New York Times Article “G.O.P. Hopes for Unity May Be Upset by Ben Carson” reports:
“A conservative think tank recently sent Ben Carson, a potential presidential candidate and fierce critic of the federal health care overhaul, a series of messages to post on Twitter during the grilling in the House of Jonathan Gruber, the M.I.T. economist who advised the Obama administration.
“Mr. Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon, has set off a prairie fire of rank-and-file conservatives urging him to run for the Republican nomination. He liked the think tank’s idea, but he knows that he excites supporters because he is an unscripted outsider. So he wrote his own Twitter posts, including, “Why was it necessary to disrupt entire medical system to take care of the needs of 15% of the people?”…
The question in itself reflects a total and willful amnesia concerning the crippling cost of health care (18% in USA vs. 9% to 11% for Western countries with much higher ratings for quality) and the need to alter incentives to bring about necessary cost reductions along with superior treatments.
We cannot recall a single Republican critique of the Affordable Care Act that goes beyond its immediate adverse effect upon a small minority of those covered rather than discussing the entire thrust of the changes in efficiencies and care already underway and to be largely realized by 2020.
Conservatives prefer the sound bite lie to a reasoned discussions of the issues. In most cases they are just too doctrinaire and intellectually handicapped to know better.
Some do know better, but dissemble just to get along.
