Health Care and Agendas
When searching (ok, we used Google, so what! ? ) for documents
related to health care, we started with “health care reform”. The
logic here being we would likely find the views of various groups
organized to apply pressure on the political process. With the sad
state of the 109th Congress we were not concerned that any of the
efforts would have an immediate impact. Here is a sampling of
what we found on the first results page.
The first result was from health-care-reform.net which is linked to
world-prosperity.org and from what we can tell from their own
docs online, they produce educational movies and help distribute
them. Health care would be just one of their categories. We don’t
see them as serious about health care in this context.
Next result was from the CATO Institute. We regard most think
tank type organizations as special interest or private agenda groups
not necessarily concerned about the public interest or public good.
Their “about” and “mission” statements are the following:
About CatoThe Cato Institute was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane.
It is a non-profit public policy research foundation headquartered
in Washington, D.C. The Institute is named for Cato’s Letters, a
series of libertarian pamphlets that helped lay the philosophical
foundation for the American Revolution.
Cato’s MissionThe Cato Institute seeks to broaden the parameters of public
policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American
principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets
and peace. Toward that goal, the Institute strives to achieve
greater involvement of the intelligent, concerned lay public in
questions of policy and the proper role of government.
Would it be fair to characterize the Cato Institute as Libertarian?
The following is the Cato Institute’s conclusion from their policy
analysis of health care reform and a link to the complete document.
ConclusionWith the exception of the tax-incentive approaches, most
major health care reform proposals would dramatically
increase government involvement in the health care market
place. The result would almost inevitably be increased costs
and decreased access to care.
Only solutions that build on a free market in health care will
ultimately be successful in controlling costs and increasing
access to care. Government involvement in health care has
been steadily increasing for 30 years, with disastrous results.
It is time to seek solutions in the power of the free market.
The next result is from americanhealthcarereform.org and they do
not have an about page that we could find. But they did have a text
display urging vote democrat so we feel safe guessing their agenda.
They have a forum and some other resources listed that may be of
interest despite likely having a particular slant. The website seems
to be registered in LA and when we looked references to the fine
state of California jumped out at us. The point here being that this
is another example of health care reform and possible organizing
efforts that may or may not be in the public interest. The Link
The next result came from Public Citizen. How could you have a
negative opinion of an organization founded by Ralph Nader. We
don’t care if you are the most extreme right conservative to ever walk
the planet. Ralph Nader impresses us for not, at least not known to us,
ever being accused of wrongdoing and for adhering to a laudable set
of principles his entire life. You can disagree with him or his cause,
but how can you criticize a man who by all accounts is honorable. In
conclusion, we will say we are unsure of the value of Public Citizen’s
efforts in terms of usefulness or effectiveness but if they continue to
champion campaigns independent of politics or private sector agendas,
they will receive no complaint from us. Public Citizen link
The next result is a bit laughable. It comes from National Academies
website. Under the site name or log at the top of the page they claim
to be “the advisors to the nation on science, engineering and medicine”.
And they will be glad to share their comprehensive strategy for fixing
health care for $58.50 US. That adequately expresses their sincerity.
You get the picture. Every organized effort has its own agenda. The
only organization we would even begin to view as agenda free would
be Public Citizen. If anyone can dispute that contention we will gladly
post their submission. That said, it occurs to us that surprisingly enough
we are standing firm on our previous posts that among other things are
calling for the elimination of unnecessary spending by both government
and the private sector as a great first step in solving health care problems.
Some of the major expense problems are related to administrative costs
that were reported by the NIH at 31% of total health costs. The false
impression of frivolous lawsuits given by the medical liability reforms
in the 109th Congress. Although frivolous lawsuits exist, legitimate suits
also exist which along with other malpractice statistics indicate a major
drain on health care, health care resources and expenses related to this
largely ignored problem. Our previous post details this problem. One
more major drain on our ability to afford health care for all is paying for
unnecessary care. Health care paid for by private citizens and public
funds should only be used for well-defined bonafide medical need. We
do not believe self-induced problems, elective procedures or any other
casually included transaction should burden health care resources. If
you are obese and can’t walk because of it, pay for it yourself. If you
need assistance in performing a sex act, maybe that is nature’s way of
indicating you should not participate. If you had children and are not
sure who the father is, the Social Security System should not account for
your mistakes. Anyone related to you should be required to contribute
to your needs, not the government or other public funds.
This concludes our currrent rant on this topic. To be continued (often).
But you can continue the rant or one of your own in the comments.
As a nation we spend about $1.9 trillion dollars per year on health
care. Results should be better than they are.