Don Wycliff (who used to be on the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune) wrote an op ed today that says it all. My feelings completely. Those who don't trust the federal government to take part in healthcare are disingenuous, and most of them know it (though some of the dullards really don't understand, I think). Here is Don's article; he details all the areas in healthcare where the U.S. government is already involved. So...do you want to cut them all? Go ahead. Do it. You can't have it both ways, people; that's called having your cake and eating it too.
For the dullards who really don't get it, here are some of the federal programs that he specifies:
- Eliminate Medicare
- Eliminate Medicaid
- Eliminate tax deductions for employer payments of health insurance
- Eliminate all veteran healthcare
- Eliminate all military hospitals; only treat those on the battlefield to stabilize them
- Eliminate the Indian Health Service
- Eliminate the office of the Surgeon General
- Eliminate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Eliminate the National Institutes of Health
2 comments:
I'm not entirely sure that the examples of Medicare, Medicaid, VAs, etc, are the most convincing argument that we should allow further government fingers into our system. I'm not sure what I think about the current bill or the debates that are going on except that I don't believe anyone is telling us the whole, actual truth of what it is saying.
The fact is that 100 million U.S. citizens now get their health care paid for. That's about one third of Americans. Therefore, in my opinion, it is disingenuous for the Republicans to be acting like the government coming in is so strange and different.
If the public wants us to go private, then we should do so completely. But, believe me, that would be the biggest chaos you've ever seen. What I don't get is that nobody is out there talking about the insurance companies and their single-minded goal of bringing in money, at the cost of patients. I have seen health insurance companies, time and time again, refuse to pay, based on the most inane reasons. Yet, it's the politicians or the doctors or the lawyers getting the blame.
I do agree with you, though, that people aren't being honest...on either side.
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