State of the Onion
Really, when I start to get below the surface it just makes me cry.
To build a future of quality health care, we must trust patients and doctors to make medical decisions and empower them with better information and better options. We share a common goal: making health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans. The best way to achieve that goal is by expanding consumer choice, not government control. So I have proposed ending the bias in the tax code against those who do not get their health insurance through their employer. This one reform would put private coverage within reach for millions, and I call on the Congress to pass it this year. The Congress must also expand health savings accounts, create Association Health Plans for small businesses, promote health information technology and confront the epidemic of junk medical lawsuits. With all these steps, we will help ensure that decisions about your medical care are made in the privacy of your doctor’s office — not in the halls of Congress. – President George W. Bush, January 28, 2008
Pretty words. Kinda like the faux wood paneling at Borghealth - completely innocuous and intended to make you forget you’re in a room with a bunch of sick people.
So let’s talk about consumer choice instead of government control under President Bush’s reality.
Consumer choice as long as a woman doesn’t choose to abort a pregnancy.
Consumer choice as long as you don’t follow your doctor’s recommendation for medical marijuana.
Consumer choice as long as your treatment isn’t derived from stem cell research.
Consumer choice as long as your medications are Made (and priced) in the U.S.A.
Consumer choice as long as your health insurance coverage isn’t based on a same-sex marriage.
Consumer choice as long as Oregon consumers don’t choose death with dignity.
And of course, consumer choice, but buyer beware, because there shouldn’t be any redress against malpractice by your private sector, privately chosen, medical services supplier.
As someone who paid $3108 (plus co-pays) for the pleasure of being a member of BorgHealth last year, I did like the tax break talk though. I always like tax break talk. Almost as much as I like free drink talk. I’m just not sure how much more consumer choice I can take from the federal government. At this rate I could end up like poor Terry Schiavo.
In fairness, I detest the crowd that would deny me treatment based on animal research just as much – I just can’t pin that one on the current administration.
“At this rate I could end up like poor Terry Schiavo.”
As in, “ordered to die via slow dehydration by your husband who insists that he loves you more than your parents do while he cheats on you and sires two illegitimate children with another woman as you lie in a PVS and who refused to allow your parents in the room as you were dying and then once you’re dead bury you in a secret location in defiance of a court order so your grieving parents will not be able to visit your marker until after the memorial service has already been held”?
Sorry, that just sorta slipped out…
(Your post is actually spot on, of course.)
P.S. Terri, not Terry.
I was thinking more along the lines of having my wishes (and a choice not to leave instructions may be a stupid choice, but it is a choice) ignored so my treatment could be debated by Senators on C-SPAN, but yeah.
Can I put the sticky note on your head?