Doctor's Order: Tell It Like It Is
Seven Days - Vermont’s Alternative Newsweekly www.sevendaysvt.com
(published 08.09.06)
Republican two-term Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie has been leading a pretty charmed life as a GOP candidate in the anti-George W. Bush Green Mountains, and there’s no sign of his luck changing anytime soon.
In fact, same goes for that other guy on the GOP ticket, Gov. Jim Douglas. The Vermont Republican Party’s electoral success at the top ranks of state government in the post-Howard Dean age is one of the GOP’s greatest and most unheralded outside-the-Beltway success stories.
And many local pundits saw Doobie-Doo’s Lite-Gov reelection odds improve significantly with the surprise entry into the race of a particularly articulate and well-educated Progressive Party candidate. In fact, Marvin Malek, M.D., is a real-life doctor on the front lines of health care. He wears the hat of director of Barre Internal Medicine.
A doctor running for lieutenant governor? Hmm. That’s pretty rare. Let’s see, it happened once before — 20 years ago. A little guy from Burlington. Made house calls.
What ever became of him, anyway?
Seriously, folks, Candidate/Dr. Malek is not, like his medical predecessor, harboring secret dreams about one day calling 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue “home.” He does, however, intend to be around long enough to see the universal health-care system he dreams of come into existence in the land he loves. And the straight talk Doc Malek offers just might be medicine to everyone’s fears.
Look, yours truly has been writing about “health-care reform” since the 1980s. This “commission” here, that “task force” there.
But 20 years later, America still has the most bloated, expensive, complicated and wasteful health-care system on Earth. Only lately have a few brave souls decided they will no longer ignore the 800-pound gorilla in the corner of the room — the private health insurance industry that simply has to take its cut.
David Sirota, one of the leaders of a new generation of straight-talking political writers with Capitol Hill experience (he served on Bernie Sanders’ congressional staff), hit the ol’ health-care nail on the head in a Monday column in the Washington Times.
“Here’s an idea rarely discussed in our nation’s capital,” began David. “Health insurance should not be a for-profit industry.”
Sirota noted that study after study shows government-run health-care systems such as Medicare and the Veterans Administration deliver “better, more cost-efficient health care” than does the for-profit health-care industry. The patients are happier and healthier, too.
And poll after poll shows that’s the way Americans want to go. Everybody knows the for-profit insurance companies will always try to squeeze out the biggest profit possible. It’s the nature of the beast. As Sirota put it, “Follow the money.”
That explains why in the last six years the health insurance industry has donated more than $370 million to politicians. And Sirota points out that Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Rich Santorum was last year’s No.
1 recipient. Guess who was No. 2?
New York Democrat Hillary Clinton!
Obviously, folks, Big Health Insurance has had this game wired for a long, long time. But Sirota, a brave new voice himself, cites other new voices such as Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Physicians for a National Health Care Program — www.pnhp.org.
“These and other leaders are breaking the silence and addressing the taboo subject of making health care off-limits to profiteers,” writes Sirota. “And the louder their voices get, the closer this country will be to getting the not-for-profit health-care system its citizens want and deserve.”
Dr. Malek, the rookie Progressive in the Gov-Lite contest, told us he is a member of Physicians for a National Health Care Program. Surprise, surprise! There are thousands more like him.
Malek is single and originally from the Buffalo, New York, area, a blue-collar kid who went to medical school. He moved to Vermont almost six years ago. Likes the people and the mountains. He calls it the “best decision of my whole life.”
Turns out Doc Malek has been asking the Sirota Question for quite some time. Why do we need this useless layer of bureaucracy jamming things up so that Big Insurance can profit from healing the sick?
Legalizing booze, you may recall, put bootleggers out of business.
Ending Prohibition in 1932 meant booze in America became available and affordable again.
Wouldn’t legalizing universal health care, making it a right of citizenship, do the same for the health insurance bootleggers, while making health care available and affordable to all Americans?
“The biggest source of waste in the health-care system that you can get rid of without anybody missing a doctor visit or anything is the waste in the insurance companies,” said Doc Malek. He mentioned all the “advertising” and “lobbying” they do.
And when they do “strategic planning,” the Progressive physician told us, “what they’re really doing is figuring out which people they don’t want to insure, which people they do want to insure because they’re better health risks, and whether to have a $10-thousand deductible or a $3-thousand deductible.”
Candidate Malek called the for-profit health insurance industry “a complete waste.” He told us of the extra cost, staff-wise, it adds to his medical practice and that of every doctor out there. Each insurance company has different forms, requirements and procedures.
A great system, eh?
Incidentally, the two Ds in the race, House Health Care Committee Chairman John Patrick Tracy of Burlington and State Sen. Matt Dunne of Windsor County, are not conceding defeat.
Tracy scoffed at the suggestion that Malek the Prog would be good for at least 10 percent of the popular vote in November.
“If you want determination, look at what I’ve done!” said Tracy, referring to the Catamount Health legislation that Gov. Douglas signed.
Tracy’s “damn proud” of it, though he readily concedes, “It’s not perfect.”
“We could have walked away from the table,” he said, “but it would have meant 20,000 uninsured Vermonters would not be getting insurance starting in October of next year.”
Sen. Dunne acknowledged he voted for the bill Tracy calls “landmark”
legislation on his website. But Dunne did not share John-John’s enthusiasm.
“I don’t think anyone believes it’s a solution to the health-care crisis we have,” said Dunne, “and I share many of Dr. Malek’s concerns that it’s not financially sustainable.” Dunne added, “No one should be putting up a banner that says, ‘Mission accomplished.’”
Interesting.