Health Care BS

Earlier this week, I predicted  that there would be a lot of disingenuous journalism committed in support of Obama’s choice for CMS head. And, sure enough, we have seen all the usual red herrings, straw men and ad hominem attacks.

I must say, however, that even I was not prepared for the absurd combination of dishonesty and stupidity exhibited in the London Times by Alice Fishburn. Here’s what she says is behind the opposition to Donald Berwick’s nomination:

There is a growing Republican inclination to use the Brits as a convenient historical proxy in their bigger fight against Barack Obama.

Huh?

By fanning the embers of 1776, some disgruntled Americans hope to paint their President as the new King George III: lunatic, mildly despotic and keen to crush the good citizens of the United States.

Is Berwick British? Nope. So, what the hell is Fishburn talking about? Well, this is how she interprets concern about Berwick’s oft-stated “love” for the crumbling British health care system. Here’s what she believes that romance REALLY means:

Like his President, he dared to look beyond the rhetoric and towards the evidence of what worked and what didn’t. 

Would that it were so! The “evidence” shows that the British method of managing health care has not “worked.” Indeed, it has been a disaster for the average Brit. That Berwick admires that system raises serious questions about his judgment.

But Fishburn and other Berwick apologists have made it abundantly clear that they are not interested in a serious discussion about such issues. These people are blinkered ideologues. They don’t “do” critical thinking and honest debate.