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Archive for the ‘misinformation/propaganda’ Category

On January 27, 2008, U.S. Representative John Conyers Jr. (D-MI) introduced a new version of a previously unsuccessful bill before Congress that would turn America’s health care system into a socialized, not-for-profit, singer-payer system.  Previous iterations of the bill had few co-sponsors (25 in 2003), and the current version (H.R. 676), has gained a modicum [...]

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Journalists Ezra Klein and Peter Suderman debate the government’s role in the future of U.S. Health Care (thank you Healthcare Economist).  Whose argument carries more weight?
Klein’s main argument is decidedly anti-libertarian, which makes perfect sense because I don’t think he is a Libertarian.  Klein’s conclusion is that it will take substantial government resources, research and [...]

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I frequently make a big deal about obesity - how it’s probably one of the primary reasons Americans have comparatively low life expectancies, and how it contributes largely (no-pun intended) to our skyrocketing health care costs.  My generalizations are imprecise at best…just plain wrong at worst. 
Check out this Q and A with health economist Eric [...]

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The Crossover Health blog has fantastic commentary on Shannon Brownlee’s book “Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making us Sicker and Poorer.”  I haven’t read the book, but I understand it’s about waste in American Health Care.  The blog focuses on one particular chapter entitled “The Desperate Cure,” which chronicles the failure of Bone Marrow [...]

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When we make snap judgments based on race, creed, religion, or gender, we are bigots.  When a Wall Street trader makes a snap judgment, he can either make or lose a lot of money.  The latter probably more closely resembles the original reason for the adaptation.  Long ago in our development, making judgments that [...]

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The Wall Street Journal chronicles John Edward’s attempt to tug at New Hampshire’s heart strings by telling a misleading version of the story of the death of a 17-year old leukemia patient and Cigna Corp., the insurance company that delayed coverage on her liver transplant.
Edwards, a former trial attorney, is the most extreme of capitalists, [...]

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Peter Goodman of the New York Times writes an interesting retrospective of free markets entitled “The Free Market: A False Idol After All?“  The article’s basic conclusion is that unfettered free markets (unhampered by regulation)…systems merely based upon ideology, cannot stand without some basic rules of government.  And I don’t disagree.  In the short run, [...]

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In September 2003, Harvard Medical Professor Dr. Steffie Woolhandler had this to say in the New England Journal of Medicine: “A large sum might be saved in the United States if administrative costs could be trimmed by implementing a Canadian-style health care system.”
While I’m sure Dr. Woolhandler is a brilliant clinician and activist, I firmly [...]

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Two posts ago, I attacked Medicare. In my last post, I pointed out how budget cuts have all but destroyed the effectiveness of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. In this post, I’m going to talk about the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in another chapter about what happens when citizens entrust their health [...]

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