The Hillary Clinton campaign created a media stir over the past couple of weeks when Ms. Clinton told a story about a woman who was denied health care because she couldn't pay. As the story unfolded, she was accused of distortion of the facts and of outright falsehood.
I recommend Paul Krugman's comments in today's edition of The New York Times. Krugman clears up the nature of the facts, demonstrating that the candidate did not tell a lie. She and her staff could have worked a bit harder to get the details of the case clearer before using the story.
More to the important point, Krugman illuminates the tragic stories of health care failure in the United States among the uninsured, working poor. Clinton's point as well.
Must read essay in my view:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/opinion/11krugman.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin.
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9 comments:
Larry,
Here's another must read on the issue of health care:
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN3143203520080331?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&rpc=22&sp=true
...nothing to do with Ms. Clinton, it's just interesting that even our country's health care providers are now ready to see some sort of national health care system because they recognize it is in the best interest of those who get sick.
Click here for that article.
There is a huge difference in my opinion between nationalized healthcare and national health insurance. The article you point out does not say that physicians are in favor of national health care; to the contrary, the physicians in the poll are in favor of national health care insurance ( so they can get paid for providing services to those who can't afford it... I presume).
Balanced article. I support Sen. Obama, but I don't support the perpetuation of inflammatory ideas about Clinton or McCain. She appears to have been genuine. The end does not justify the means.
As to the healthcare providers poll, I would be interested to see what the stats of just DFW.
Chris
On tragedy- No one should die for lack of treatment. However, health care failure begins with government policy.
Government intervention made health care expensive. Taxes and regulation deny Americans access to resources to purchase health care.
I believe that nationalized health care will replace tragedies like this with death by waiting list and bureaucratic incompetence.
Universal insurance sounds great, but insurance is the least efficient way to pay for anything. I don't pay for gas with my car insurance. I don't pay for lawn mowing with my home insurance.
We can save health care with less regulation, more competition, and lower taxes.
If Hillary is really concerned with access by the poor, she should pony up some the $100M she made over the lats 7 years. To hoard her millions while demanding higher taxes is the definition of hypocrisy.
Ruining the entire health care system is not the solution to tragedy. Charity, religious groups, family, individuals and local government should be given the opportunity and responsibility to provide indigent care.
Are we going to let people die instead of treating them in the ER? Unless that's the plan going forward, how is providing preventative care even possibly more expensive than swallowing all the ER costs every year for people who can't pay for it?
Thanks for the comments--or at least mostly all of them! A fact we have to face is the cost of our current system and the clear outcomes we are getting. Bad, bad, bad from a public health standpoint. We can do better, and all of the fear tactics back of some of the rhetoric of various vested interests don't change that.
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