I Faxed this letter to Grassley's Washington office, 202-224-6020
You have said some stupid things lately.
1. You claim to be worried about death panels and healthcare reform. You know that’s not true. You and many Republicans voted for the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill. That bill included counseling for end-of-life issues. It says, "Covered services are: evaluating the beneficiary's need for pain and symptom management, including the individual's need for hospice care; counseling the beneficiary with respect to end-of-life issues and care options ..."
The current HR 3200 provides money for voluntary end of life counseling before the terminal illness. You voted for counseling in 2003 but only for "terminal cases". If you fear that fundamentalist doctors will be uncomfortable with end of life counseling, that can be discussed.
2. You said that public hospitals here and abroad would not treat a 77 year old like Senator Kennedy. That’s false. You insult our VA hospitals and my hospital, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. We aren’t perfect but we provide expensive care for patients in their 80s and beyond, even if they have no coverage. Visit the fine Iowa City VA medical center and let them show you.
You and I are getting old Senator. Will your grandchildren have to excuse your making common cause with racists and anti-scientific ideologues? You may oppose current healthcare reform proposals, but you can’t defend those who wave racist posters or say that President Obama is like Hitler. If Obama is like Hitler, violent resistance is justified. Do you want an Obama assassination? Beck, Levin and Limbaugh incite lethal violence. Dick Armey says that our Medicare is tyranny. Conservative David Frum spoke up; what about you?
Our Constitution says nothing about education or healthcare. Early American political leaders didn’t worry about education; the first free public high school (Boston English) opened in 1835. Poorly educated adults are unemployable today; unemployable people often become criminals. We invest tax money to prevent that. Germany began state mandated healthcare in 1884, initially just for certain workers, but by 1915 it was mandatory for all except the richest Germans.
My 46 years in medicine have shown me a jumble of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Medical expenses bankrupt many Americans- more than one million Americans last year. Businesses are hurting. American medicine is fine if you are rich and sophisticated, but our outcomes are not so good. As the Johnny Mercer song said, "Accentuate the positive".
The ugly: medical profiteering and Washington lobbyists spending millions to preserve insurance profits.
The bad: terrible health habits and anti-science attitudes of many Americans. Our heart disease mortality is much higher than in France in spite of good treatments, due to destructive life styles. We refuse to learn from other countries. The Remote Area Medical Foundation is currently helping desperate Los Angelinos with temporary free healthcare; somehow Canada and Costa Rica don’t need those services. What do they know that you don’t know?
The good: Many doctors, nurses, and others really help people. Read the Gawande New York Times article, 10 Steps to Better Health Care, doctors & hospitals who put profits second
Doctors and hospitals are doing a good job with reasonable costs in many communities- including Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Only 24% of communities have such healthcare- costs are too high and rising too fast. There is profiteering. Congress contributes to Medicare’s financial problems: you prevent them from negotiating prices with drug companies; you have consistently ignored the Med-PAC recommendations for saving money. McAllen, TX, Los Angeles, Miami and other centers of medical overcharging need action. Visit Cedar Rapids and the Iowa City VA, learn what works. The VA system is much better than before, it does a good but imperfect job.
Accentuate the positive and don’t mess with mister in between. Jesus, Maimonides and Mohammad all said that we have an obligation to help the poor. That’s an obligation. We are all bound together and we can do better.