Misleading and misinforming the public for political purposes and political gain is nothing new. In recent years, the Repugs have created a mastery of this practice, and used it to lead hapless, uniformed masses of people to act in ways that are clearly contrary to to their own best interests.
With the firing of the opening shots in the battle for health care reform, the practice of misinformation seems to have hit a new all-time low. People are being incited to rally behind causes that are not only against their political and economic interests, but also against their personal health. And the politicians and pundits are seeking both increased influence and money as they advance their lies. How can we continue to tolerate these lies and the utter absence of a moral compass in our elected leader? The recommended actions are below the fold.
Buried within the recently passed economic stimulus package is an item valued at about a billion dollars for something called "Comparative Effectiveness Research". What this is basically is a way to identify which strategies work best in medicine for making a diagnosis and effectively treating each diagnosis. In other words, the information you hope your doctor has acquired so he/she knows how best to treat you and at the same time not waste your time and money.
As the astute observers they have proven themselves to be, Republicans immediately identified how damaging and threatening such research might be. It might, for example, lead to fewer test being done, and less profits for corporations who make donations to them. It might be the beginning of effective health care reform, which could threaten their very survival as elected officials. It might spell the demise of the health insurance companies, who have been unable and unwilling to pursue to advancement of such research for the public good for years. So what was the Republican response to inclusion of this Comparative Effectiveness Reasearch as part of the stimulus bill? Surprise surprise. They spun a narrative designed to spread as much fear and misinformation as possible. And in doing so, they sought to discredit any meaningful attempt at health care reform at the same time.
Howard Dean was among the first to call attention to the lies that were being spread about effectiveness research in his blog at Huffington Post. Dean remarked,
I was surprised to see Senator Coburn (R-Ok) who is also a doctor make a statement against medical research which in part stated "this bill lays the groundwork for a Soviet-style Federal Health Board that will put bureaucrats and politicians in charge of our nation's health care system." Sadly, it seems that Senator Coburn has his political hat on and not his white coat when he relies on Rush Limbaugh to "help" his patients.
Slinkerwink diaried Dean's comments, but the discussion that followed pursued issues related to Howard Dean's potential role rather than what these lies mean for our trust in government or the direction of health care reform.
What does it mean when elected officials (physicians no less!) ignore their moral responsibility to act in the interests of the publc? How could research that clearly is in the interest of improved health care at lower cost be portrayed in such a negative light? Something big must be at stake, especially to make a physician sworn to care for his patients to create such a huge lie. Only the desire for money and power have enough persuasuasive power to dictate such actions.
I have outlined in a previous diary the enormous monetary pressures at work in healthcare and the history of how those pressures came into being. I also tried to predict the ways in which individuals and corporations in positions of influence and means would try to spin a narrative of misinformation to pre-emptively derail the movement towards health care reform. Other diarists here, such as nyceve have been calling attention to what you should know about health insurance industry lobbyists and their lies as part of the effort to educate. But the efforts to frame the discussion in a certain way, to set restrictions on the expectations for health care reform, and to fail to hold those in positions of public trust accountable for their lies continue. NPR's syndicated show "On Point" on Wednesday conducted a discussion of effectiveness research on Wednesday's broadcast which focused completely on whether such research had validity or was simply a way for the government to interfere with the autonomy of physicians and their patients. Not a word was said about holding those in Congress who spread such damaging misinformation accountable. There was no discussion about the responsibility of elected officials to act in the public interest. How very sad that we cannot trust our government to act in the public interest in such vital and sensitive areas.
Which brings me to the real reason I wrote this diary. The only way we will get meaningful health care reform is through massive and persistent grass roots demands for such reform. Not only is the political will missing to enact such reform from the top, it is obvious that the corruption that allows such reform to be blocked is pervasive throughout the government. Evidence of the extent of the rot in our government is visible everywhere. We must find a way to make this demand clearly, powerfully, and persistently until Congress can no longer ignore our demands for meaningful healthcare reform. This is a crisis that demands radical action. No more lies. No more delays. Health care reform now. People are dying needlessly. People are spending money on care that is below standard, and losing their health and their money in the process. Our economy is being dragged down the toilet by the burden of the current health care. Enough!
Single payer healthcare is what we must have. The fact that elected officials are subject to these kinds of distortions for their own purposes emphasizes how essential it is that the administration of any reformed health care system be completely isolated from the pressures of the political process.