Houston Chronicle
April 6, 2003
President promises one health policy, proposes another
In his State of the Union address in January, Bush said the nation must move to a system in which “all Americans have a good [health] insurance policy and choose their own doctors,” with seniors and low-income Americans receiving the help they need. The president urged the nation to take control of health care away from the bureaucrats, trial lawyers and HMOs and return it to doctors, nurses and patients.
However, the Medicare reform plan Bush proposed just before the start of the Iraq war would force the elderly to choose among these goals, thus preventing Americans’ attainment of a majority of those goals.
Since January, President Bush has been preoccupied with regime change in Iraq. Perhaps he has forgotten the words of assurance he spoke to Americans in his State of the Union message. If the president relies on aides to prevent him from making empty promises or contradicting himself, his aides have failed him.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/editorial/1853344
Comment: This is simply one more reminder that health care proposals must be based on sound policy rather than on the politics of those who place their lesser agendas above that of the health of our people.