Dean Kamen thinks the healthcare debate has it all wrong.
Kamen, as you might know, is that dude who invented the Segway. Haven’t read it yet, but it looks interesting.
Comments
He makes some good points. The thing is I think the first thing the democrats and/or proponents of reform did was term this a “healthcare crisis”. It’s a health insurance crisis.
I have had many doctors tell me that the reason they charge so much for things is to offset both the people who they have to treat who can and never will be able to pay, and also because they know that the insurance companies are going to ridiculously lowball them so they need to start high.
If doctors and medical companies and hospitals knew that they would always get paid (be it through insurance companies or government insurance, etc.) and that everyone who walked through their doors would have some form of coverage then the costs wouldn’t be as ridiculous as they are.
So no, we don’t have a health “care” crisis in terms of our health care in this country being bad. We have a crisis in terms of costs which is the result of a crisis in coverage.
More of you should read this article. I’m still dwelling on it.
On a related note, I really am just flummoxed at the degree to which Dems/Obama have screwed up health insurance reform yet again. Despite having large majorities in both houses and the presidency, despite having Clinton’s mistakes to learn from, despite knowing all the big business/GOP tactics/tricks, and despite record numbers of unemployed/uninsured people out there.
Yeah, I blame the industry for setting a match to the tinderbox that is the already riled up and unhinged right wing radio listening audience and also completely clouding the debate with falsehoods, but I also seriously blame Obama and the dems just as much for not being clearer, not being more aggressive in their communications, and for falling for the whole “bipartisanship” needing 60 votes thing rather than just coming up with solid bills and saying “We have more than 50 Senators who will vote for this….you want to fillibuster…go ahead and we’ll have all the country watch you do it.” At this point I think any meaningful reform is unsalvageable and if they lose this AGAIN they deserve to lose both houses and the presidency.
I think Obama and his people have pretty much started buying into their whole “lets hold hands and sing kumbaya” myth. I always thought they just wink-winked that whole thing as a sneaky tactic. Now I’m not so sure.
I agree Kev, and now they’re spending all their time refuting ridiculous statements.
I know whatever they’re going to come up with will be complex and over 1000 pages, but jeez man give me some bullet-points or something.
You guys have probably already seen this, but here is a 4 page summary of the proposed Health Care Bill