in the US market is based on the fact that there are high premiums for good care, and 'co-pays' (like an excess for other forms of insurance). Insulin is $120 a vial, which I believe is double the cost it is to our NHS, and test strips are similarly priced with a US premium.

I'm sure we have all experienced the hassle of trying to deal with insurance companies and how they will squeeze you for everything they can - imagine that every time you needed something? So glad we have our system here  Obamacare won't solve that, but in time things may improve further and uoi have to start somewhere. The coalition want the NHS to move towards what the US has by limiting treatments to a minimum (see reduction of test strips, even for insulin-users!)


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## Redkite (Oct 23, 2013)

We are so lucky with the NHS.  I really hope they won't retrospectively introduce paid-for medical insurance, otherwise people like my son and everyone on this forum will be unfairly disadvantaged.  No insurer is going to take on a person with diabetes except at an unaffordable cost!


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## trophywench (Oct 23, 2013)

Have to say, my ex-husband 's employers ran a PMI scheme - free for employees, they paid a bit extra to include spouses and children, no questions asked, no moratorium!  so my hysterectomy was done by BUPA and the hospital charged an all in rate of ??? a few hundred a day plus a flat fee of a couple of thou for the op, and that was that.

Since I throw up after GAs I didn't eat or drink (except water) for 7 days, but of course needed more nursing than the average, so I expect it was swings and roundabouts.

I was truly hacked off with not enjoying fresh salmon and new potatoes followed by strawberries and cream etcetera but I did get excellent nursing care and never had to ask for anything that wasn't brought immediately and without fuss - if they hadn't brought it in unasked, cos they realised I was going to need it soon.  Brilliant.  It wasn't a traumatic experience at all ! 

But I think by now all the insurers have caught on that they don't know what they are getting when they quote for a scheme like that, with either the employees or the rest of them, so they are asking more and more questions.  Like buying a pig in a poke.  The only way you can make it pay is to set up a scheme that someone throws some money at, and you hope the ones who never claim will offset the ones that do.  The NHS however proves that they don't.  

(Unless of course, there's a layer of people on the gravy train who contribute nothing to offset their own costs .......)

It is a mad way to try and run a scheme, isn't it? to be fair!


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## Northerner (Oct 23, 2013)

At one employer's they had a very good employee healthcare plan. However, as they were in the process of being taken over, suddenly the mood changed and they started introducing all sorts of checks and 'interviews' for any time off sick, or if care was needed. Didn't stay there long enough to find out how it all went, but it seemed pretty clear that costs had been cut somewhere along the way.

When I broke my leg  my care in Sweden was excellent, and free - own room, served on hand and foot, saw all manner of HCPs. When I got back I went to a BUPA consultant because I would have had to wait about 6-8 weeks to see NHS. I also started getting physio/rehab at a BUPA hospital but they were dreadful, only really used to dealing with much older people, so I got my own sports physio who got me back running again. The company paid for all this, but the money did run out eventually and I ended up paying for some physio sessions.


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## trophywench (Oct 24, 2013)

Well if you can find the right physio, even if you do have to pay more than average, it's usually money exceptionally well-spent.

When I was in excruciating pain with my shoulder and found the right person, it cost me hundreds of pounds and what she used to do was treat me each session until we were both in tears with the pain, and then leave it! and I don't regret it not a single penny because I recovered fully.

I do hope her thumbs did !

(A tendon I ripped doing an over zealous serve whilst playing tennis, healed but stuck itself to my shoulder blade in the process so basically she had to shove her thumbs in, that $0??ing hurt to begin with, and work the tendon against the edge of the bone, to free it and wear all the lumps off.  Owwwww)

All the NHS could offer was 10 minutes ultrasound once a week, useless.


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## Northerner (Oct 25, 2013)

*Sarah Palin Mocks the Pregnant Diabetic Who Fainted at Obama?s Speech*

Type 1 diabetes while pregnant? Sarah Palin thinks you?re a big liar and also, she laughed when you fainted, ?cuz pregnant ladies fainting is SO FUNNY in that pro-lifey kinda way.
Palin wrote on her Facebook page,

Whether accurate or not, for some reason I found this hilarious! Am I out of bounds for cracking up when I saw this take on a nauseated Obama fan, her absentminded pal, and our President?s heroics this week? If so, penance paying I?ll accept. With the Obama White House?s total lack of transparency, it?s no wonder that some will ask whether they staged even a fainting lady in the Rose Garden. What was once a major leap in logic has become a single step because President Obama has lied so often and so blatantly (?If you like your health care plan, you can keep your plan? comes to mind!).?

http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/24/house-democrat-calls.html

Idiot!


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## Northerner (Oct 28, 2013)

*How I Met President Obama (and fainted): The True Story*

One week ago today I stood behind President Obama and fainted as he addressed the nation on the Affordable Care Act.  This is  a very long account, in excruciating detail, of how I came to meet the President. No one person will likely make it through all of this, I fear, so I added section headings for your convenience. Feel free to skip to the parts you care about! -

http://asweetlife.org/karmel/blogs/...ident-obama-and-fainted-the-true-story/34271/

It is a long and very full account of the day, but very well-written and interesting


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