Sen. Tom Coburn (Senate.gov)
Sen. Mark Warner's
Gang of Six buddy Sen. Tom Coburn had some, ahem, interesting
things to say about President Obama yesterday. He didn't stop with his inflammatory remarks at that.
Here's what he had to say about Medicare:
"Show me where in the Constitution the federal government is responsible for your health care?" Coburn said.
He went on to say that government programs such as Medicare are primarily responsible for rapidly rising health-care costs, and that Medicare has made the medical system worse.
"You can't tell me the system is better now than it was before Medicare," he said.
Coburn agreed that some people received poor care—or no care—before Medicare was enacted in the 1960s, but said communities worked together to make sure most people received needed medical attention.
For a doctor, he sure is ignorant about the nation's health care system. No, Medicare is not responsible for rising health care costs. Neither are Medicaid, the military system Tri-care or the VA. Let's go the real experts to find out what is responsible for out-of-control health care costs, Kaiser Family Foundation.
- First, there's new technology and prescription drugs: "[T]he availability of more expensive, state-of-the-art technological services and new drugs fuel health care spending not only because the development costs of these products must be recouped by industry but also because they generate consumer demand for more intense, costly services even if they are not necessarily cost-effective." Consumer demand driven by things like prescription drug advertising on television which drives up prescription drug costs so pharmaceutical companies can pay for more advertising.
- A larger chronically ill population: heart disease, diabetes, chronic cancers are all on the rise, and yes, will increase as the population ages, and gets fatter. "This has placed tremendous demands on the health care system, particularly an increased need for treatment of ongoing illnesses and long-term care services such as nursing homes; it is estimated that health care costs for chronic disease treatment account for over 75% of national health expenditures."
- A disjointed, private-insurance based system that drives administrative costs out of control. Note this, particularly: "It is estimated that at least 7% of health care expenditures are for administrative costs (e.g., marketing, billing) and this portion is much lower in the Medicare program (<2%), which is operated by the federal government.
Huh. Medicare is cheaper to administer than the private health care system? Who knew? Obviously Sen. Coburn, didn't, or is lying about it. But pretty much anybody else who's paid serious attention to health care policy knows he's full of shit on that one. Which is why this guy shouldn't be anywhere near any policymaking that has anything to do with public health care systems.