More White House Health Care Rhetoric
Today's (April 6th) New York Times Op-Ed piece, "The Health of a Nation" by Mr. Alan Hubbard, assistant to the president for economic policy and director of the National Economic Council, made a number of claims concerning healthcare that seem to require supporting data if we are not to interpret them as coming from someone living in a different reality than the rest of us:
"Health care is expensive because the vast majority of Americans consume it as if it were free. Health insurance policies with low deductibles insulate people from the cost of the medical care they use so much so that they often do not even ask for prices. And people don't recognize the high premium costs of this low-deductible insurance because premiums are paid by employers."
These three sentences leave me feeling the hot breath of rhetoric and wondering how he might support these assertions with some fact-based research?
First, we have the claim that health care is expensive simply because of the behavior of us consumers. Where is the role of insurances companies sucking up a widely reported 15-20% of the cash for the administrative costs, or drug companies allowed to waste unconscionable amounts of money on marketing because they can pass this along through a patent-protected rip off system, or countless technological advances providing better treatments and longer life, or toher structural drivers to health care?" Then, in the same sentence, there is the assertion that we "... consume healthcare as if it were free". There is no way for him to know this except based on some social science research. Where is it?
Ditto for the second assertion.
And, as for the third, that "people don't recognize the high premium costs...", this claim can only have come from someone on the White House or university payrolls so long that like Bush The Elder he can't remember the last time he bought a gallon of milk or looked at the health deduction on his weekly paycheck. But, just in case he might be right here, it would be helpful to see a little supporting data here also.
But, then, we just have to wait for the "free market" to solve this one too. Religion always relieves us of the need to do the hard work of research and thinking.
"Health care is expensive because the vast majority of Americans consume it as if it were free. Health insurance policies with low deductibles insulate people from the cost of the medical care they use so much so that they often do not even ask for prices. And people don't recognize the high premium costs of this low-deductible insurance because premiums are paid by employers."
These three sentences leave me feeling the hot breath of rhetoric and wondering how he might support these assertions with some fact-based research?
First, we have the claim that health care is expensive simply because of the behavior of us consumers. Where is the role of insurances companies sucking up a widely reported 15-20% of the cash for the administrative costs, or drug companies allowed to waste unconscionable amounts of money on marketing because they can pass this along through a patent-protected rip off system, or countless technological advances providing better treatments and longer life, or toher structural drivers to health care?" Then, in the same sentence, there is the assertion that we "... consume healthcare as if it were free". There is no way for him to know this except based on some social science research. Where is it?
Ditto for the second assertion.
And, as for the third, that "people don't recognize the high premium costs...", this claim can only have come from someone on the White House or university payrolls so long that like Bush The Elder he can't remember the last time he bought a gallon of milk or looked at the health deduction on his weekly paycheck. But, just in case he might be right here, it would be helpful to see a little supporting data here also.
But, then, we just have to wait for the "free market" to solve this one too. Religion always relieves us of the need to do the hard work of research and thinking.
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