The Richmond Times Dispatch ran a "special pullout" section in the Sunday paper today entitled "Health-Care Reform" the subtitle was "Saving Lives and Reducing Costs". Hmmmm....is this a special news section? Sounds more like propaganda to me. The section is really laughable in its content and would be funny if the implications of the health-care reform legislation signed into law this past March were not so sweeping in their potential impact.
It is also interesting to note that at the bottom of page there is a boxed in headline proclaiming "Va. to get Millions for Public-Health Programs" Great! Millions of tax dollars siphoned out of the economy through tax policy will be returned to Virginia at pennies on the dollar. That reality is probably worthy of a headline, but more for the ridiculous inefficiencies of government rather than spiking the ball in celebration of funds cycling home from Washington.
The journalistic masterpiece by the far-from-fair-minded Tammie Smith, is long on predicted benefits of government busy-bodies telling us how we should be living our lives in the name of preventative care and predictive medicine. It is short on actuarial reality of healthcare. I am all for people taking steps to lead a healthy lifestyle. However, let's not kid ourselves about the idea of the cost of care and saving money through this legislation. The fact that I can prevent a heart attack today is great news and to be celebrated, but let's not kid ourselves that this saves us in healtcare costs over he long run. It doesn't, and everyone with half a brain and without an agenda knows it.
The really funny (or sad) commentary in this propaganda came in the "Preventative Care Scenarios". I laughed out loud when I read the lament that "the plan may impose cost sharing for the treatment" Cost Sharing!?!? I don't want to misinterpret Tammie Smith's intricate ideas here, but I think cost sharing means I have to pay for something. "Cost sharing!" I love it. What a great new term. Who is sharing in this arraignment. Am I sharing my costs with the government or are they sharing their costs with me? Are there other things I can cost share? I'd like to know as soon as possible, because I would love to cost-share my daughter's college tuition. Can I cost share my mortgage? How about my groceries, are they cost share-able? If I could cost share a new Lexus that would be great too. Maybe I should write congressman Cantor and see if cost sharing is a new program that starts as part of that swell new stimulus spending.
Here's a little information-sharing for Tammie Smith...it's okay to pay for things. That's how the economy and business works. I paid for my edition of the Times Dispatch this morning because the product you all were selling was more valuable to me than the 2 bucks I had in my pocket (and today's issue was a real bargain too. You can't get this kind of comedy every day) We don't have to sweep the price of healthcare services under rug as items to be "cost-shared." If fact, if we really want to control the cost of healthcare we should cost-share as little as possible and encourage people to consume healthcare services wisely, judiciously, and effectively. There should be a hard line between the cost and service, not a shared line.
I expect little business and economic acumen from the journalists at the RTD. Rarely do they fall short of my low expectations. I think Tammie must have worked extra hard to miss so many obvious points in her special pull out section today. I can't wait to see what the Monday edition brings...maybe Tammie can cost share it with me.
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