Comments on: Megan McArdle Opposes National Health Care on Behalf of Breast Cancer Patients

By: Jane Hamsher

Jane Hamsher — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:31:59 +0000

There’s a bigger problem — the incidence of breast cancer is rising dramatically. It’s not because of the phase of the moon. But all the research money goes into treatment development rather than prevention because that’s where the profit centers are.

Trust me, you’d rather not have it in the first place. But we really should be putting more resources into finding out what is going on in the environment in the first place, and the whole fetishism of profits keeps us from doing that.

By: ecthompson

ecthompson — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:32:13 +0000

Jane, you of course, are right and Megan is of course, wrong. She’s arguing that somehow the private sector has a patent on ingenuity. She is part of the propaganda machine that is trying to tell Americans that a private option is inherently better than a public option. Megan’s example of the Wal-Mart revolution in supply chain management is one of the reasons why our country is in such dire straits right now. She looks as this as a positive when in fact it is a negative. Wal-Mart was making profits long before they decide to squeeze the American worker out. Wal-Mart revolution has allowed companies to ship millions of jobs overseas which is why the middle class has been shrinking the last 20 years.

She argues that government researchers and pharmaceutical company researchers are different animals. Yeah, so? No one is getting rid of pharmaceutical company researchers. They will still be able to do exactly what they were doing before. A single-payer option does not eliminate them from the healthcare equation.

Thanks for your thoughtful comments on this issue. As a surgeon, I have written a lot on health care and health care issues — here.

By: macaquerman

macaquerman — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:37:05 +0000

Bit of a pit-bulling on McArdle.

By: RickMassimo

RickMassimo — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:39:59 +0000

As long as people don’t know that there are cancer treatments they’re not getting, they’re happy.

Thank you, Ms. McArdle, for pointing out the weakness in the “90% (or whatever percentage Rush said today) of Americans are happy with their health insurance” talking point. I didn’t know you were on our side in this.

Oh, that’s not what you were doing?

By: SouthernDragon

SouthernDragon — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:56:53 +0000

I don’t know why people keep thinking Congress gets different health insurance than private citizens. It’s not free. Once a year they can initially choose a private plan or change plans if they already have one. This was discussed on Swim this morning. Yes, the taxpayers pay a portion of the premiums, just like people pay for part of the premiums for any employer based plan by purchasing the products the company makes. You too can have the High Option plan from BC/BS. If you can afford it.

By: Millineryman

Millineryman — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:41:36 +0000

Today we have Health Care Theater in Obama’s town hall. If he any balls he’s be doing these town halls in the Blue Dog’s districts on recess when the Blue Dogs were home and invite them for a very public debate. But alas Obama is showing himself to be a coward.

By: TarheelDem

TarheelDem — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:33:20 +0000

I’m afraid that instead of Security Theater, we’ll get Health Care Theater, where the government goes to elaborate lengths to convince us that we’re getting the best possible health care, without actually providing it.

Health Care Theater, eh? By the definition provided, the part of government going to elaborate lengths to convince us we have the best possible healthcare would be the Republicans; even the Blue Dogs don’t go there.

As opposed to, say, the pundits who are going to elaborate lengths to convince us that the status quo is the best possible healthcare.

By: SadButTrue

SadButTrue — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:07:52 +0000

Public option be damned, you should all be advocating and agitating for nothing less than single payer UNIVERSAL health care, like we have in Canada. The simple fact is that there are enormous cost reductions in single payer that are not realized if you have government insurance competing with private insurance.

To use (appropriately, I think) a medical analogy:

If you were suffering from life-threatening intestinal parasites, would you trust a doctor whose first concern was to keep the parasites happy? Because it seems to me that’s what Dr. Congress is trying to do WRT the parasitic insurance industry.

By: John

John — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:05:35 +0000

Sorry, not signing any more petitions. Been there, done that. I VOTED, though, like hundreds of millions of others, for a public health plan. Not taking any more abuse via the “sternly worded letter” route.

Suggest a new line of attack, however: “BLUE CROSS DEMOCRATS” instead of Blue Dogs.

By: questioneverything

questioneverything — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:54:40 +0000

For those who haven’t heard about it, please sign the petition mounted by Senators Durbin, Leahy, and Schumer to demand a public option:

http://citizensforapublicoption.com/