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Monday, August 01, 1994     Page: 10B QUICK WORDS: EDITORIAL

Whenever we Americans have a chance to conduct an intelligent, meaningful
discussion, it seems we always handle it the same way: We blow itWe already
lost the health-care debate
   
We’ve done it again.
    Whenever we Americans have a chance to conduct an intelligent, meaningful
discussion about an issue of national importance, it seems we always handle it
the same way: We blow it.
   
And that is exactly what we’ve done with the critical question of
health-care reform.
   
When President Clinton placed health care at the top of the nation’s action
list during the 1992 campaign, he set the stage for a long-awaited and
much-needed public debate. When he proposed a massive program of health-care
reform last September and then challenged Congress to make his plan the law of
the land, Clinton gave the debate a framework, a point of reference, a
starting point.
   
But now, with Congress frantically racing to pass a health-care bill, most
people don’t even remember — if they ever knew — what Clinton proposed. All
we know about are the labels: socialized medicine, government takeover of the
health-care system, rationing of health care.
   
The labels were applied without regard to facts and without context, until
Clinton’s health-care plan took on an identity that had nothing to with what
it was or was not. The plan simply became a symbol, a conduit for expressing
dissatisfaction with Clinton.
   
And now the debate has become so distorted and irrelevant that it can be
summarized in an ad placed by some outfit calling itself American Renewal,
which purports to criticize Clinton’s health-care plan but in fact does
nothing but attack U.S. Surgeon General Elders.
   
Elders, a.k.a. Dr. Joycelyn Foot-in-Mouth, is certainly ripe for attack.
But her provocative statements about assorted subjects, several of which are
quoted in the ad, have nothing to do with the national debate over health-care
reform. This is just another attempt to change the subject.
   
But then, Clinton’s opponents hardly own the market on distortion,
exaggeration and flat-out falsehood. Representatives of the Clinton
administration are currently running around the country suggesting to anyone
who will listen that the best way to get skyrocketing health-care costs under
control is to make sure every American has an insurance policy.
   
This is nonsense, of course. Just having the government hand out insurance
policies — or forcing private business to hand out insurance policies — will
not begin to solve the problems that are driving health-care costs through the
roof. If all we do is give everyone insurance, there will be an enormous
increase in demand for health-care services — and costs will escalate even
more.
   
What we need are major changes in the health-care system, in the way health
care is prioritized and delivered in this country. But nobody wants to talk
about that. It’s too complicated. It’s too confusing. It’s too boring.
   
We’d rather spend our time on drivel like this, from American Renewal’s ad
in USA Today:
   
“The Clinton health plan would permit Big Government to control who enters
medical school, who enters which medical specialties and where they can
practice. You will lose your choice of doctors.”
   
That’s a lie.
   
On the other hand, Hillary Rodham Clinton keeps saying that the Clinton
plan not only wouldn’t reduce our choice of doctors but would actually give us
more choice than ever before.
   
That’s a lie, too.
   
But nobody is interested in the truth when it comes to health-care reform.
Not the Clintons. Not American Renewal. Certainly not the U.S. Congress, which
ultimately will be responsible for deciding what sort of health-care reform
plan — if any — will be adopted.
   
Each of these parties — and most of the others who are actively involved
in the health-care debate — has an ax to grind. They are looking out for
their own interests. They are trying to win the game.
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