The Nose on Your Face The thing about Keith Olbermann is, I tend to agree with his positions far more than I care for his over-the-top, full-of-himself histrionic shtick. So I approached his “Special Commentary” on health care — one hour of nothing but the largest talking head on TV — with both interest and… Read more
Tag Archives: politics
Why is it so hard to reform health care? Rugged individualism
Source: Banning and Low Excellent op-ed piece on health care reform in the Sunday Times. It’s by Roger Cohen, who recently returned from a trip to Germany. Europeans readily acknowledge universal health coverage as a basic right in a civilized society. Americans have great difficulty with this concept. The current health care debate in the… Read more
A reason for health care reform
Image: Jordan Maxwell We all know why Liberals want to make health care available for all Americans. Liberals have bleeding hearts and a proclivity for redistributing wealth from the rich to the poor. They would agree with Peter Montague that “the growing gap between rich and poor has not been ordained by extraterrestrial beings. It… Read more
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: The health care shell game
Source: Tax Tea Party When it comes to health care reform, there are moral issues and financial issues. If there are indeed 46.3 million Americans without health insurance; if 45,000 people die every year from preventable causes because they have no health insurance; if the US ranks 21st out of the 21 wealthiest nations on… Read more
Why is it so hard to reform health care? Political structure
Source: Amazon A country’s health care system reflects its character, ethics, and cultural values. Politics, medicine, and economics may shape the particular design of a system, but when it comes to deciding who will be included, that’s a moral question. The United States is the only industrialized democracy that does not guarantee health care to… Read more
Why is it so hard to reform health care? The historical background
Some segments of the American population receive excellent health care. Statistics on their life expectancy, mortality, and risk factors for disease compare favorably to citizens of other advanced countries. What throws off the numbers for the US — the reason our overall statistics are 23 points behind Britain, Canada, France, Germany, and Japan on a… Read more
Your insurance industry at work
Source: State of the Division Here’s something about health care reform that can unite the Left and the Right. They should find this equally offensive. The one Congressional committee that has yet to agree on its legislative reform plan is Max Baucus’ Senate Finance Committee. An 18-page summary (PDF) of what we can expect was… Read more
Kennedy's posthumous letter, Obama on American character, a Congressman's apology
Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina Source: The New York Times Two years ago, when Democrats were preparing for the presidential primaries, a liberal political expert advised against discussing health care for the uninsured. Everyone loves to say they care about the issue, he said. No one – with the possible exception of Ted Kennedy… Read more
What's next for health care reform? Reconciliation
Source: Gearlog Optimists predict that media coverage of Senator Kennedy’s death will shame Republicans into changing their opposition to health care reform. Nicholas Lemann, writing in the New Yorker, says, “Kennedy’s death … will cost Obama a vote in the Senate, but this may be outweighed–is it too much to hope?–by the good feeling that… Read more
Should Obama have pitched health care differently? Will Kennedy's death make a difference?
Source: The AV Club “Obama surely has made mistakes, among them focusing so heavily on how reform would reduce the cost of medicine. Had he spent more time reminding voters that reform would provide them with the security they now lack–security from financial ruin and medical catastrophe, the type private insurance too rarely provides–he probably… Read more
Edward Kennedy: Healthcare is a fundamental right, not a privilege
Source: WTRF Some tributes to Senator Edward Kennedy and some honest recollections and assessments. Ezra Klein in The Washington Post: “Year after year, decade after decade, he labored to pass health-care reform. He sought deals with Republican presidents, with Democratic presidents, and even pursued the office himself. He tried to cut out the health-care industry… Read more
Are insurance co-ops a reasonable alternative to the public option?
Source: The Washington Post Dan Roam’s visual presentation of the issues involved in health care reform lists three possible options for health insurance: Private insurance, non-profit insurance exchanges or co-ops, and a government insured plan (the “public option”). There’s been much media speculation lately that the public option is now out of the picture. There… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #17
Additional stories related to health. Categories include: More articles on Health Care Reform, History of Medicine, Medical Journalism, Medical Technology, Medical News, Pharmaceuticals, Pop Culture, Social Media and the Internet, and The So-Called Obesity “Epidemic.” HEALTH CARE REFORM A ‘Common Sense’ American Health Reform Plan (The New York Times – Uwe Reinhardt) After studying this… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #16
Here are some things I’ve come across recently. Categories include: Aging/End of Life/Death, Doctors, Influenza, Genetics, and Health Care Reform. AGING, END OF LIFE, AND DEATH End-of-Life Care: Where Ethics Meet Economics (The New York Times – Uwe Reinhardt) Health spending in the United States has doubled every 10 years during the last four decades.… Read more
‘Mad Men,’ the sixties and the culture war over health carepolitics
Source: The Insider The current emotional polarization around health care reform is not so much about specific issues – rising medical costs, reprehensible insurance industry practices, the number of uninsured. It reflects a deep division in American culture that began in the sixties. Forty years after Woodstock, it’s clear that a major shift happened in… Read more
The tactics of health care opponents may discredit their message
Source: Telegraph After all the recent media coverage of angry crowds at town hall meetings who oppose health care reform, it’s a relief to come across a reassuring piece of journalism from a neutral source. Reuters reports that the entire ruckus will probably not make any difference in the broader debate on health issues. The… Read more
Waste, Fraud, Abuse and the Mafia
Source: Silive.com One of the arguments against health care reform is the government’s inability to run an efficient and financially sound business. Government bureaucracies are considered breeding grounds for waste, fraud, and abuse. Here’s a typical complaint I found online: “The Government Loses Over $200 Billion A year To Medicare/Medicaid Fraud!!!! Should they be taxing… Read more
Without the public option, it's not health care reform
Source: Psychic Medium Rare Howard Dean is not one of my favorite politicians, but he has a good point about leaving the public option out of health care reform. Dean and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, both MDs, were interviewed last night on the Charlie Rose Show. Towards the end of the interview, Rose… Read more
Health care reform: Politics and substance
Source: The health care mess With health care reform reduced to a sporting event – or as Hendrik Hertzberg calls it in the latest New Yorker, a brawl — I sometimes find myself wishing I lived in a benevolent dictatorship. (Just kidding.) As President Obama pointed out in his press conference on health care last… Read more
Obama's press conference: Health care as a herd of rhinos
Source: Nick Brandt Click photo for larger view. My favorite conservative columnist, David Brooks, responded to Barack Obama’s press conference on health care this week with a piece that characterizes rising costs as a “stampede of big ugly rhinos. They are trampling your crops, stomping on your children’s play areas and spoiling your hunting grounds.”… Read more
The Sicko files
Source: Bill Moyers Journal Wendell Potter, who was once the head of Public Relations at health insurance giant CIGNA, recently testified before Congress on the nefarious practices of the insurance industry. Last Friday he did an extended interview with Bill Moyers. In the video excerpt below, Moyers and Potter discuss the insurance industry’s comprehensive strategy… Read more
Sotomayor's diabetes: A legitimate reservation or discrimination?
Source: 103.7 The Buzz Just how important are medical issues when considering a nominee for the Supreme Court? Living to a ripe old age is important, since justices serve for life. Clarity of mind is also important, given the nature of the job. Low blood sugar, for example, could theoretically impair judgment. Both of these… Read more
Importing drugs from Canada: Will lobbyists win or lose this round?
Artist: Robert Parada. Source: AARP When a government is directly involved in health care, the sheer size of its purchasing power allows it to negotiate lower prices for drugs. That’s why drugs cost less in Canada over the Internet. In the US, drug company lobbying is so powerful that it can convince Congress to prohibit… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #15
In today’s Dose: Health care reform (A public option plan emerges from HELP committee; Arguments for the public option from the Urban Institute; Obama stands Harry & Louise on their heads) Health news (Should Steve Jobs use his celebrity status for pancreatic cancer awareness and funding?) Industrialized agriculture (Labeling organic food: What can you believe?;… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #14
In today’s Dose: Health care reform (Kennedy-Dodd committee proposal released) Health news (Is Tylenol (acetaminophen) safe to take every day?) Aging (Doctors lack training in care of the elderly) Pop culture (Michael Jackson and Diprivan (propofol), Jackson’s weight, Jackson’s doctor) Health care reform The Senate health committee proposal on health care has been released. Turns… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #13
In today’s Dose: Health care reform (Use of language to oppose health care reform; Goozner on media and the uninformed electorate; Doctor blames patients; Doctor importunes Obama and Congress; Doctors salaries doubled in Iran; Another Atul Gawande interview; Political scandals and evangelicals) Health care reform There’s an interesting article in the Washington Post on the… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #11
In today’s Dose: Health care reform (Insurance industry practices; Maggie Mahar on insurance; Analysis of the public option’s status) Health news Mid-life migraines update) The Medical profession More on Dr. Arash Hejazi) Foodborne illness Health care reform Ezra Klein has a column in the Washington Post on Wendell Potter’s testimony before Rockefeller’s Commerce Committee (see… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #7
In today’s Dose: Health care reform (Public health insurance option, Congressional Budget Office, Optimism in the White House, Doctors and reform, Doctors pay) The Medical profession (What doctors earn) Health care reform Paul Krugman, in the New York Times, writes about health care today with his usual intelligence and trenchant prose. His argument: Democrats who… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #6
In today’s Dose: Health care reform (Congressionional Budget Office numbers; Why Maggie Mahar isn’t worried; Kevin MD, Daniel Callahan) Foodborne illness (Cookie dough) Industrialized agriculture (Food Inc.) The risk society (Jodi Picoult novels) Health care reform A recent Ezra Klein Klein column in the Washington Post discussed the bad news this week from the Congressional… Read more
Health Culture Daily Dose #1advertising, alcohol, doctors, FDA, health care, health news, Obama, pharmaceuticals, tobacco
In today’s Dose: Health care reform (Obama’s AMA speech; Underlying issues; David Brooks on Obama; Robert Samuelson’s take; WSJ fiction) Health news (Benefits of alcohol?; Ritalin and unexplained deaths) Tobacco (Litigating over free speech; Is the FDA demoralized) Health care reform The American Medical Association (AMA) came out last week against any government sponsored insurance… Read more