Burton's German Trip Protested
The Washington Post
August 11, 2001
by Juliet Eilperin
"Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, arranged for an unusual government-paid trip to Frankfurt and Bonn this week to investigate the German postal system. He is also visiting his wife, who is receiving medical care in Frankfurt, according to the congressman's aides."
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61368-2001Aug10.html>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61368-2001Aug10.html
Comment: This is a very difficult report on which to comment. Those of us that dedicate our lives to health care are always saddened to hear stories of serious medical problems that require extraordinary measures. Our first and overriding response is the deep concern that we have for Mrs. Burton and for her family that shares in the pain of her difficult challenges. Any comments that follow inevitably will be interpreted by some as being callous for having used this opportunity to posture politically, but the posturing is precisely on behalf our concerns about access to health care for everyone that faces similar difficulties.
On to the comments:
What rhetoric predominates today?
Examples:
American has the best health care in the world.
We must continue to support research by our technological and pharmaceutical firms that are providing us with the most advanced care available, no matter what the cost.
Everyone should have the same insurance that members of Congress have (FEHBP).
Medicare needs to be modernized, giving beneficiaries choice like the federal employees have with the FEHBP program.
We don't want a government program of health care.
Etc., etc.
Most of those reading these comments recognize this rhetoric, and understand the policy issues that drive it. There are very serious problems with our health care system, especially in access and coverage in a system that is infamous for wasting our abundant resources. Our national policies continue to favor the entrepreneurial elements in the health care system while continuing to neglect the unmet needs of the people. Unfortunately, the rhetoric continues to drive the displacement of our national priorities, as if the unmet needs were merely a nebulous construct, rather than real needs of real people.
Back to the difficult part of this message. We need to look at the actions of Rep. Burton, a man who is now deeply and intimately involved with the real needs of a real person. This overriding issue makes it impossible to fault his actions. He is making the best decisions he can in a very difficult, trying situation. He has walked away from "the best health care system in the world" and gone to another country that offers some of the best care available. He has walked away from "the most advanced research and technology" to another nation that likewise has advanced research and technology. With FEHBP coverage, he has his choice of any care within the limitations of his plan, but he elects to go to a country that happens to assure that care is covered and accessible for essentially everyone, with virtually no restrictions on providers. At home, he continues to work with elements in our society that want to keep government out of our health care. Yet he accepts a government funded health plan, and even is not above accepting government transportation for a combined personal and quasi-government-business trip. Apparently Rep. Burton does want the government involved in health care when it is providing him and his loved ones with access and coverage.
Real people have real needs. None of our needs are met by rhetoric. In health care, they are met partly by our own personal efforts. But clearly most of us by ourselves can never assure that we can meet the financial demands of catastrophic illness, nor the public health protections that can be provided only on a population basis, nor the assurance that the health care infrastructure will be there when we need it, nor the assurance that our resources will not be frittered by Wall Street and by the technological and pharmaceutical firms that have their own priorities which they have placed higher than the public good. Real people with real needs can expect those needs to be met only with a combination of personal effort balanced with a public effort that places reality above rhetoric.
Uwe Reinhardt comments on Bob LeBow's response:
"It is hard to argue with Bob. He is totally right."
Repeating the concluding remarks of Bob LeBow's response:
Our system seems to embrace the ideals of "personal responsibility" for the poor but "personal opportunity" for the rich. Community benefit? That would be socialism. So "personal opportunity," with its double-digit inflation result, has set the tone for American health care. We can see that with the direction our system is taking, the poor and near-poor will be increasingly left out, priced out of the market, by the "opportunists" who will then continue to lecture the less well-off about "personal responsibility."
Yes, we have created a monster, but some folks are more to blame than others.