Healthcare insanity

The whole system is insane. Not to mention the debate.

Case in point with respect to the former: I recently needed to refill a simple prescription, but my doctor's office said I'd need to come in for a visit since I hadn't seen him in a year. So I went in, and the doctor ordered a treadmill test, an echocardiogram, etc. The experience was frustrating and highly annoying... I mean, this is a huge part of why healthcare in America is so expensive. (More on that in a recent post here.)

And on the latter issue, I am torn between disbelief and a deep sense of unease about the tone that the healthcare reform debate has taken on at town halls across the people. I listened to a report on NPR today in which one interviewee said that Hitler wanted socialism (huh?) and implied Obama did as well. And then I read a New York Times article about a town hall that Senator Arlen Specter held. I have to ask, what kind of world is the person described below living in? It's such a different reality than mine that it's frightening:

Hoping to avoid similar unrest, Senator Specter tried to control the event from the very beginning, imposing a rigid format. Only the the first 30 people who wanted to speak were given cards allowing them to ask questions. He allotted 90 minutes for the meeting and was careful to let people speak their piece. He gave succinct answers before quickly moving on to the next question. At his request the Capitol police sent three extra officers to the meeting.

In addition, he and his staff controlled the microphones. And he stood face-to-face with his questioners, often only a foot or two away, a move he said later in an interview he had hoped might make it harder for people to scream at him.

But for all his efforts, tempers boiled over 15 minutes into the meeting. Standing two feet from the senator, Craig Anthony Miller, 59, shouted into his face, “You are trampling on our Constitution!” A half-dozen security people quickly swarmed in on Mr. Miller but refrained from touching him as Mr. Specter, raising his voice, said sternly, “Wait a minute! Wait a minute!” He said the man had the right to leave.

Mr. Miller, shaking, stood his ground. He said he was furious that the Senator’s staff had limited the questioning to those with cards. “One day,” he said to loud applause, “God is going to stand before you and he’s going to judge you!”

Mr. Specter shouted into his microphone that demonstrators disrupting the proceedings would be thrown out.

Just for the record, screaming at your opponents was a Nazi tactic. (And there, I've just reinforced the validity of Godwin's Law. :-)