NPR has been doing some killer reporting on the Health Care debate, reporting that the traditional media is largely not doing (although they have been getting slightly better on rare occasions.) If you've been discouraged by Glenn Greenwald's analysis that the White House is delliberately crafting Health Care Reform strategy to lose the public option and sell out to the insurance companies in exchange for the money they'd otherwise send to the GOP, here's a couple of refreshing items from NPR below the fold.
On NPR's Morning Edition, Steve Inskeep did something radical. He interviewed an English Surgeon and advisor to the British government, Lord Ara Darzi, about the charges coming from the Republicans, warning that Obama is going the inflict the 'horrors' of the British National Health Service on the United States. Here's a sample from the summary at the link:
Senator CHARLES GRASSLEY (Republican, Iowa): I've been told that the brain tumor that Senator Kennedy has, because he's 77 years old, would not be treated the way it's treated in the United States. In other words, they say, well, he doesn't have long to live, even if he'd live another four or five years. They'd say, well, we've got to spend the money on people that have more, can contribute more to the economy.
INSKEEP: Okay. Does the British system make that kind of distinction? Here's an older fellow, you've got this treatment that you could give him but it wouldn't add massively to his life expectancy, so we'll deny that. Do you do that?
Lord DARZI: Well, I'm sorry to say that's the most ludicrous thing I've heard. I've heard that written down but I've never heard it in real speech. And the answer to that is absolutely no.
INSKEEP: So, Grassley's comment is based on nothing, so far as you can say?
Lord DARZI: Absolutely - not just false, these are lies which have been used to set fear against reform.
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It's telling that the headline on the web page is "Surgeon Defends Britain's National Health Service"; a better one would be "Surgeon Confirms Republicans Engaged in Campaign of Lies Against Reform"
An audio clip of the entire interview is at the link. You can hear how Lord Darzi is appalled by what passes for debate in this country.
Dr. Howard Dean was interviewed by Robert Siegel on NPR's All Things Considered about the fight over the Public Option. Dean was a breath of fresh air after all of the waffling coming from the White House, and the hysteria from the right wing.
Gov. DEAN: Well, first of all, I don't think this is a left/right issue. I think this is a common sense issue. The fact is that only Medicare has controlled cost better than the private sector. Now, Medicare doesn't do a terribly great job of controlling cost, but they do a much better job than private health insurance does.
And the reason that you need a public option for real health care reform is not because the left is, you know, right and the right is wrong. It's because average Americans believe that if they have a choice of a competitive system that's different than the system they have now, they can make it work for them. And I think that makes sense.
emphasis added
Greenwald's analysis that Rahm Emanuel is calculating it is better to pass something in order to claim a Democratic victory than actually accomplish real reform is countered - if not directly - by Dean in a way that makes sense and should be very easy to sell to the American people - IF the White House is really serious about the Public Option. It also makes far better political strategy than what Emanuel is doing. (And it shows why Emanuel and the rest of the DNC establishment were always at odds with Dean.) From the NPR summary:
Gov. DEAN: Well, that's a mistake. That, I think, is a mistake. And I'm trying to avoid criticizing Congress over issues other than the public option because it's the one I think matters the most for reform. But from a political point of view, I would put some of this in place right away.
If you allowed adults to sign up for Medicare and pay premiums as they should based on income, which is what the president's proposing, you wouldn't have to wait to set up the public option because it wouldn't be separate. You already have the bureaucracy in place to do it, the claims and so forth and so on. But I think if you're going to pass this bill, you better have something to show the American people for it because the Republicans will continue to go out and make all these outlandish statements of the kind they've been making over the past several months.
SIEGEL: So, it would be advantageous to the Democratic Party to have some tangible benefit…
Gov. DEAN: That's right.
SIEGEL: …from their health care bill before they go to the polls next, rather than just have a bill that everybody argues about what it's going to do in 2013, you're saying.
Gov. DEAN: That's right. And the easiest way to do that is to have a public option, which is basically Medicare that you could sign up for if you're under 65.
emphasis added
You can find a link to an audio file of the whole interview at the NPR summary. It's worth a listen: Dean is a real breath of fresh air and very straightforward.
So, in case you were wondering if there was any sanity left in the world, those two pieces from NPR should be some help. Keep fighting the good fight, and let's get this done.