Another Health Care Post

I know that most are probably rather sick of hearing the debates regarding health care, and maybe that "sickness" is hurting the debate.

It seems that lately all sides of the debate are spitting out all kinds of falsehoods. Some of those who oppose reform in general have gone as far as saying that the proposed plans will allow the government to get rid of old people (which obviously the government has been wanting to do for some time....?). Some who are for reform say that the opposition are just using scare tactics and lies and need to be reported (those stupid, gun totin', religion clinging, change hating fools), then they spout out statistics and numbers which are completely off the wall and false (I'm sure Surgeons would love to make $50,000 on a surgery as Obama indicated they do - too bad the medical board has come out and stated that the most a surgeon makes on a single surgery is well below that, in fact the citation from Obama is that they make up to $50,000 on an amputation when in fact the highest fee is less that $800). There are two things that really bother me about this extreme side of the debate. The first is, do they honestly believe in what they are saying? If so it scares me because that must mean they are extremely ignorant. If not, then what are their real intentions for spouting falsehoods? I know there are many answers to that question, but let's just leave it open.

Second, these extremes are distracting majorly from the real debate of health care. So much so that I recently read on Wikipedia the "definition" of health care reform and where it goes through the U.S. debates it states the extremes and divides those extremes strictly by party line. Meaning, it insenuates that all Republicans believe that reform is the beginning of the decline of our country into hellish communism. All Democrats believe the Republicans are liars and that the only way to "save" the country is to have a public health care insurance option.

I don't know about you but I don't fall into either of those categories and neither do friends of mine who fall on both sides of the aisle. I only hope that everyone researching into the debate will ignore those extremes and, when voicing their opinion to their representatives, will stick to the real facts up for debate.

I have seen some good articles that do just that (avoid ad hominem attacks and outrageous lies) and I wanted to pass them on to anyone reading the blog.

Distractions in the Debate

The Public Option Doesn't Work

Driving the Wedge

Cutting Medicare Costs (Why can't we focus on these ideas? I'm not saying whether this is a good or bad idea, I'm just saying, why not focus on this kind of reform?)

I've read other good articles that debate specifics, but if anyone would comment with something they have read I would appreciate it. You also probably noticed that I only posted articles that I agree with, so it is a biased list, but hey, it's my blog. I am open to opposing articles that stick to the real debate.

A Must Read!

So, it is a bit long, but there is a must read if you are at all interested in the current health care debate. This is something that was written by a couple of doctors in 1994 after the last attempt at social medicine was made, but I hadn't seen it until now. One of those Doctors is currently a Dean at Harvard.

I certainly hope that instead of trying to come up with ways to avoid the other side of the debate (I know its a bit biased due to source but see the article on Fox News about this) the senators who are coming back "home" will listen to their constituents and do their job - that is listen to their constituents and vote in the way that the majority of them want them to vote.

Here is the article. It loads slowly so be patient.

I also hope that the senators read the troubles that France is having with their social plan right now.