Medical decisions must be weighed against the costs
Re: “More death panels on the Obama health agenda,” Dec. 1
Marta Mossberg’s column replaces thoughtful debate about the very serious problems facing our health care system with fear-mongering and dramatic labels. The Preventive Services Task Force is not a death panel; it is a group of primary care doctors and nurses who develop recommendations based on evidence about what is in the best interests of patients. Neither the Maryland Health Insurance Plan nor other health plans are likely to change mammography coverage simply because of these new recommendations. However, Ms. Mossberg appears to argue that doctors and patients should not have to pay attention to evidence or professional guidelines and should not have to consider the cost; they should order whatever they believe might be useful and ask the rest of us – taxpayers, employers, and employees – to pay for it. Our current ways of delivering and paying for health care have led us to a health care system that costs twice as much as other industrialized nations, but delivers results that are no better – and are in some ways worse. To understand our complex problem with healthcare spending, I recommend the recent New Yorker article about healthcare in McAllen, Texas, which paints a particularly vivid and enlightening picture. The high cost of healthcare as it is currently delivered makes it harder to cover the uninsured, imperils Medicare, raises the national debt, impairs our international competitiveness, and holds down both employee wages and company profits. We need meaningful discussion of reform proposals, not rhetorical excess.
Rex Cowdry, M.D.
Executive Director
Maryland Health Care Commission
Baltimore
DC liberals find religion useful, but not important
Re: “D.C. sells out poor for gay marriage,” Nov. 23
Bravo to Star Parker. Shallow people like it when religious people give out goodies, but they are oblivious to the purpose behind the kind acts. Before Jesus healed the lame man, he forgave his sins. No doubt this D.C. group would have been watching in irritation saying, “Yeah, yeah, let’s get on with the healing part.” They want the good things that morality brings without appreciating the ideology that makes it possible. I am not a Catholic, but I can tell you that the purpose of being a Christian is not to feed and clothe the poor. Those things are a natural byproduct that comes from the central tenets and purpose of the faith, and produce fruit in the form of loving our neighbor as Christ loved us. You cannot separate the faith from the actions.
Bruce Dye
Arlington
Exit strategy needed for war on drugs
R
e: “Time to wind down the war on drugs,” Dec. 1
Gene Healy gets it right about marijuana, but drug prohibition is about so much more. With increasing public sentiment in favor of taxing and regulating cannabis, it’s time we take a look at other issues in desperate need of reform. Crack cocaine continues to see a 100:1 mandatory minimum sentencing disparity compared to powder cocaine, compromising our law enforcement priorities, contributing to prison overcrowding, and unfairly impacting communities of color. Individuals struggling with addiction die each day from preventable diseases because they do not have safe access to sterile syringes. Those women and men seeking treatment are denied the opportunity to try all options, including heroin-assisted treatment and other maintenance therapies, because of political pressures that trump science. Until we are able to put everything on the table, we will continue to see the destruction of the war on drugs.
Devon Hutchins
Drug Policy Alliance
Washington
