The Gouge
By lex, on April 21st, 2011
In the naval officer ranks, there are a few bully pulpits. The bulliest of which seem to fall at the level of active duty fleet lieutenant and retired vice admiral. The first because he has not yet learned the consequences of blurting out the truth, and the latter because he no longer cares about those consequences – he’s free to speak his (well-informed) mind.
Ecce: The words of VADM Harold Koenig, father to occasional an reader and even more occasional commenter on these premises, as given to the San Diego Chapter of US Naval Academy Alumni Association back in March of this year..
First a snippet, in reference to the “affordability” element of the president’s signature first term legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act (AKA, “Obamacare”):
You cannot pay doctors less when many of them say they are already losing money on every Medicare or Medicaid patient they see. The only way doctors can make this up is to pass the costs on to others, or not see these patients. That is what more and more of them are doing and even more are saying they will do.
That part of the “affordability” plan is not going to work. It’s about $500 Billion. (That’s a B, not an M.) Adios, budget neutrality.
There’s a lot of good gouge in there, applicable not only to active duty types and retirees, but also to everyone who worries about 1) access to good health care, and 2) affording it.