OTHER VOICES
“A lot of what we do in medicine, and especially in modern hospital care, adheres to this same formulation. We hurt people because it’s the only way we know to make them better. This is the nature of our work, which is why the growing focus on measuring ‘patient satisfaction’ as a way to judge the quality of a hospital’s care is worrisomely off the mark. … Implied in the proposal is a troubling misapprehension of how unpleasant a lot of actual healthcare is. The survey measures the ‘patient experience of care’ to generate information important to ‘consumers.’ … The problem with this metric is that a lot of hospital care is … invasive, painful and even dehumanizing.”
—Theresa Brown in the New York Times
“The problem is that a lot of hospital care is … invasive, painful and even dehumanizing.
“Just as the Massachusetts system of delivering healthcare is under attack from Republicans across the country, along comes more evidence of its success—this time, in helping to create more affordable options for individuals and small businesses. The cost savings are important because both ‘Romneycare’ and its famous offspring, President (Barack) Obama’s healthcare overhaul, were branded mainly as ways to decrease the number of uninsured people, partly through the much-demonized requirement that individuals who can afford insurance must buy it, and the mandate on some employers to provide insurance, as well. But those mandates also served to bring together larger groups of customers, giving insurers greater incentive to provide competitive rates.”
—Boston Globe “First a reminder: The healthcare reform bill is essentially the 1993 Republican alternative to President Bill Clinton’s healthcare plan, crafted by the late Sen. John Chafee (R.I.), former Sen. Dave Durenberger (Minn.) and current members such as Sens. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Orrin Hatch (Utah)— not exactly a group of raving socialists. Add in the other elements of the bill, which are taken directly from the Romney plan in Massachusetts, and the fact that the law, to the dismay of liberals, did not include a public option, and the charge of government takeover rings very hollow.”
—Norman Ornstein in Roll Call