David Gregory convened a health care reform panel this morning on Meet the Press with Tom Daschle, Dick Armey, Rachel Maddow, and Sen. Tom Coburn. Coburn called the American health care system “one of the best in the world.” Daschle fought valiantly to get a word in about real policy. Armey shouted about “MoveOn.org” whenever he felt threatened. And Maddow did her best to dismantle Armey’s lies. It was frustrating to hear Coburn and Armey, who I’m sure both have very good health insurance, argue cooly about the cost of reform while completely ignoring the moral imperative we have to fix the system.
But the most frustrating part was listening to Coburn say on a national news program that there is “no indicator anywhere in this country that the quality of medicine has declined” one hour, and then reading about the health care services provided free by a Remote Area Medical field hospital to thousands in Los Angeles who can’t get them otherwise the next:
They came in their thousands, queuing through the night to secure one of the coveted wristbands offering entry into a strange parallel universe where medical care is a free and basic right and not an expensive luxury. Some of these Americans had walked miles simply to have their blood pressure checked, some had slept in their cars in the hope of getting an eye-test or a mammogram, others had brought their children for immunisations that could end up saving their life.
In the week that Britain’s National Health Service was held aloft by Republicans as an “evil and Orwellian” example of everything that is wrong with free healthcare, these extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California yesterday provided a sobering reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to reform the US system.
The LA Forum, the arena that once hosted sell-out Madonna concerts, has been transformed – for eight days only – into a vast field hospital. In America, the offer of free healthcare is so rare, that news of the magical medical kingdom spread rapidly and long lines of prospective patients snaked around the venue for the chance of getting everyday treatments that many British people take for granted.
In the first two days, more than 1,500 men, women and children received free treatments worth $503,000 (£304,000). Thirty dentists pulled 471 teeth; 320 people were given standard issue spectacles; 80 had mammograms; dozens more had acupuncture, or saw kidney specialists. By the time the makeshift medical centre leaves town on Tuesday, staff expect to have dispensed $2m worth of treatments to 10,000 patients.
Health insurance company whistle-blower Wendell Potter told us about the life-changing experience he had after seeing a field hospital in action and a 60 Minutes segment showed the pain in the faces of the people who were turned away. These people whose only access to health care is through these randomly scheduled appearances of field hospitals in their community are not the faces of a “best in the world” system. Tom Coburn is, though. Lucky man.
Eric, I had to go away for a minute and take a deep breath. Yes, I do have healthcare. I pay for my $1000 per month premium completely out of my own pocket. And, thankfully, I haven’t had any chronic or catastrophic illness that would test whether my $12,000 per year would actually cover all the treatment I might need.
But it’s not up to you, really, to decide who does and who doesn’t get treatment?
Are you really saying that the system doesn’t need to be fixed?
Is anyone going to say anything?
I bet you have nice health care too. So don’t spew out your bureaucratic bullshit about me not caring about the 50 million people who don’t. I can’t tell you the number of patients I have X-Rayed that did not have health insurance, but still managed to get treated. I only know this because I also handle the medical records of the patients I X-Ray. And I guarentee you that any of the people I work with will say the same thing: We treat people regardless of their methods of payment. By the way, where did you go to medical school?
Well, Eric, how nice that you have healthcare! I guess since you have yours, who cares about the 50 million who don’t, right?
Excuse me if I’m skeptical of your anecdotal evidence of poor treatment at the VA. On the other hand, there is actual evidence of people dying at the hands of health insurance companies who have refused necessary care.
http://www.iom.edu/?id=19175
Well, working in the health industry myself, as an X-Ray Technician, I do have health care and I am satisfied with my service. However,I have seen the darker side of things and how government-run health care really works. I spent two years working at a VA hospital (which is run by the government), and I have seen some patients with serious conditions being denied health coverage because they were “not important enough”. In other words, it was too expensive to pay for their treatment. And that was the government’s decision to give them the boot, not the doctor’s. So in the end, the government knows best. I guess the people are too stupid to make decisions for themselves. So why not have the government make all of my decisions?
Great way to put it, Judy. No one is “pouring into the US” for basic preventative care.
I know people who have gone to Canada or Mexico for meds or dental care. We do have niche expensive care for very rich people that is of high quality; otherwise, we are turning ourselves into a third world nation in terms of basic services, pre-natal care, etc. I lived in England for three years as a student. Though I did not even pay taxes there, I qualified for free medical care and it was excellent. Every other developed nation, except for South Africa, has this basic infrastructure. Infrastructure is a good thing. We should not let our fears of the rest of Planet Earth continue to deny our citizens a modern health care system.
Eric, our healthcare is ranked 37th in the world by the National Health Organization. And can you show me the stats on the people who are “pouring into the US to get treatment? While you’re looking, go check out this non-partisan explanation of the reform:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/aug/13/health-care-reform-simple-explanation/
Oh, and do you have health care?
Well, our health care is one of the best in the world. Let’s face it, no one is saying “let’s go to Europe to get a new kidney”. Everyone is pouring into the United States to get treatment. Why? Because our health care system works. There’s nothing wrong with it. And this new health care plan will raise taxes. Even though Obama says it won’t, it most certainly will. Now, I do agree that the health insurance companies should lower their costs, but not everyone wants the government to shove health care down their throats. All I am saying is that socialized health care has never worked and will never worked. So why start now?