Maybe Even Worse Than Rand Paul Being In The Senate Would Be Rand Paul Operating On Your Eyes!

Caught

Rand Paul wants to cut government spending for education, farmers, children's health programs and for just about every other program you can think of, but not for physicians. As the Lexington Herald-Leader pointed out today, he "built his medical practice on payments from Medicare and Medicaid, the massive government health care programs considered to be leading contributors to the national debt... and roughly half of his medical income comes from the two programs."

Paul, the Republican nominee, has been paid $130,461 in Medicaid funds since 2006, about one-third of the sum that he billed the program, according to the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which administers that program. Doctors' Medicaid billings often are disputed in part, leading to smaller payments than they requested.

...On the campaign trail, Paul calls for the abolition of entire agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Education, while complaining that Medicare payments to doctors have been cut too deeply, making it one of the few government expenses he consistently defends.

"Physicians should be allowed to make a comfortable living," Paul told supporters in Louisville in May, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Paul's campaign chairman, David Adams, said the candidate's political and personal stances are not inconsistent. Paul is sincerely critical of government spending, but being an eye surgeon essentially requires him to accept Medicare and Medicaid patients, Adams said.

"If you look at it from a medical perspective, who gets their eyes operated on? Usually, it's older people," Adams said. "And in this country, you don't have much choice after you turn 65. You're usually on Medicare. So I don't know how you avoid Medicare."

By contrast, Paul's father, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, also is a doctor who criticizes deficit spending. But Ron Paul refuses to take Medicare and Medicaid funds, calling it "stolen money." Under federal rules, doctors can opt out of the programs, which serve the elderly and the poor, respectively.

Rand and his pop seem to be at odds over several things. Remember when he opposed Insiders and corporatists? Just kidding, everybody! And although Rand apologists claim he'll join his father in opposing foreign wars, he certainly isn't campaigning on that platform-- to put it mildly. He told Sean Hannity that he would have certainly voted to attack Afghanistan, although he didn't talk about the attack on Iraq one way or the other. And I've also heard a couple of peeps and squawks from his devotees and followers that he's for legalizing pot. Maybe they're channeling it 'cause he sure isn't campaigning on that issue. He's even given up on his crazy war against the imaginary Amero, an alternative currency he used to use to frighten the black helicopter crowd with. In fact, he's been busy distancing himself from both the teababggers who got him the GOP nomination (and a reputation as a kook) and from libertarianism itself-- and scrubbing his website to reflect his "evolving" set of "beliefs."

Republican Rand Paul said Tuesday he differs with the Libertarian Party by opposing abortion and supporting judicious overseas troop deployment, distancing himself from the party his father once represented in a presidential election.

The U.S. Senate candidate from Kentucky told syndicated conservative talk show host Sean Hannity that he doesn't fit the mold of a Libertarian. Paul said his conservative social views and willingness to send troops abroad to protect the U.S. set him apart from the party some have tried to associate him with.

"Instead of maybe saying we're never anywhere overseas, I say we need to be more judicious in where we are, in that I don't think we can afford to be everywhere all the time," Paul said. "But it also doesn't mean that we never intervene and that we can allow people to attack us."

Another way he's different from Paul, Sr. is that the Texas congressman is licensed to practice medicine. Rand... not so much.

Hidden behind an online "subscribers' only" wall, the Sunday Courier-Journal boasts an exclusive story about Rand Paul's medical accreditation-- or lack thereof. Paul, Jr. has made a point of claiming to be a "board-certified" ophthalmologist but the "national clearinghouse for such certifications says he hasn't been for the past five years."

Paul, who practices in Bowling Green, says he is certified by the National Board of Ophthalmology, a group that he incorporated in 1999 and that he heads.

But that entity is not recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties, which works with the American Medical Association to approve such specialty boards... "He's not board-certified," [a spokesperson for the American Board of Medical Specialties] said of Paul.

He used to be-- lied outright during the campaign and claimed he still is, in fact-- but then he started his own bogus board and now he's refusing to comment on the whole thing. In fact he told the state's biggest newspaper that he will "never" comment on it and that it has nothing to do with the election. Well, even apart from the character issue-- I mean who wants another liar in the Senate, let alone operating on your eyes?-- it so happens that Paul, who's been sued for malpractice a couple of times (paying off one ex-patient $50,000 to get him to go away) and that the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure has never sanctioned him!

So why did he start his new bogus board in 1999 (and again in 2005 since it had lapsed in 2000 and he was about to lose his accreditation to practice at all that year), the one he owns and claims to be president of but that isn't recognized by anyone, anywhere as anything but another of his kooky delusions? (His wife is the vice-president of the thing but she won't comment either.) Paul objected to the requirement that doctors be re-certified every decade proving that they're keeping up with developments in their field. Paul is no longer a certified ophthalmologist but continues to claim he is-- and, worse, continues to operate on patients. At least this campaign thing is keeping him from doing that anymore!

click to enlarge and learn more about Rand Paul's character