"Out of the Box" Foundation for Healthcare Reform by ACOEM

I just sent this message (below) to MoveOn -- and wanted to share it with as many people as possible.  Since they must get thousands of messages per day, I have little confidence they will pay attention, read the recommended documents, and reflect on their big ideas  -- but maybe you will.

 

I wrote:

 

   MoveOn's healthcare reform stuff strikes me as INCREDIBLY naive and superficially thought through -- even irresponsible.  It is patently absurd to state confidently that going to a national healthcare system will reduce costs by 30%.  When the country took on Medicare, the politicians (including LBJ) who wanted to pass it argued that it would be cost neutral -- but actually KNEW it would increase costs.  They were so ideologically committed, they hid the financial realities from themselves and others.

 

    For an infusion of fresh thinking and an "out of the box" view by public health-trained experts with a foot in healthcare AS WELL AS other sectors of society, I recommend that you familiarize yourselves with these two documents:

 

http://www.acoem.org/guidelines.aspx?id=5396

 

and

 

http://www.acoem.org/guidelines.aspx?id=566

 

    It seems as though MoveOn's input on healthcare reform is mostly coming from well-intentioned people with soundbite level knowledge and knee-jerk thinking about "everybody should get everything they want/need" rather than stewarding the welfare of the whole society -- e.g. sort of the "bread and circuses" group.  I've read in the past that democracy will fail when the masses get the picture that they can vote themselves benefits.  Feels very much like we are on the verge of that now.    

 

With concern for the present, and respect for what you have done in the past,
Jennifer Christian, MD, MPH
The 60 Summits Project www.60summits.org
Webility Corporation www.webility.md
Active in the American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine www.acoem.org