An intellectual and hopeful pause

December 11, 2009
by Pamela Schwartz

In the 12/14 issue of The New Yorker,  there is an article called “Testing, Testing” by Atul Gawande.  In it, he basically defends the many pilot programs in the Senate health care bill, drawing on the success that a pilot farm program had in the early 1900’s that ultimately transformed our nation’s agriculture industry.

He says:

“The task [of reforming health care] will require dedicated and talented people in government agencies and in communities who recognize that the country’s future depends on their sidestepping the ideological battles, encouraging local change and following the results.  But if we’re willing to accept an arduous, messy and continuous process we can come to grips with a problem even of this immensity.  We’ve done it before.

And I thought:  that’s us.

Have a great day,
Pamela

One Response leave one →
  1. December 14, 2009
    Tom Salter permalink

    was this the farm bill that created a system of paying farmers to not grow crops or the one that subsidizes the tobacco industry while gov’t programs are funded to get people to not smoke? I do not want a pilot health care program that pays Drs to not provide health care.

Leave a Reply

Note: You can use basic XHTML in your comments. Your email address will never be published.

Subscribe to this comment feed via RSS