Observations about the maddeningly myopic health reform debate

observations about the maddeningly myopic health reform debate

I wish to begin with a Groucho Marx joke: “Did I ever tell you how I shot a wild elephant in my pajamas? How he got into my pajamas I’ll never know.” In this country, health care system reform is getting more attention than Michael Jackson, Walter Cronkite, Lance Armstrong and that unhinged professor who protested too much, just because the police, in his living room, demanded he identify himself and be polite about it. What a nerve. All the fuss about health system legislation is a good thing, but it would be a much better thing if proposals took notice of the proverbial elephant in the room (but not anyone’s pajamas), which the experts and politicians alike seem determined to ignore. Except me. I will describe the elephant in just a moment. First, a few observations about the maddeningly myopic health reform debate.