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Weekly Wrap: Health care info overload
A Wall Street sign in New York City's financial district.
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The guests claim to be against a public option in health care because lower costs would have a negative impact on innovation. Yet both admitted that the public option is the only way to lower costs. So rather than be upset with these two, I was surprised they both ratified the argument for our public option.
I was disappointed that Megan McArdle was invited as a guest to discuss this issue. She describes her own position as writing about "economic policy". Her writing at the Atlantic and other outlets illustrates that she may know about economics generally and about the politics of economics, but she simply has no clue about healthcare or the struggles of millions of Americans who are uninsured or underinsured.
She recently wrote a post arguing against the public option and stated, as fact, an incorrect and easily researched monthly insurance premium cost.
It's as if she's opposed to the public option because it's a public option, and can't be bothered to actually find out why many people support it. She's arguing against a stereotype -- a political buzzword, and not against an actual plan to address actual problems for actual Americans.
It's a disgrace that she, over so many other better qualified and informed commenters, would be invited by Marketplace to share her uninformed opinion.
I agree with the previous comment that this segment was one-sided, presenting only comments from people opposed to a public health insurance option. That was bad enough. But it became laughable when Mandel predicted that Republicans would be the ones to get health care reform done if the Democrats fail this time around.
These commentators are badly out of touch. THe real story here is how a monoply is mobilizing against the people in order to radically increase it's market share and continue its abusive practices. A public healthcare option or a single payer system is the only way to make health care accessible to everyone.
Families are being shattered by death and illness left untreated every day. Tent cities and food banks are populated by Americans who could not pay thier medical bills. And the opposition is a facade fronted by groups like American Majority headed by Lonny Leitner who was reginal director for Bush/Cheny '04. And Americans for Prosperity led by conservative David Koch the 19th richest man in the world - I'm not joking. This isn't grass roots action by regular Americans. It's a small number of people organized by rich elite conservatives and the corporate interests they represent and from which they profit.
Your commentators need a better understanding of this issue.
I continue to be amazed that the most successful examples of health insurance in this country or in other developed countries is publicly operated, including Medicare. Yet we continue to question that option. Could it be further evidence of the $1.4M per day the health insurance companies are spending to protect their profits?
I just wanted to say that I believe that the best way to reduce health care costs is to have a public option available. Furthermore, after watching the PBS Frontline program by T.R. Reid, I saw that the Japanese have drastically lower health care costs and that their cost containment actually lead to improved technology and innovation of CT scans. So I would have to disagree that with your guests that lower costs would have a negative impact on innovation.
Where was the other side to this story? Both reporters come from the industry and kept bringing up irrelevant points, unsubstantiated assumptions, and straw-man arguments. When will we hear from someone about cutting out the huge unproductive cost that health insurance companies impose, the inability to get coverage if you have pre-existing conditions, the fear that people have of changing or losing jobs and losing health coverage, the shameful rates of longevity and birth survival in the U.S., etc.?
