EDITORIAL: Great Health Care? Not U.S.
By The Charlotte Observer, N.C.
Mar. 18–We’re not sure whether to be cheered or disheartened by this news.
The good: The biggest study ever of U.S. health care finds that Americans — rich, poor, male, female, black, white — get generally equal medical treatment.
The bad: That care is far from top-quality.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, didn’t look at difficulties in getting treatment — such as lack of insurance — that are clearly affected by income. It looked only at urban-area dwellers who sought treatment, and whether they got the appropriate tests, drugs and treatments. It found, in the words of chief author Dr. Steven Asch, “We all get equally mediocre care.”
Experts blame the situation on an overburdened, fragmented health care system. To that, we’d add: lax enforcement of a few inept physicians, a general lack of public accountability and — not least — the mind-boggling and time-consuming complexity of dealing with health insurance companies.
There has to be a better way.
It’s not America’s religion, it’s America’s Constitution
If you’re going to spout off on national television about one of the world’s major religions, you need to get things straight when you make comparisons. Franklin Graham did not do so when he said this on ABC News’ “Nightline” this week:”If people think Islam is such a wonderful religion, just go to Saudi Arabia and make it your home. Just live there. If you think Islam is such a wonderful religion, I mean, go and live under the Taliban somewhere.”
A lot of people in this country share Mr. Graham’s blunt sentiment. But the point it implies is misinformed. The constitutional right of religious freedom sets America apart from those oppressive regimes, not the variety of religion its citizens practice. In fact, it is the separation of religion from governance — assured by the First Amendment — that nourishes the freedom to worship Americans enjoy, and people in other places do not.
In other words, it’s not necessarily Islam that makes regimes oppressive in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. There have been plenty of oppressive Christian regimes throughout history, and the Muslim faith flourishes in nations where it is not oppressive. The way Mr. Graham said what he did is unnecessarily insulting to Muslims. And it’s wrong.
Yes, Virginia, there’s harm in exploratory offshore drilling
Our good neighbor to the north, Virginia, is a nice enough place. It’s steeped in history and pretty, although a little more well-to-do than the Land of the Long Leaf Pine.
But we’re beginning to wonder.
Earlier this month, Virginia’s General Assembly passed a bill seeking an exemption from a longstanding federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling. If that goes through, oil and gas companies would be able to put down exploratory rigs.
That’s a problem for those of us south of the border. If gas and oil rigs are off Virginia’s coast, they will also be off North Carolina’s coast. That’s neither desirable nor environmentally feasible. That issue was debated and decided 16 years ago. It should not be reopened.
Why? Think hurricanes. Think rough, conflicting currents. Think pristine — and economically valuable — beaches covered by a spill. Think oil rigs on the Outer Banks’ distant horizon.
Yes, the nation needs to lessen its dependency on foreign fossil fuels. But what happened to Virginia’s good neighbor policy? We ought to act for the long term, and practice conservation before plundering the mid-Atlantic coast.
A long-time coming, but these pardons are justified
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of Alabama residents have arrest records still on the books for violating the state’s segregation laws. Residents in other Southern states probably do, too.
Alabama lawmakers want to do something about it. They’re considering a mass pardon. Civil rights icon Rosa Parks, who died last year, sparked the idea. Her conviction for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man in the 1950s is still on the record books. That fact chastened Alabama Rep. Thad McClammy, and he’s proposed the “Rosa Parks Act” to pardon everyone arrested under the state’s segregation laws, on the books since 1901.
The bill has bipartisan support, but the legislature has less than 10 days to act before its 2006 session ends. “I can’t imagine anyone opposing this,” said Republican Rep. Steve McMillan.
Neither can we. Still, two years ago, Alabama couldn’t muster enough votes from the public to eliminate antiquated, and unenforceable, Jim Crow laws from the state constitution. Let’s hope for a better outcome this time.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.
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