Letters to the Editor
Nequals1
Published Letters: 331 Editor's Choice: 7
-
@ catfood
[Read the article: Oligarchical decay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]From Theodore Franks's letter to the New York Times:
Mr. Edwards's multimillion-dollar medical malpractice verdicts almost certainly hurt the quality of health care in North Carolina.
On what basis does he make that claim?
My guess is that he's referring to the faux "malpractice crisis" that's been perpetuated to mythical proportions by the Repubs. He is referring to the phony and unproven causal relationship that uncapped medmal damages undermine the ability of physicians and hospitals to offer services to everyone (as if they ever did). Physicians' reimbursement rates in some specialties have become somewhat compressed - especially so for primary care and OB/GYN physicians, and malpractice insurance has in some states and regions, become so exhorbitant or non-existent, that physicians have fled to other areas. Right now there is such an influx of physicians into Texas, which enacted a very low damages cap and malpractice insurance policy cost controls, that licensure and credentialing is backlogged.
However, the notion that malpractice damages caps equates to better healthcare is unproven. The very same physicians who decry government "interference and control" of healthcare are the ones shouting and protesting about the threatened, but "saved" Medicare reimbursement cuts and their resotration plus 1.5%.
It's all theatre. False threats, false issues, and an aim to divide and conquer the public's perception and the affected physicians and their patients.
The best online resource I've found is the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, which can be accessed via email subscription. The Commonwealth Fund also produces excellent health policy and issue reports.
-
Programmed and systematic move to the right by the NYT
[Read the article: Bloggers mature, the New York Times stumbles]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Not as many progressives read the health section with attention to the reporters, but as an FYI, Tara Parker-Pope is now the health blogger (titled, Well) at the NYT. She came directly from the Wall Street Journal. The health and healthcare coverage is as conserviative, right-wing and Bush friendly as it comes. The reporting totally ignores nurses and nursing - which provides 95% of all healthcare services in the US, and which is facing shortages of catastrophic proportions. The NYTimes ignored the fundamental problem at Walter Reed and throughout the military healthcare system: the absence of registered nurses to provide outpatient and intensive rehabilitation and patient case management and coordination for soldiers who were not discharged to the VA or civilian healthcare after their acute care (inpatient hospital) needs were resolved.
The dormant progressive healthcare blog, Universal Health, covered these issues in greater detail, and it's worth a visit or two to see the NYTimes' stance. Hiring Kristol is nothing new in the way of its rightward leanings.
http://universalhealth.wordpress.com/?s=New+York+Times
-
No Mention of the Constitution
[Read the article: Which Democrat is a winner?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While the candidates' stances and electability are presented well, there is no mention of their electability in light of their stances on the use of executive power and their stances toward the restoration of the Constitution.
That is a grievous error, especially in light of the blogosphere's criticsm that the traditional media doesn't present real issues and focuses on the frivolous instead of gravitas.
If the Constitution remains ravaged, and the candidates are not held to account on their use of what Bush usurped for the presidency, then there really isn't a reason to bother to elect anyone.
The corporations and power mongers will choose for we the sheeple.
-
Perversely
[Read the article: Michael Bloomberg: Trans-partisan savior]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This may have the effect of unintended consequences.
Methinks that the populace, taken for granted by Bloomberg and most of the corporatist authoritarians, don't realize how oppressed, increasingly suffering and angry the common folk are.
Bloomberg and the notion of a bipartisan ticket will just as likely be seen as just another Republican offering, which in fact, it is. It surely will not attract progressives, liberals and most independents who overtly affiliate "Republican" but who in actuality are much more liberal in their views and votes.
Let Bloomberg spend his bucks - the trickle down effect is sure to loosen a dollar here and there which actually goes into the "surplus population" and may stave off a bill collector or allow a few gas tanks to be filled. If it helps to deplete his war-against-the-people chest, then all the better.
The people are awakening, blinking the sleep from their eyes and are discovering that they are hungry, threadbare and cold.
That leads to a collective irritability and action against those who would stand between them and essential comfort.
All the best to you, Glenn and to everyone for a progressive 2008!