Kansas City News Blog

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver

Standing with a group of protesters outside U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's office on Friday afternoon, Matt Ullman worried that his sign -- "Born free. Died waiting for health care" -- sent a mixed message.

"I picked that one, and now I'm kind of wondering if it reads right," he said.

Ullman was troubled that motorists who passed Cleaver's office on W. 31st St. might think he wanted the federal government to take a more active role in the administration of the nation's health care. He does not.

A recent Gallup poll indicates that most Americans want Congress to overhaul health care. The 40 or so protesters outside Cleaver's office represented the minority opinion.

By most measures, the U.S. gets a poor return on the vast fortune we spend on health care. So why preserve the system?
 
Ullman, for one, said he does not trust studies which show the U.S. trailing similar nations in life expectancy. "[T]he mortality rates are skewed," he said. "They don't mention that some of their babies die within 30 days -- that kind of skews those results."

W. Dale Russell waved a sign that said "Free health care will cost you your country." Russell is aghast at federal spending levels. "We're spending my great grandchildren's money," he said.

I asked Russell if had a solution for controlling health-care spending, which represents 16 percent of the gross domestic product. He said this was a "moot point." Russell went on to describe a secretary he once employed "who wanted to cancel her health insurance so she could have a bigger paycheck, so she could party more. What should we do about those people? Give them a free ride?"

I told Russell that I thought Obama wanted to make people buy insurance.

"Right," he said.

It sounds like you would like that.

"No."

But you just complained about somebody opting out.

"That's right. But who's going to pay for it?"

A woman joined the conversation, which then turned to a provision in the legislation that would make private insurance illegal. Or so the right says. The left says the notion is hooey.

On the other side of the street, a woman who gave the name of Tina held a sign declaring socialized medicine to be a failure.

You can't name one country where socialized medicine works? I asked.

"No."

So it doesn't work in Canada?

She shook her head -- no.

I mentioned poll results I had seen in a recent New York Times Magazine article about rationing. Last year, Gallup found that 56 percent of Americans have confidence in their health-care system. In Canada and Great Britain, the number was 73 percent.
 
Tina focused on the 27 percent of Canadians and Brits. "What about the rest of them?" she asked.