Where’s the rhetoric?

As always NPR kept me company on my home from UCF Monday evening. It was a great coincidence that Dr. Timothy Johnson was being interviewed about the healthcare bill and the state of healthcare in the US in general.

He asserted in no uncertain terms that the US spends two dollars for every one dollar spent in other developed nations and does not achieve better results. He also made the point that the healthcare exchanges that would be allowed under the new healthcare plan is the same as the healthcare provided to members of congress. This type of pick and choose plan is extremely popular and effective. Dr. Johnson goes so far as to call those senators and congress people who use terms like ‘government takeover’ hypocrites.

A wonderful analogy he offers to those so sure that government involvement will kill the insurance industry and devastate medical care quality is that the airline industry is heavily regulated by the government yet this industry makes money, and consumers are not in danger of safety regulations changing once the plane flies across the line between two states.

I write this not to complain yet again about the healthcare industry but to ask: Where is the rhetoric?  Where are the rhetors? Why don’t Americans–all Americans not just the one’s who listen to NPR–know that the healthcare plan will benefit the insurance agencies, and that it is the same coverage provided to congress members? How difficult it is to get this message out there? 

http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/11/healthcare-problems-pushback

Elle