Links: Field is dreaming, Stossel is truth telling
Michelle Malkin doesn’t think much of Sally Field’s Emmy Awards comment that “if mothers ruled the, ruled the world, there would be no god-damned wars in the first place.” Malkin:
In Sally World, these mothers and their sons are helpless victims. In Sally World, self-defense is for “war-mongers.†In Sally World, you can pretend that the bloodthirsty mothers who strap al Qaeda suicide bomb vests on their toddlers and sit them down in front of the television to watch the Jew-hating Hamas Mickey Mouse don’t exist. In Sally World, you need only to embrace our enemies, “imagine†peace and rub your Emmy Award like a magic lamp as you wish global jihad away.
In the real world, not all women think with their wombs instead of their brains. In the real world, you can’t just give evil a “time-out.†Sally Field fancies herself the mother of all spokesmothers. To which I say, in my most maternally combative tone: Speak for your own bleepin’ self, sister.
Yeah, that was my thought, too.
There’s a reason so many people absolutely loath and despise ABC newsman John Stossel: He tosses out words and sentences like that absolutely shatter their preconceived notions about how the world really works:
Steering people to buy lots of health insurance is bad policy. Insurance is a necessary evil. We need it to protect us from the big risks–things most of us can’t afford to pay for, like a serious illness, a major car accident, or a house fire.
But insurance is a lousy way to pay for things. You premiums go not just to pay for medical care, but also for fraud, paperwork, and insurance company employee salaries. This is bad for you, and bad for doctors.
[snip]
Imagine if your car insurance covered oil changes and gasoline. You wouldn’t care how much gas you used, and you wouldn’t care what it cost. Mechanics would sell you $100 oil changes. Prices would skyrocket.
That’s how it works in health care. Patients don’t ask how much a test or treatment will cost. They ask if their insurance covers it. They don’t compare prices from different doctors and hospitals. (Prices do vary.) Why should they? They’re not paying. (Although they do in hidden, indirect ways.)
I’m not endorsing the idea of doing away with health insurance. I think the fact that doctors and hospitals know they are more likley to get paid is probably contributing the high quality of health care in the United States. But Stossel is laying down some economic truths here. If we go into the health car reform business without acknowledging that health consumers AND doctors AND hospitals AND employers AND health insurers will act in their own interests, we’ll just scre up things even more.
How does that saying go? The beatings will continue until morale improves. More or the same won’t produce different results.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
You throw out Stossel’s idiotic take on health insurance like going in for a mammogram was $5.00. Like getting chemotherapy was $3.00 a shot. It’s this stupid “take” on the need for health insurance that forces people NOT to pursue medical treatment when they need it, simply because they cannot PAY for it. The “gas and oil” comparison is ridiculous. The vast majority of people will not go into the doctor just for the hell of it. We have insurance, and I go to the doctor ONLY when I need to. Are there some abusers of medical care? Sure… maybe 1% of the population… and THAT’S good enough to keep health insurance from the people who NEED it? I mean… REALLY NEED IT? Stossel has no worries about hospital bills, ever… and yet you print his tripe as if it was gospel. The guy is a self-important needle head who is SOMETIMES enlightening, but like most Libertarians, in the end, is just a motor mouth without much substance.
Billy, with each passing posting, I’m beginning to think you are looney toons… and looney toons without compassion and sometimes without a brain. This Stossel take pretty much seals the deal. Your Libertarian ways are worse than the Republican ones… and that’s painful for me to say.
I too commented on Field’s comment. I too objected to it, but for a different reason.
My reason: regardless of what the feminists might tell you, there are plenty of wingnut women out there too; in fact, in 2004 Bush got 55% of the votes from white women! The only reason Kerry “won” the women’s vote is that he got 75% of the non-white women vote.
Being a woman doesn’t make one sensible or compassionate.
WHy does Ollie hate white women?
Actually, I like 45% of them.
Guys – here is why Stossel of off his rocker…
Insurance companies DO pressure providers for lower costs. One of the biggest is Medicare. They won’t overpay.
BTW, this ia an AWFUL analogy. Car insurance for oil changes and gasoline equates to health insurance for food and haircuts. This isn’t apples and oranges – it is apples and lugnuts.
Also, Stossel’s rant shows how hopelessly out of touch he is with the masses. I’m certain that the health insurance he has with ABC does NOT care who his primary care giver is… or which hospital he goes to… but, for the rest of us, try going to a doctor who isn’t IN the network of the insurance company. Try going to the hospital that isn’t in the network. You’ll get hit with a pretty hefty bill for doing so. Wake up, John. In our reality, those checks and balances have been going on for YEARS. In your reality, it just doesn’t matter.