Did Health Care Reform Hit A Wall?

Hardly anything is more controversial than health care reform. President Obama’s desire for a bill before year’s end is unlikely. Lobbyists are spinning reform so fast and hard that nausea is difficult to avoid. Some arguments are preposterous. Some reasonable.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the recent recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that women under 50 should no longer get annual mammograms has turned the heat of this controversy up several notches. Reform opponents quickly branded this as a sample of the rationing to occur if reform is passed. The government is more concerned about saving money than lives. Reform’s attempt to rein in inefficiencies will have drastic consequences.

The mammography outcry may gain traction, unlike other roadblock efforts. The death panels scare flamed out quickly. As someone who saw his mother begin a four-year death spiral at age 90, I came to value end-of-life treatment and counseling.

I’m also the husband of a breast cancer survivor, who was at first stunned by the task force’s recommendation, then outraged. Few fundraisers are more successful than breast cancer walks and other events. Few families have avoided breast cancer’s impact. Because of the unrelenting emphasis on breast cancer detection and treatment during more than a decade or two, one could argue that pink has become our national color. Whether my wife’s reaction is typical or not, a debate over breast cancer isn’t likely to advance health care reform.

Though still a proponent of reform, I was taken aback by the mammography recommendation. Part of my reaction is because of personal experience. Part of it is because the recommendation doesn’t make sense to normal employees. Even if the recommendation is right, it’s taken on something too close to home for most Americans to absorb in the middle of our reform brouhaha. Unfortunately, a well-intentioned idea but tactical mistake may delay reform much longer than another year.