Republicans voice their opposition against government run health insurance plan
05 06 09 - 12:03
A Senator Offers Two Faces in Health Care Debate
By David M. Herszenhorn - The New York Times
If the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has his way, two faces of the debate over American health care reform will be Shona Holmes of Ontario, Canada, and Bruce Hardy, of Ruislip, England.
Both Ms. Holmes and Mr. Hardy were denied care under their government-run health insurance programs. Ms. Holmes needed surgery for a cyst in her brain that was threatening her eyesight, and Mr. Hardy wanted an expensive new cancer drug.
Mr. McConnell is effective in framing policy debates on the Senate floor, and with comprehensive health legislation now at the center of attention in Congress, he has used his morning speeches this week to talk almost entirely about that issue.
And he has already made his top goal clear: preventing any sort of public health insurance “option” that is supported by President Obama and many other Democrats, but that Mr. McConnell says would simply lead to a totally government-run insurance system.
It was Mr. McConnell who led the Republican’s successful effort to block money for closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba without a more concrete plan for what would happen to the detainees – a huge political victory for Republicans.
In a barrage of floor speeches, similar to the one he has begun on health care, Mr. McConnell, offered C-Span watchers another set of faces to illustrate his position then, too. They were Khalid Sheikh Muhammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Ali Abd al-Azeez Ali, a top Al Qaeda operative and Abd Al-Rhaim Al Nashiri, who organized the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in 2000.
“Guantanamo currently houses some of the most dangerous men alive,” Mr. McConnell said in one of his speeches, before listing the members’ of his rogues’ gallery. “These are men who are proud of the innocent lives they’ve taken and who want to return to terrorism.”
Mr. McConnell and other Republicans are extremely confident on national security – knowing that it’s a no-lose issue to advocate for the safety of Americans. And they are similarly confident in warning that America should not be like Europe or Canada.
“Medical decisions should be made by doctors and patients,” Mr. McConnell said on Thursday. “But once the government is in control, politicians and bureaucrats will be the ones telling people what kind of care they can have.”
He then went on to recount Mr. Hardy’s effort to secure a new cancer drug. “The government bureaucrats who run Britain’s health care system denied the treatment, saying the drug was too expensive,” he said. “The government decided that Bruce Hardy’s life wasn’t worth it.”
What Mr. McConnell did not mention was that the government reversed its decision and provided the medication.
Mr. Hardy, who was featured in a front page article in The New York Times in December, and his wife, Joy, paid $11,500 for two months of treatment with Sutent, a drug made by Pfizer, before the government’s National Institute for Clinical Health and Effectiveness decided to approve the drug.
The Republican leader also laid out the case of Ms. Holmes, who has become a fierce opponent of the Canadian health system and now works partly as a public advocate against government-run health care in the United States, in op-ed pieces, interviews and speeches.
“Here’s how Shona described her plight: ‘If I’d relied on my government, I’d be dead,’ ” Mr. McConnell said. “Shona’s life was eventually saved because she came to the United States for the care she needed.”
What Mr. McConnell did not disclose was that Ms. Holmes paid for her treatment, at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, on her own – an option that is available to patients with financial resources all over the world regardless of their nation’s health insurance system.
Whatever the details, what’s clear is the marker that Mr. McConnell has sought to lay down on behalf of the Senate Republican minority as the health care debate shifts into a full-fledged battle over language. He insisted that Republicans were in favor of health legislation.
“The question is not whether to reform health care,” he said. “The question is how best to reform health care.” And he said the best way would not include any government-run health insurance.
“Some are openly calling for this government takeover of health care,” Mr. McConnell said. “Others disguise their intentions by arguing for a government ‘option’ that we all know will really lead to government-run health care being the one and only option.”
As for the case of Mr. Hardy, the particulars seem to make it hard to tell how his situation differed from the countless Americans who battle their private insurers every day for access to the newest, most advanced and most expensive treatments.
Reached by telephone in England, Mr. Hardy’s wife, Joy, said the medicine had been a huge help for her husband. “Sutent is enabling him to live a life,” she said. “We’re extremely pleased that Sutent is being given with the N.H.S. I don’t know how long we could have afforded it ourselves.”
Gardiner Harris contributed to this post.