Even George Clooney can’t save what some in the press have nicknamed “The Republican E. R. Plan.” (This post is a follow-up to one I wrote yesterday about McCain’s top health care advisor, John Goodman, who thinks that access to the ER is the same thing as having health insurance.)
For someone with a PhD in economics, you would think that Goodman realizes that the emergency department is the most expensive way to access health care in this country. Moreover, treatment for a disease is almost always more expensive at later stages, and is definitely more expensive than preventing the disease …read more

In an interview yesterday, McCain’s top health care advisor, John Goodman (he also calls himself “The Father of Health Savings Accounts” — something I wouldn’t brag about) said that the term “uninsured” is a misnomer because Americans can access health care through the emergency room.
As an expert in cancer care and how that care is delivered to patients, I can categorically say that access to an emergency room is not the same as “access to health care.” If you’re a cancer patient, what you need is access to expensive pharmaceuticals, experienced physicians, and expert oncology nurses who will actually hook …read more