Driving back from dropping Aidan at school, I heard Peter Orszag, Director of the OMB, interviewed. Three things really stood out, for me. The first was that, in recounting his recent sit-down with health care execs, he stated that massive savings could be realized by eliminating “unnecessary tests and procedures” that add nothing to patient health. It’s true that there are probably tests and procedures that are unnecessary on occasion, but the OMB are hardly the people to make such decisions. If physicians deem certain tests and procedures necessary, and their requests for them are denied as a result of government policies, then it seems to me that patients ought to be debarred from bringing suit against them for resulting harm.
Second, the interviewer asked, with regard to the meetings, whether Orszag trusted the health execs. And then, as part of his answer, Orszag stated that he was counting on the media to bring pressure to bear on the industry to make the requisite cost savings.
It was polite of him to make the request, but he was speaking to NPR, so . . . not really necessary.
Many of those “unnecessary tests and procedures†are a result of doctors practicing defensive medicine to protect themselves from bogus malpractice lawsuits. Unless Orszag is proposing to radically change the legal side of the equation, don’t expect to see any reductions by doctors.
Ditto what Dave said.
Well. Dave, being as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America is a top five giver to most things Democratic (Party) … I’d say that’s as likely to happen as Obama producing a budget in the next three years that is within $750 Billion of balance.
In other words, flying pigs, hell’s snowballs, Joan Walsh acquiring a sense of humor, etc.
Wow it is almost as if the administration realizes that the media is their propaganda arm and will try to destroy anyone they point at. What would have gave them that idea?
/
They are counting on the media to _____ . Odd how they view the media as a teammate.
I guess Chris Matthews was right: his job really is to make Obama a success. Apologies, Mr. Tingle.
It sounds as though Orzag is advocating the resurrection of shame as a public policy tool. Imagine the things we could do with that, properly applied.
“Three things really stood out, for me.”
And what was number three?
But, but, but….. I make 60,000 a year and I can’t carve out 400 dollars or so a month it would cost for me to insure my family! Are you going to be the one to look my kid in the eyes and tell him he can’t have an xbox 360 for his birthday?
*Are you going to be the one to look my kid in the eyes and tell him he can’t have an xbox 360 for his birthday?*
The government recommends the Wii. First, it supports one of our foreign trade partners. Second, its less expensive then the Xbox 360. Third, the Wii encourages children to exercise while playing video games. Fourth, Barrak Obama will be the unlockable character on the next Super Smash Brothers Brawl.
Juanita Latisha Darvasette Jones says, “Shut you mouf FOO, Obama gonna buy my kids an XBOX! Now is this here the place I can gets that Oprah style KFC coupon?”
Aren’t all test “unnecessary” and “add nothing to the patient’s health”? Except for the one that, you know, shows the doctor what you have. Are doctors just supposed to guess in their diagnosis now?
And wouldn’t this put House completely out of a job?
Reading shit like this reminds me why I wrote back in January that all I have to say to America, now that it’s made its choice, is “You know where the band-aids are.”
Though, I guess if OMB decides we’re using band-aids wastefully…
Number three: “Orszag” sounds like a character in Bend Sinister, fittingly.
Really, number three is the “And then” one everyone’s talking about.
I think “Second” is probably the worst of them, as described, since it made this Orszag knob feel safe to move on to offering number three out loud.
They traded seduction cues.
(Do any of the “pickup” creeps analyze press/politician exchanges? There’s a niche. And it’s closing time.)
#3 was Orszag saying that it would really help if the MSM would help him apply the pressure.
I heard Peter Orszag, Director of the OMB, interviewed.
and JournoListâ„¢ member, don’t forget.
#14, 15 – ouch. Wasn’t he supposed to send that instruction out through JurnoList, not in the clear? Who is handing out the SOIs to the Left these days?!
The correct followup is “we’re going to save even more money by eliminating autopsies”. In the future people will only die from “bad habits” (as defined by Big Brother) so autopsies will serve no purpose. It will balance out nicely with the “unnecessary tests”.
At this point, I am less than thrilled that all my grandparents lived into their nineties. If I need treatment for something non-lethal, such as a hip replacement, cataract surgery, or whatever, it will be denied me, and I’ll have to live out my life in misery because I’ll be too expensive to fix and too healthy to just die already.
The schadenfreude, if one were inclined to take it, is that many of the Boomers who voted FOR this, apparently, will get the health care they deserve, good and hard, as Mencken put it.
We could save a lot of money by getting rid of incumbents…