Tuesday, July 21, 2009
News Rep. Paul Broun on health-care reform = craziness
Posted by Asher Smith on Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 8:18 PM
As the AJC calls attention to today, Georgia can boast that its congressional delegation includes more doctors (four of the 16 currently in office) than any other state. Which would seem to be a positive, considering the debates over health care reform being waged at this very moment in Congress.
So just who are these polymath MD's who are going to make Georgia proud?
Well, there's Rep. Phil Gingrey, of "Better Know a District" fame; there's Rep. Tom Price, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee; Rep. John Linder, who apparently counts even though he's a dentist; and Rep. Paul Broun.
Oh shit. (or any other exclamation that works here)
Yes, that Paul Broun, who once compared Pres. Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler and accused him of trying to establish a Marxist dictatorship, also happens to be a licensed doctor. And who better to represent Georgia's medical community on the national stage? After all, Broun has already demonstrated his scientific acumen by declaring on the floor of the House of Representatives that all the suggested evidence in support of human-induced global warming — the academic reports, temperature records dating back for thousands of years, the bewildered Polar Bears so frequently photographed swimming in vain for a block of ice — are all just part of a "one of the greatest hoaxes perpetrated out of the scientific community.”
I would request that Rep. Broun do his best not to embarrass Georgia anymore, but it may already be too late:
Under Broun’s plans, doctors and pharmacies would be encouraged to post prices for their services just as a restaurant might post a dinner menu. Doing so, Broun said, would spur competition and therefore help bring down costs.
Because who hasn't wished their health care operated with the same level of efficiency and quality of service as a middle-tier chain restaurant?
Comments (2)
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Broun's an anti-scientific embarassment to the state, sure. But what's actually so bad about posting prices? I mean, I guess there's the problem that - with the inclusion of insurance (or lack thereof) - it's never clear how much a particular patient will be paying. That said, I wouldn't mind knowing in advance how much I'm being charged and whether I could get it cheaper somewhere else. If my veterinarian (sp?) at the wonderful Briarcliff Animal Clinic can tell me in advance how much it would cost for an X-ray on my cat, why can't my primary care physician (again, sp?) do the same?
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I agree, that's actually a decent idea and something the General Assembly has looked at too - Actually establising a website in which consumers can click and compare. Wouldn't the average consumer want to know that they can get an RX, or say a simple exam somewhere cheaper down the road? And the people opposed to this? Doctors, Insurers, Insurance Agents, Pharmicists, etc....
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