Obama brings sanity to health care craziness

I'm not a believer, but I still thought "thank God we have a president who's so sane and intelligent" after watching Obama's town hall meeting on health care today.

My laptop brought me every live moment.

Like a LA Times blogger, I was disappointed that some right-wing wacko didn't ask one of the WTF questions based on an insane belief that have been so common at other town hall meetings.

And in Sarah Palin's highly deluded mind.

She claims that "Obama wants to kill my baby through his death panels," which is bat-shit crazy. How anyone thinks Palin is qualified to occupy any elected office is beyond me.

Unelected also. Though she wouldn't be bad doing volunteer work as a stand-up comedian in a mental institution (only problem: the patients probably would think she was making sense and take her seriously).

I worked in health planning and health policy analysis for about fifteen years. So I'm more than qualified to assess Obama's grasp of health care issues. My grade: A. Maybe even A+.

Watching him, I kept wondering how thank-god-he's-ex-president Bush would have handled the questions thrown at Obama. It would have been painful for reality admirers to watch.

That's really what going on here: another classic battle between Defenders of Reality and truth-haters whose motto is, "I can make up whatever crap I want." Today Obama provided the country with a much-needed reality check.

Let's face it. Many Americans are clueless about how our health care system works, and how other countries manage to get a lot more health for a lot less money

For example, all of the senior citizens who scream, "The government better keep it's hands off of my Medicare!" Um, somebody needs to tell these people that Medicare is a government health care program. 

Socialized medicine! also is a favorite buzz word of the uninformed.Today Nate Silver put up a clever post showing the obvious differences between the Canadian and British health systems.

Canada provides care through private doctors and hospitals, with payment made through the government (just like Medicare). Great Britain does it differently, through government-paid providers.

Today Obama said that he isn't in favor of a single payer plan like Canada has. So when our health care reform bill passes, and I'm confident it will, the United States won't be anywhere near as socialized medicine'y as Canada, and Canada doesn't have anything like real socialized medicine.

I wish every crazy who has been screaming insanities at town hall meetings would take the time to read the transcript of what Obama said today. 

You'd think they'd be willing to, since they keep asking congresspeople if they've read one of the 1000 page health insurance reform bill drafts. However, truth is a scary thing when you've got your mind made up to embrace falsities.

Here's 10 Health Care Reform Myths, according to CBS News. Almost all of them clearly show that Obama is right and the rabid reform opponents are wrong.

And here's Keith Olbermann demolishing the "death panel" sort of craziness of Sarah Palin and her ilk. I like how he says that this latest bit of Palin'ish nonsense should disqualify her from occupying any position of responsibility, ideally for eternity.

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Comments

[Rain]

It is crazy and it has been for eight years when people voted against their own personal interests based on this same kind of hysteria. I have to think that today it's worse because racism has been added to the mix. I am not saying for all who oppose health care reform. Some of them, like the Medicare recipients, are just ignorant but there is a percentage of the loud mouths who are using the tactics that fought against Civil Rights and feel threatened by power being shifted. Their ignorance makes them easy targets to be used and they are being used. What they are currently proposing might not be enough but I believe we have to do it now or their voices will just get louder and more unreasonable. The information on this is out there but they don't want to look.

[Marla]

this is the first I have been to your blog and I would just like to say THANK GOD, UNIVERSE, for WHOEVER you are!!! I was thinking I had gotten off the bus on the wrong planet, where did everybody go? I still have faith in our President, several years before the end of Bush's term I had long since stopped calling him president. Thief, liar, moron are just adjectives, need I say more? I can't believe those who are blaming Obama for this mess, and barely 6mos into his term are complaining, how many years did the Bush's rape and pillage the american people and they think it should be fixed!! Makes my blood boil. Anyhoo the more I read the more I felt like yeah man....keep the faith!! Thanks you made my day!

[Mort]

Were you born stupid or just working on it? Obama has said several times, he wants a single payer system. Listen to his words, not just what you want him to say. Single payer will be a nightmare, if you don't think so move to Europe or Canada and make the US a better place. Wish you guys would look at what is being offered, or are you the same as Congress and have not read it either, if it only had a brain. Keep smoken and Obama will be what you want.