I caught the last part of a CNN health care debate this morning. There was still back-and-forth comments going on as the moderator was talking and going to commercial. I can't find a video of the debate, but the two men were discussing whether or not Medicare patients were happy with the care that they were receiving.
It was at that time that I realized what was wrong with the debate that I'd just seen. It involved two guys in suits and ties talking about Medicare as "experts". I don't think that they were the real "experts" in Medicare. The real experts are the people who depend upon Medicare for their health care, and those health care workers who deal mostly with Medicare recipients.
If CNN and other stations were actually still news organizations, wouldn't they have someone investigating Medicare providers and patients to actually get a fell for the topic, rather than just depending upon the various "experts" to provide information. I think, more than anything else, that the last forty years of moving away from having reporters who went out an gathered the information to support the news has led to the horrible lack of real news on television.
It's now all show and no substance at all. The debate is what is important, not that the topic of the debate be important. And when the topic is an important subject for the American public, it seems that the news organizations are most intent on dumbing down the discussion.
Is there anything that we can do to change this? I'm at a loss. Because it's advertising money that pays for these shows, how can we let our concerns be known to the people who actually make the programming decisions?
Getting back to the subject of this diary. I want to hear from the people most involved with Medicare. Do the providers like dealing with Medicare better or worse than for-profit insurance companies? Are they able to treat the patients as they wish, or does Medicare make them change their procedures and prescriptions? Does it take a longer amount of time to resolve issues with Medicare than it does to resolve a similar issue with an insurance company?
Do those patients with Medicare feel that they are getting the health care that they need? Have they been routinely denied benefits? Are they able to stay on the medications that have been prescribed by their doctors? Do they have to spend time talking with Medicare middlemen in order to get the care that their doctor recommends?
Aren't these the questions that really need to be answered as we move to improve the health care options for the people of this country?
Why is it that these questions are not the questions that I hear in the televised debates on health care reform?
Before publishing, I searched and was able to find the kind of information that I think is needed in this debate. Here is an example of the kind of information that I think is helpful in the debate:
A paper on the reactions to proposed Medicare changes in Florida:
Yes, it's dry, but it has the information. Can't the networks and cable news channels figure out a way to present this information?