Limbaugh Plans to Flee American Health Care Reform for More Extreme “Socialist” Health Care

In a moment of great unintentional comedy, Rush Limbaugh said he would flee this health care reform if it passed by moving to Costa Rica. The irony is overwhelming given that Costa Rica has a universal, single payer health care system with large government ownership over health care providers like hospitals. From Media Matters, via Think Progress:

LIMBAUGH: My guess in even in Canada and even in the UK, doctors have opted out. And once they’ve opted, they can’t see anybody Medicare, Medicaid, or what will become the exchanges. They have to have a clientele of private patients that will pay them a retainer and it’ll be a very small practice. I don’t know if that’s been outlawed in the Senate bill. I don’t know. I’ll just tell you this, 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.

This is hilarious because Costa Rica prides itself on their health care system. It is a public, single payer system that provides all citizens and permanent residents with very low cost care, paid for with a flat income tax. Most health care facilities are owned by the government. Even the optional “private” health insurance in Costa Rica must be sold through the government insurance monopoly. Clearly, Costa Rica's health care system would count as an extreme socialist health care system according to Limbaugh.

The idea of Limbaugh fleeing American health care reform and going to a country with one of the most left leaning health care systems in the world points to the complete absurdity of the conservative media scare machine.