The proposed health-insurance bill from the House of Representatives refers to mentally disabled people as “retarded” — a term advocates, relatives and physicians find outdated and offensive.
The bill refers to: “A hospital or a nursing facility or intermediate-care facility for the mentally retarded . . .”
The phrase could cause more problems with groups for the developmentally disabled, who were angered when President Obama referred to his poor bowling skills on “The Tonight Show” as “like the Special Olympics.” Obama later apologized.