Probably the most controversial thing I've ever written is that the evidence for the effect of health insurance on mortality is not really that strong. This is not to say that insurance has no effect--this is possible, but not to my mind particularly likely.
That's right, America! You don't need health insurance because being able to go to the doctor will make no difference in your life.
Do we really need to discuss any other part of this post? McArdle is being paid to propagandize for the elite who do not want to pay taxes for social services. Her readers don't care about the truth because they also do not want to pay taxes and they have health insurance. McArdle's masters will get their way because they hold all the power; McArdle's sole purpose is to prevent any violence against her masters by convincing Americans that nobody needs social services and we can't afford them anyway.
Meanwhile, she takes her taxpayer-subsidized health insurance and taxpayer-subsidize mortgage deduction and taxpayer-subsidized itemized deductions and six-figure salary and lucrative fellowships and speaking fees and per diems and laughs, laughs, laughs all the way to the bank.
Fighting propaganda is a losing game. It can be amusing, which is why I do it, but it is frustrating and emotionally debilitating. Also, I need to take a break and work on my book, tentatively titled Supernatural Teen/Young Adult Adventure With Romance, Psychological Overtones, Lots Of Humor, And A Badass Demon.
Yes, I'm still working on the title.
21 comments:
Don't bother. The title is perfect.
McM's post is devoted to claiming that the just-released Oregon study is a "rorschach blot" in which people read whatever they want to read.
From the Abstract: "We find that in this first year, the treatment group had substantively and statistically significantly higher health care utilization (including primary and preventive care as well as hospitalizations), lower out-of-pocket medical expenditures and medical debt (including fewer bills sent to collection), and better self-reported physical and mental health than the control group."
From the NYTimes report: "The study is now in its next phase, an assessment of the health effects of having insurance."
McM is deluded, disingenuous or lying. But we knew that.
How about just "A Superatural Teen and A Badass Demon"?
Porter Square Books gives their review copies of middle school & YA books to any kids that are willing to write reivews. The Little Pup has gone to town, & is writing 2 reviews a week.
She can be bribed to give you a nice plug, as long as there are no vampires. Can you switch demon to android? After all, androids do dream of electric sheep.
Quick follow-up, just because it bugs me: I suspect McM wrote her response to MattY without reading what he based his comment on (a Slate report on the original study) let alone the foundational document; and I'm certain that her commenters (I scrolled hurriedly) assault MattY based only on what McM wrote. I therefore invite y'all to attack McM's commenters based on my description of what they say based on her description of what he said, based on someone else's description of what the report said. Meta enough for the morning?
Bah. I paid my $5 but I haven't read the whole report yet.
"The Demon Teen" ?
Dear Megan,
"Controversial" is not a synonym for "stupid."
You're welcome.
Downpuppy, there are no vampires or werewolves.
KWillow, the teens are not demons but you gave me an idea....
Pete-heh, McArdle often does not read her source material, and often does not understand what she did read. It never fails to amuse me.
Mr. Wonderful, but will it fit on a movie marquee?
Dear Megan,
"Controversial" is not a synonym for "stupid."
True, but if Megan prefaced had post by writing "Probably the stupidest thing I've ever written ...", that would be setting the bar almost impossibly high.
It would also involve her admitting she made a mistake or was wrong about something. That never happens. Her intellectual inferiors misunderstand her point, her calculator is broken, etc. But self-reflection and any remote recognition of her personal shortcomings isn't something I'll ever expect from that satisfied twit.
They say that when the Nazis invaded Russia, Soviet radio broadcasts every night told of how the Red Army was heroically hurling back the fascist invaders. Only listeners who also owned a map were able to determine that the sites of these Russian victories always seemed to move closer and closer to Moscow.
I believe that in her past life, Megan was a Soviet radio broadcaster.
The most controversial thing she's ever written is her assertion that non-violent anti-war protestors should be clubbed with two-by-fours. That one is so screamingly obvious that to claim otherwise is clearly an attempt to pretend she never wrote it.
That's true. At the very least she should give us a short list of her worst atrocities and let us decide for ourselves. I would add her Iraqi Body Count to the list and my favorites, her attacks on Elizabeth Warren.
"... not to my mind..."? Well, gosh... that sounds like a bulletproof argument to me.
Perhaps she meant to say "the most counter-factual thing she wrote..."
I would like for them to be called "McArdle's McMasters."
Never stop fighting the propaganda, Susan. I read your blog every day.
I don't have to read no stinkin' report to know that McArdle is correct. Since mortality is 100% over time, access to health care makes no difference.
Can I haz overpayed sinecure as pundit now?
@Rugoza. No, not if you keep paraphrasing Keynes you can't.
McArdle is still shilling this horseshit? Well, she kept trying to defend her order of magnitude calculation error, so I shouldn't be surprised.
While HIV/AIDS is also a factor, it's not exactly a goddam secret or surprise that countries that only offer out-of-pocket health care, where most people never get to see a doctor, consistently rank the lowest in life expectancy. It's not as if the data was unavailable to her. Apparently, McBargle doesn't believe in going to the doctor herself, since receiving medical care has no significant bearing on a person's health.
"Supernatural Teen/Young Adult Adventure With Romance, Psychological Overtones, Lots Of Humor, And A Badass Demon."
Are you certain you don't write under the pseudonym Kressley Cole? Or maybe (since Cole's characters are Very Old Teenagers), Charlayne Harris?
Btw, Pete, are we talking about Kate Baicker's Oregon study? The one where people who had health insurance going into it were healthier than those without it?
Post a Comment