When Good Friends Go Bad

Methinks Sully's shooting from the hip when he criticizes Matt's observation that US doctors overtreat patients:

"According to Matt, it's over-treatment. Yep: they're making us too healthy, those fee-based doctors. Can't have that, can we?"

The problem here is Sully's statement that they're making us 'too healthy' completely misconstrues Matt's observation:

"...I don't see any politicians wanting to tackle -- the fact that doctors frequently overtreat patients in ways that are sometimes directly harmful and even when not harmful per se, contribute to a terrible maldistribution of health care resources. That's not to say that America has "too much health care," but rather that at the same time as many Americans have too little health care other Americans are, in fact, getting too much. Doctors are, in essence, prescribing all the treatment that will get paid for -- which means too much treatment for people with a large ability to pay, and too little for people with little ability to pay."

Of course, that doesn't stop Sully from using his fallacious reasoning as a jump off to diss the entire idea of universal/ socialized/ any other type of health care policy other than what we have now:

"And who would be paying their salaries? The government of course, in some form or another, looking over doctors' and patients' shoulders to make sure they don't behave incorrectly, by over-prescribing, or prescribing one of those new, expensive drugs that actually cure or treat diseases. (Of course, if Matt and liberal Democrats have their way, there will be far far fewer new expensive drugs anyway.) It's often clarifying to see the leftist mind at work: we know best; the profit-motive is inherently suspect; doctors and patients cannot be trusted with their ow health decisions. Yes, I know insurance companies and HMOs make similar decisions. But if you think they're callous and irrational, wait till you give the same powers to Washington D.C."

Ooo the bogeyman! Watch out! Because the government can't be trusted with anything! Especially war, er I mean health care. Sure glad the government doesn't oversee the foods we eat or the cars or drive or anything like that--oh wait, they do? Damn you government! Damn you to hell!

(Short story: I have a friend who's had a drinking problem. He went to a doctor who sent him to AA and, after over a year of him not drinking still prescribes him nine different psychotropic medications. Now his hands shake worse than when he was withdrawing and he can barely formulate a sentence. But he leaves his faith in his doctors because, well they're doctors and they know best. Meanwhile he can't hold down a job. Now has he gotten better or worse? Overtreatment can be a problem, and even if it's not because of the influence and greed of the pharmaceutical industry, human arrogance can be just as dangerous.)