It’s funny to watch Gratzer squirm. š
I wasn’t the biggest fan of Kucinich during the Primaries last year…he’s a little too left, even for me…but I like his stance in this CSPAN video (only 2.5 min long…). He’s calling out Dr. David Gratzer, the author of a book titled “The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Healthcare.” Apparently, Gratzer rails against the Canadian health care system, pointing out the typical, tired conservative arguments of “6 month wait times” to be seen by a physician. Kucinich isn’t having any of that, pointing out Canadian studies showing that the median wait time is 3-4 weeks for certain procedures (ones that aren’t life-threatening, otherwise they’d be done sooner), which is apparently similar to that of the United States. And, nearly all of Canadians have health care. And it’s affordable. I’m sure Gratzer has some good points in the book (which I haven’t read…because I don’t read…), and some of his statistics are probably sound, but there are a wealth of other statistics carried out by the Canadian government and other organizations that say otherwise. “Lies, damned lies, and Statistics…”
Although this particular video doesn’t bring it up, I’m sure you’ve heard various Republican congresspeople (specifically, John Boehner…) asking the question: “do you want a bureaucrat in Washington coming between you and your doctor?” Well no, I don’t. But neither do I want some profit-hungry businessperson doing it either, and that’s what we’ve got right now. Brooke and I are lucky to have some pretty good health care, as I’m attending a medical school-based graduate program and have it available to us. I can’t begin to imagine what other folks are going through, that have to pay and arm and a leg (sometimes literally) for coverage that is worse than ours with a substantially higher deductable. It just annoys me that they keep spouting off this “bureaucrat coming between you and your doctor” rhetoric like it’s any different than what I’ve got now.
At least, if I’ve got a bureaucrat between me and my doctor, I have the opportunity to vote them out of office. I can’t do that to a CEO.
Well, being as I’m somewhere to the left of Gandhi, obviously Kucinich’s politics don’t bother me much. He just never had a shot at anything.
That said, he does an excellent job here laying out the absurdities of most of the anti-universal health care arguments (at least, the most commonly used ones). Just goes to demonstrate the importance of context when discussing statistics of this sort.
Kucinich’s statistics, especially on wait times for insured Americans or the idea that 1 in 4 Americans don’t receive healthcare because of the cost are ridiculous. When my kid is sick, I see the doctor usually the same day I call. I have taken two of my kids to the emergency room, one needed surgery to re-attach a smashed fingernail, which he received within a few hours. My daughter had surgery; after seeing a specialist, she was scheduled for an MRI with in a week, and her appointment for surgery was within two weeks. It was non-emergency. If you are telling me I would have to wait 3-4 weeks to see a doctor when my baby has a cold with a fever an a cough, I’ll keep the plan I’ve got, thank you. I can direct you to several articles in the UK where patients were denied care because it was too expensive. I know a lot of people, and I don’t know any insured person who was denied care because of cost. I have a friend who has a very sick young child; he needs ongoing treatment. She is middle class and her insurance covers his treatment. If you are willing to turn over your healthcare to a bureaucrat, you may be suprised at how they decide to “take care” of you.