From Paul Krugman, behind the wall at The New York Times:
When a child is enrolled in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (Schip), the positive results can be dramatic. For example, after asthmatic children are enrolled in Schip, the frequency of their attacks declines on average by 60 percent, and their likelihood of being hospitalized for the condition declines more than 70 percent.
....
But President Bush says that access to care is no problem — “After all, you just go to an emergency room” — and, with the support of the Republican Congressional leadership, he’s declared that he’ll veto any Schip expansion on “philosophical” grounds.
On philosophical grounds?
Strange to say, however, the administration, although determined to prevent any expansion of children’s health care, is also dead set against any cut in Medicare Advantage payments.
So what kind of philosophy says that it’s O.K. to subsidize insurance companies, but not to provide health care to children?
I ask you.
Well, here’s what Mr. Bush said after explaining that emergency rooms provide all the health care you need: “They’re going to increase the number of folks eligible through Schip; some want to lower the age for Medicare. And then all of a sudden, you begin to see a — I wouldn’t call it a plot, just a strategy — to get more people to be a part of a federalization of health care.”
Or as certain Republican congressmen are already saying, it could lead to the dreaded "socialized medicine".
And there you have the core of Mr. Bush’s philosophy. He wants the public to believe that government is always the problem, never the solution. But it’s hard to convince people that government is always bad when they see it doing good things. So his philosophy says that the government must be prevented from solving problems, even if it can. In fact, the more good a proposed government program would do, the more fiercely it must be opposed.
Isn't Krugman wonderful? He has a way of getting right to the nub of it, doesn't he? This is life in the Bizarro World of Bush.
Krugman's title for this column is well-chosen - "An Immoral Philosophy".
Go check out this commentary by Barbara Ehrenreich:
ReplyDeletehttp://ehrenreich.blogs.com/barbaras_blog/2007/07/children-deserv.html
She wants to know if she can take children to the vets' because these days vetrinarians have the same technology but an office visit costs less than if she were to go to a human doctor.
Hm blogger cut off the entire URL. So just go to the part of the URL before all the back slashes. The end part is 'children-deserve'.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's systematic. If there's a hurricane, the government entity has been placed under the care of a horse trader. If you want to mail something over 13 ounces with a stamp, you have to take it and hand it to a postal worker at a US Postal retail counter (which not only convinces us that the government is incompetent, it also keeps the fear factor going). If you can't sustain the level of troops you want, you pay someone to pay mercenaries (much more than we are paying our troops) to do the same job. It goes on and on. Anywhere we can show that the government can't do it, that's a service that can be handled by the for-profit business world (with corresponding higher cost). I think that this is the highest purpose of the whole administration. And many of those who are benefiting the least from this shift are the ones still supporting the administration, because the media refuses to hold them accountable. Aargh!!!
ReplyDeleteDoug, you're right. Bush is on the way to destroying every agency and institution of the government.
ReplyDeleteAnd what a marvelous job the private contractors are doing, those like Halliburton and Bechtel.
Caminante, do you know how to do links with html?
Here's a page that shows how. That way the URL doesn't run off the space allowed.
Yeah, we could try the veterinarians.
Thanks... I will print it out for future reference. I am not one who can do codes well -- I am too intuitive and not linear enough.
ReplyDeleteIs “after all, you just go to an emergency room" a quote from Our Only President or a paraphrase by Krugman? Either way, the concept that the uninsured and indigent should use the emergency room as their refuge of last resort has been a prime factor in bringing the American health care system to its present condition. I was raised under a socialized medical system. Infinitely preferable to the scandalous situation in the US - and I write this as one who has relatively good medical coverage.
ReplyDelete“After all, you just go to an emergency room”
ReplyDeleteEvery hospital administrator is likely cussing out Bush for that one. After all, when uninsured people go to the emergency room for health care, the hospital almost invariably ends up swallowing the cost. And that cost gets passed on to the rest of us by increased bills for the service we receive.
Of course, there's also the fact that it means that emergency rooms end up being overrun with cases that, strictly speaking, aren't medical emergencies.
Most assinine solution ever suggested. Why am I not surprised Bush came up with it?
Lapin, it's a direct quote from Bush. He said that as a defense of his statement that everyone in the US can get health care.
ReplyDeleteJarred, yes. I'm sure Bush made quite a few enemies with that statement. His level of ignorance is beyond belief. That's because he has been a pampered, rich boy throughout his whole life, and that's all he knows, and he demonstrates no capacity nor desire to learn what life is like for those who are not rich and privileged.
Government-financed health care clinics to treat those who are not critically ill would save loads of money, because ER treatment is quite expensive.
But then, why turn to half-way measures? Let's just do the "socialized medicine" thing for all the citizens. I have it under Medicare, and I like it.
I have heard of people being turned away from emergency rooms for lack of insurance, so to say "You just go to an emergency room" is not necessarily accurate. Yeah, you can GO there.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Bush needs to be forced to watch Sicko over and over and over (I haven't seen it myself, but it's preaching to the choir).
Gartenfische, they are indeed turning people away. Bush's statement is not accurate in any way. So, with him, what else is new?
ReplyDeleteof all the ignorant comments! The use of the emergency room is part of what keeps costs high for all of us! (sigh)
ReplyDeleteBut maybe that is what he wants?
Hi Mimi. I'm about to be vulgar again, though in a good cause, since this presidential joke is to be adaptable to more than one POTUS. But feel free to delete.
ReplyDeleteDuring the Watergate business, Auberon Waugh, eldest son of Evelyn, wrote a weekly column in "Private Eye", the British satirical weekly. One column, published towards the end of Watergate, included a Nixon joke that Waugh claimed he was publishing in connection with a bet with Larry Adler, the expatriate, and I believe one time blacklisted, American harmonica player.
The joke had to do with Nixon's alarm that he was loosing the support of the Jewish community. He therefore consulted Henry Kissinger, who advised Nixon, in the interest of shoring-up his Jewish support, to be ritually circumcised.
The joke can be dragged out not a little, but it culminates in the rabbi, the press, and the television cameras all being there, the rabbi with his knife at the ready. Anticipating the surgery, Nixon drops his lower clothing, at which point the rabbi takes a single look and refuses to proceed. When pressed he just says "I can't do it".
Pressed again and again to proceed, and asked why he refuses, the rabbi finally explains that "There's No End To This Prick!!"
Bad rabbit!
ReplyDeleteNote to everyone: this is not me speaking. It's is the bad rabbit. But the joke is funny.
Larry Adler, the expatriate, and I believe one time blacklisted, American harmonica player.
!!!!
People of a certain age in the UK will remember Larry Adler well. He was a very popular entertainer over there. I for one pigeon-hole harmonica playing under "clever but not entertaining", but the man's heart was in the right place, no question.
ReplyDeleteI'm as progressive as the rest of you, but I'm also a physician who cares for the indigent as part of my resposibility of being on staff in a large public hospital. No one may be turned away from any hospital emergency departmant, by law; no one. If any of you know of an incident where this occurred, you should know that there are criminal and civil remedies to that injustice.
ReplyDeleteI have treated hundreds of indigent people in my career, and I'm proud of that. It is a part of my lay ministry. But having uninsured people dependent on the kindness of strangers is very wrong, They all deserve the dignity of equal access to health care. Which politician is willing to lead that battle?
Grandmère Mimi, you're a better woman than I am. I couldn't even read Krugman's column -- I was afraid my head would explode. I just don't know why we don't take to the streets over this issue. Too damn beaten-down, I guess.
ReplyDeleteAnd I hate to tell you this, but regarding your comments in an earlier post...you ARE SO a Liberal! Be proud. A Liberal is an open, generous, giving, caring person. Nothing nasty there.
John D, God bless you for your medical ministry to the indigent. That's a fine thing you do.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad, but despite the law, patients are turned away from emergency rooms. Try Google on this subject. However, it's not always the fault of the hospitals. Sometimes the emergency rooms are overwhelmed and simply can't handle any more people.
Some folks are there in the ER simply because they have no access to health care except in the ER. Some of their conditions could be handled in a doctor's office setting, but they don't have money or insurance to pay for a visit to a doctor, much less medical tests which may be needed.
I'm sure you know much more than I about the sorry state of health care in the US. Just because it's against the law, doesn't mean that the laws are always followed.
In addition, if you're sick or injured, you're often not in any condition to demand your rights.
As you say, it's about being treated in a respectful and dignified manner. Access to health care must be considered a right for everyone in the richest country in the world.
As for the politicians, I don't understand them. The people of the country are way ahead of them. Why are they so timid? I think we need to make them afraid of us rather than the insurance companies or the drug companies.
PJ, so I am a liberal, whatever the word has come to mean. I'm not really sure any more. Sometimes I feel more like a radical. Once the Bush administration is done with us, we may have to start over from scratch.
Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.
ReplyDelete(If there's anything good about Bush, maybe it's that he drives me to prayer again and again and again ...)
LJ, yes, I agree. We are driven to prayer. Praying is what helps me stay sane - or maybe not quite sane - but more or less functional.
ReplyDelete