Health-Care Hypocrisy

Check it out: Howard Dean debated Maria Bartiromo on CNBC Monday morning about the public option in Obama's health-care reform program. Here's the essence of what he said:

If you do a survey of Medicare, most people are happy with Medicare. There are no bureaucrats interfering between doctors and patients in Medicare. But there are a lot of bureaucrats interfering between private health insurance companies and patients and doctors. … It’s time that the special interests in Congress stopped influencing folks to make their choices for them, and let the American people choose.

So I'll take this one step further: any American, Republican or Democrat, who does not like Medicare, or who believes that private industry can do better than Medicare in insuring Americans over 65, then STOP USING IT. Get yourself some low-cost, private medical insurance from a reputable carrier, and do an end-around Medicare altogether. Prescriptions, office visits, hospital stays -- all of it through companies like HealthNet, Blue Cross, Aetna, and Kaiser. What's that? Those companies charge too much? They won't insure you because of a pre-existing condition? They rescinded your coverage because you got too sick? Ohhhhh...

C'mon, aren't you all millionaires who can afford whatever health care you need?

If we could all understand it this way, there would be no argument about the public option.