The debate about the complex issue of healthcare reform is not helped by several bogus arguments which mislead rather than clarify. I would like to list several of them.
Perhaps the first prize for obfuscation should go to U.S. Rep. Childers who proposed competitions among private insurance companies as a way for reform. I do not know what planet Rep. Childers lives on, but on the planet Earth this has been tried for years and the result is 47 million or more uninsured and millions more unable to afford the health premiums being charged.
The second bogus on argument is fear mongering that “big government” will take away our choice. Has anyone thought about “big insurance?” We do not have to fear being told where to go and what procedure we can have: Such control is already here. Some of the HMO”s even rate doctors on “economic efficiency” which translates into being pressured to provide the cheapest but still legally defensible care.
The third bogus argument is that government programs are always bad. How many of these “independents from government” turned down the recent government”s billions of bailout money? How many did not or would not pressure the relatively weak and starving local governments for every tax advantage and other costly concessions as the price for relocation in their area? If, in some believers” opinion, government programs are the pits, I invite them to refuse the “awful” Medicare when they reach 65. A show of hands, please.
So there we are: The true believer can use this modest list to continue fighting against reform. The rest of us can at least begin to recognize deceptive reasoning when we see it.
Saul Vydas
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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