Great gods, now they are turning to Texas for advice on health care reform. This is about as useful as asking the executioner for advice on memorable last words. You can hear the deep voice of the killer from under his black-hood as he tests the sharpness of the blade with a finger. “Just say goodbye,” he mumbles.
But it’s Texas the insurance-owned Republicans are using in their efforts to block health care reform. Their chant? Look what caps on medical malpractice claims have done for Texas.
We’re talking about Texas, first in the nation in the number of uninsured. Texas, 44th in infectious diseases. Texas, 42nd in the number of primary care physicians.
When’s the last time you went down to the courthouse and stood in line for the district clerk when your left arm hurt and your chest felt tight? This dodge, that we’ll get healthier if we just bolt the courthouse door, is dangerous. It’s snake oil. It’s a ruse. It’s a lie bigger than Texas, bigger than Alaska even. Take that, Ms. Palin.
Texas passed a bunch of courthouse-closing bills in 2003, including caps on medical malpractice awards. Backers, including Gov. Rick Perry, said the proposal would cause an unprecedented stampede of doctors to Texas. Well, they seem to have got lost somewhere around the Red River, and it’s pretty easy to ford these days. I reckon if they wanted to, they’d be here. But they’re not. And if they were, millions of Texans couldn’t afford them anyhow.
Earlier this year, Charles Silver and some other extremely bright students of the law and medical care testified before the Texas Senate that the caps hadn’t accomplished much. They certainly haven’t attracted more docs. And Texans are not any healthier.
But tonight, as Obama speaks, the Republicans are busy saying the rest of the country ought to act like Texas. Obama has already rejected the Texas approach, though he keeps med mal caps on the table in a kind of “see, I can reach across the aisle” way.
Texas is an awfully funny place to look for solutions to our health care crisis. Telling Americans they can get into the hospital easier once the courthouses are closed isn’t even true if they are talking about downtown traffic, much less the state of our health.
It’s a big damn, distracting lie, and it’s the kind of lie big, damned distracting liars like. Here’s a tip: if the insurance industry wants something from politicians, whatever it is, it’s going to be very, very bad for you. Don’t say goodbye. Just say ah, and stick your tongue out at ‘em.
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About Glenn W. Smith
Glenn W. Smith has spent the past 30 years in journalism and politics, where he’s made a name for himself as a writer, campaign manager, activist, think tank analyst and, as Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas says, a “legendary political consultant and all-around good guy.” “There’s no one like him,” says author George Lakoff. CNN commentator Paul Begala says, “He has unmatched experience, a graceful pen (or pixel nowadays) and deep insight into the best and worst of us.” Novelist Sarah Bird speaks of his “lucid and lyrical” prose. And, she says, he’s fun. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington says Glenn writes with “grace and abundant humor” and “uses his colorful experiences in Texas to enlighten us all.”
Smith led Ann Richards’ successful 1990 campaign for Governor of Texas. He worked for former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Earlier, Smith was a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Post. He’s coordinated national campaigns for groups such as MoveOn.org. In 2004, he authored the highly acclaimed book, The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from Extinction. He also wrote Unfit Commander, a book that detailed George W. Bush’s mysterious disappearance from military service.
In 2004, Smith was featured in the film, Bush’s Brain, a documentary about Karl Rove. Smith provided commentary on Rove’s role as then-President Bush’s senior advisor. He has made numerous media appearances with Chris Mathews on Hardball, Joe Scarborough, Brit Hume, and many others. He writes a regularly for top national web sites, including FireDogLake and Huffington Post.
As a senior fellow at George Lakoff’s prestigious Rockridge Institute in Berkeley he studied, wrote and taught on the power of metaphor and narrative in political communications. He also lectured on religion and politics at the Starr King School for Ministry in Berkeley. As a sponsor and organizer, he has pulled together numerous national events with progressive religious leaders. He also organized a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King at Riverside Church in New York City as well as “Freedom and Faith” bus tours, which was a nationwide campaign for social justice and progressive values.
Smith’s play, Double Play, which explored American Western myths and legends, was held over to sold-out audiences. He’s even written and performed songs in the Americana tradition, such as his best-known song, “Helping Marty Robbins,” a tribute to his hometown, Houston.
Most recently, Smith is the creator of DogCanyon, a political and cultural web site covering state, national and global issues from a Texas perspective. DogCanyon is an exhilarating and unique site that gets the connections between politics and culture and explores both the personal side of politics and the ups, down, craziness and beauty of “life its ownself,” as humorist Dan Jenkins would say. DogCanyon offers heartfelt personal essays, hard-hitting political analysis, and, most importantly, laughs.
As Paul Begala said, Smith writes in “the finest, firmest, fearless tradition of Texas essayists like Molly Ivins.”
I don’t trust anyone on either side of the equation in Austin or D.C. to take care of little ‘ol me or anyone surrounding me in my neighborhood. I am now middle class. I used to think I was upper middle class.
I hear the Right screaming for tort reform to be brought into the national healthcare debate. They use Texas as a shinning example of what it could mean for the nation if adopted nationally. Obviously, they have not studied the results closely.
Texas tort reform has brought about change…no doubt about it. It has limited compensation awards. It has limited the amount of dollars going into parastic plaintiff’s attorneys’ pockets, it has decreased the liability premiums physicians, hospitals, pharms and med equipment co’s are paying, and it has decreased the amount licensed Texas insurance companies are paying out in jury awards and settlements.
What no one is mentioning is the fact that none of these savings has filtered down to the consumer. Our insurance rates since tort reform in Texas came to pass have risen just as much, if not more, that the national average.
In the current healthcare debate, the D’s are protecting the plaintiff’s attorneys and the R’s are trying to make sure that the insurance companies, the physicians, the hospitals, the drug companies and the medical device manufactures are all protected from having to cough up some profit in return for added numbers to the insured rolls (many of which are healthy young adults) and the guaranteed payments this affords them.
Me and my neighbors are screwed anyway you look at it.