Uninsurance, Healthcare Reform, and Economic Myths

By G. Keith Smith, M.D. , guest contributor

Photo: CDC/Debora CartagenaThe myth that lack of health insurance is a cause of 18,000 deaths per year, along with nearly a million bankruptcies, has been promulgated yet again in The New York Times by economist Paul Krugman.

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Do Pelosi, Hoyer perpetuate disinformation with ‘USA Today’ editorial?

Politicos have a habit of spitting out statistics to justify succeeding in their goals, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) are no exception. In their joint USA Today editorial, the two Democrats do the expected in more than one way. First they suggest the protesters showing up at local meetings are “un-American.” Then they cite figures President Obama and others have tossed to media with almost no questions asked about how the study supporting that figure.

In the editorial, Pelosi-Hoyer said, “Never again will medical bills drive Americans into bankruptcy…”

If you’ve listened to statists push socialized medicine, you’ll be familiar with the statement 62 percent of all bankruptcies in 2007 were medical.

The study supporting that figure comes from David U. Himmelstein, MD, et al.

To give credit where it’s due, the normally pro-Obama network ABC had one lone voice question the study. In June, director of polling at ABC News David Langer wrote, “Again, the lead author, Dr. David Himmelstein, is a co-founder of the ‘Physicians for a National Health Program,’ an advocacy group calling for a ‘public or quasi-public’ single-payer health system. One wonders whether other researchers, with other perspectives, might have presented the data differently.”

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