After Praising Costa Rica’s Health Care, Limbaugh Bashes Obama As “Third World President”

Rush Limbaugh, who urged listeners to call Congress to protest health care reform and is calling Obama a “third world president,” told his March 8 audience that if Democratic-backed health care reform passes, he’ll go to Costa Rica, bellowing, “If this passes, and it’s five years from now and all that stuff gets implemented — I am leaving the country. I’ll go to Costa Rica.”

The next day, he clarified that he wouldn’t move, just seek care at a private clinic there that caters to medical tourists. Still, the comments showcased the country’s state-run system, said Lawrence Jacobs, political science director at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Spotlighting Socialism

“In trying to poke a hole in what is largely a market- based approach in the U.S., he highlighted a genuinely socialist system,” Jacobs said.

One of the reasons Costa Rica can provide free universal health care is that it doesn’t have army. Health care is paid for by a 9 percent income tax on all workers.  Mr. Limbaugh’s special health needs would be well cared-for there.

Limbaugh has a history of health problems, from weight, to hearing loss, to painkiller issues. In December, he was hospitalized in Hawaii after chest pains.

Options for treating these conditions are limited without joining Costa Rica’s socialized health system, said Daniel Salas, a health ministry spokesman.

Private health insurance is “virtually non-existent,” according to the 2008 American Journal of Public Health study.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.