Chadwick's Corner

Reading Betsy McCaughey’s op-ed article in today’s Wall Street Journal, I understand fully why the elderly are so scared about the possibility of a nationalized health care system.  I believe it is must reading for everyone.  You can read it by going to www.wallstreetjournal.com  and then clicking on OPINIONS.  Please do so.

Dr. McCaughey knows a great deal about health care and has spent the last five years as the Chairman and CEO of RID, an organization which is dedicated to the prevention of hospital-acquired infections.  As a point of clarification, her doctoral degree is not in medicine, but is a Ph. D. in constitutional history. 

The advice that President Obama is receiving from his health adviser, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, is scary stuff.  Given that Dr. Emanuel is the brother of the White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, one can only assume that he is more than a figurehead.  Importantly, Dr. McCaughey provides numerous quotes from Dr. Emanuel’s writings.  If I were in my 70s (and I am not THAT far away), I would be bombarding my Senator and Congressman with emails and phone calls.

I hope that Dr. Emanuel provides a response to Dr. McCaughey’s piece.  I for sure will read it. 

Reading the responses I have received to my commentary on the health care debate, I would like to add a few responses back.

My “longtime (and profitable?) associations with insurance companies” provides no conflict of interest.  Amica Mutual Insurance Company is solely a personal lines insurance company and has no interests in or involvement with any form of health care.  I have been on that board since 1992.  J.D.Powers and Associates has ranked Amica “Highest in Customer Satisfaction” for seven years in a row.  It is a privilege to be part of an insurance company that serves its customers so well.   The other insurance company on whose board I sat for three years was NEIL (Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited) which insures all the nuclear power plants in this country.  It has no interests in health insurance.

Medicare recipients (of whom my husband is one) generally do give good grades to the service, but they do not foot the entire bill for Medicare.  Their coverage is subsidized by those of us who have not yet reached the age of 65.  Were they to have to pay the entire freight, they would in many cases be broke.  Until President Bush signed into law an expansion of Medicare benefits to cover prescription drugs, many people over 65 had to take out supplemental insurance for their drugs. 

On the issue of tort reform, is it hardly an issue unto itself.  It is a large part of the reason that health care in this country is so expensive.  Republicans and Democrats as well as the White House are to blame for not tackling this issue.  The lawyers’ lobby must be the most powerful in this country to have our legislators so scared to take them on.  Until there is some kind of resolution to the open-ended liability for doctors, they will be forced to practice defensive medicine, which is hugely costly and wasteful. 

Remember 1993 and health care?  It was doomed because Americans did not want Big Government running one more part of their lives.  Why?  Because Government doesn’t do things very well – it’s as simple as that. 

They – the Government – euphemistically refer to its proposed health care plan as simply one option in the public/private marketplace.  But we – the people – know what that plan really is.  It is socialized medicine. 

So here we are again, sixteen years later, and Washington seems to have forgotten the lesson handed to the Clinton Administration.  Or maybe it is finally sinking in – now that Congressmen/women and Senators have gone home and faced the tidal wave of anger, wrath and ire – you name it – from their constituents.

There are some issues in health care that really do need fixing and the Obama Administration could win big time if it would only address them.

First and foremost – tort reform!!!  Why doesn’t Congress deal with tort reform?  Why isn’t that simple?  In all the rhetoric emanating from our Capitol, not a word on the subject – not from President Obama, not from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, not from Senator Dodd, not even from the vast majority of Republicans!   Why?  Okay – we all know the answer – it’s about the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ lobby.  But really and truly – how many millions could they possibly have paid into the coffers of our legislators to make the subject so taboo? 

Why doesn’t Bill O’Reilly or Chris Matthews or Larry Kudlow or Jim Lehrer do a serious interview with both Republican and Democrat lawmakers and grill them on the subject of tort reform?  We – the rest of us Americans – are dying to hear the rationale for Congress’ deafening silence on this critical matter.

True tort reform would reduce the costs of medicine and would go a long way to helping people afford the premiums so many say are the reason they do buy health insurance.

A second easy fix – pre-existing conditions should have no bearing on a person’s ability to get health insurance.  That is not only good policy but it is a matter of ethics.  It is simple to do – it’s just a one line item.   And it won’t run into much controversy and debate because even those who might oppose it know that it is the right thing to do.

The American way of life – the foundation of our success as a nation and an economy – prefers personal decision-making over Big Government edicts.  Our not very long history as a nation is steeped in that doctrine.  The hue and cry being voiced by people of all parties, religions, ways of life and financial means is ignored by our Government at its own risk – the risk of being voted out of office.

That’s exactly what Congress appears to be saying to the American people with its over the top $500 million for the purchase of eight new airplanes that will shuttle them – senators and representatives – back and forth around the world. 

While they excoriate private sector executives for using corporate jets for business trips and are even haranguing business men and women for flying first class seats while on business, they themselves fly überclass on taxpayer money.  Why can’t they simply fly on commercial flights the way the vast majority of business people do?  Even going first class on a regularly scheduled flight would save a huge amount of money compared to private planes.  AND, it would help the airline industry which is struggling and could well afford some more full paying first class passengers.

I guess “Government Class” is a cut above everyone else in this country and while the rest of the population is struggling to find or hold on to their jobs, is scrimping and saving, our elected officials are turning a blind eye when it comes to the ultimate in job-related perks.

The court of public opinion will only bear so much abuse.  Beware what happened to Marie Antoinette. The guillotine may come out on Election Day in 2010.