maven&meddler

We just got done watching, with dismay and anger, Bill Moyers Journal. This weeks show followed several American’s through an unbelievably heart wrenching journey through illness without benefit of health insurance.

At the end of the shows online content, there are a lot of personal stories by others who were as moved as we were.

This isn’t rocket science, and it isn’t really news that this health care system is fatally flawed. A few years back, I was contacted by the then CEO of a local hospital to serve on their cancer committee, since I’d been an outspoken critic of the lack of up to date care for breast cancer patients in my community.

This man, who’d been head of the medical school at the University of Hawaii, told me that the natons health care system was headed for certain and complete disaster, in a very short time. He had serious doubts whether or not Americans had the will to change it. Now, I’m wondering if he was right.

The issues, which I’ve been trying to outline on the maven&meddler, are pretty straightforward. It should have been relatively simple to extend a single payer plan - Medicare for example - to all Americans who wanted it. The benefits to the health of our nation and our economy would be huge.

Unfortunately, what should have been a sane national discussion of how we best do this has been turned into a hysterical mob scene.

Rightwing foundations have funded rightwing PR firms shilling for Big Corporate Health Care and Insurance. Their most effective tool: the working Joe and Jane who spend too much time listening to talk radio and have no clue that they’re being manipulated. The right has tapped into their worst fears - heightened during the culture wars - about illegal immigrants, abortions and every other red herring possible. Anything except the real issues.

You know it’s bad when people on Medicare are arguing against government health insurance. Yes, they’re that damn stupid. There’s no arguing with people who are stuck on stupid.

I agree with Bill Maher this evening, on Real Time. He said that the Democrats should have taken a page out of Dick Cheney’s playbook when a reporter told him that people didn’t like the idea of going to war in Iraq. Dick said, “so?”

Obama needs to stand up, and drag every Democrat worthy of the letter D up by the short hairs with him, and tell the American people “I said we would do this on the campaign trail. Now we’re going to do it. Get over it.”

It looks like Moyers is going to keep at this, with what sounds like a powerful show next Friday, entitled “MONEY-DRIVEN MEDICINE”, a film produced by Academy Award winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (TAXI TO THE DARKSIDE, ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM). The title is from the book by journalist Maggie Mahar.

Here is a short segment from the documentary. I hope you will take the time to watch the full show.

Synopsis:

What happens if you fall sick and are one of 47 million people in America without health insurance? Critical Condition by Roger Weisberg (Waging a Living, POV 2006) puts a human face on the nation’s growing health care crisis by capturing the harrowing struggles of four critically ill Americans who discover that being uninsured can cost them their jobs, health, home, savings, even their lives. Filmed in vérité style, Critical Condition offers a moving and invaluable expose at a time when the nation is debating how to extend health insurance to all Americans. A production of Public Policy Productions in association with Thirteen/WNET New York and American Documentary | POV