Wisconsin Public Radio host Ben Merens ought to turn in his turtle neck and get a job on Wall Street or Madison Avenue. This afternoon his show pandered to “big health business.” Ben asked, “How can we be better health care consumers?” What a question! “How are hospitals competing for our business?” How absurd!
Ben’s show was premised on the validity of the big business model of health care delivery. I called in. Foolish me. The screener or the fluffer or whatever they call her asked me to frame my question. I started to ramble a little about the nature of health care delivery as a public service and the fact that the current perversion has driven our health service out of the first tier of quality internationally, and I allowed as how people were dehumanized by the “consumer” label, and I wondered if Ben understood that by framing his listeners’ understanding of the issues in business terms he was helping to pervert all that was good and decent about the service health care workers wish to perform.
The fluffer didn’t get it. Could I phrase that more clearly in a shorter question, she asked. I opened my mouth, then said, “No, I’m sorry but I guess I’m just not qualified as a call-in voice on your show.” I think there was a time when I qualified, before Public Radio had knuckled under to the conservative bullies.
[tags]The most health for your dollar[/tags]
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