From the very beginning of the establishment of first-rate health care in Modesto, Doctor Charles (CV) Van Allen’s Mayo Clinic credentials provided guidelines for the highest medical and ethical standards. He was a founding member of Modesto’s non-profit Memorial Hospital, today known as the Memorial Medical Center.
Over the years, Dr. Allen has written periodic educational OP/ED pieces for the Modesto Bee about the state of health care in the United States. Like many, he has lamented escalating costs, the declining quality of care, and the spread of misinformation about how health care works.
This year, the misinformation became too much, mostly because of Jeff Denham’s uncanny gift for creating blizzards every other summer, even if they’re blizzards of lies.
So when Dr. Allen received a Jeff Denham mailer that stretched, “the truth beyond belief into actual lies that need reply,” he didn’t hesitate. He replied with a systematic rebuttal of Denham’s lies informed not just by a doctor’s highly qualified expertise but by with a conscientious citizen’s high regard for truth. It’s a must-read.
Most anyone who’s experienced health care in any other industrialized democracy knows first-hand that our own health care system isn’t just absurdly expensive, it’s needlessly cumbersome and confusing. But this is the health care system Jeff Denham and his Republican cronies insist on maintaining.
Denham’s biggest lie, that a single-payer system would cost $32 trillion, is so stunningly preposterous that one can only admire his audacity in spreading it. As Dr. Allen points out, today’s current annual cost of health care is $3.2 trillion. Eliminating overhead in the form of advertising, bureaucracy and unjustifiable profits can only reduce costs. Dr. Allen estimates that if we transitioned to a single-payer system, we would end up paying about 30 percent less than we do now—a savings of just over a trillion dollars per year.
But like members of his party in general, the thought of affordable and effective health care scares Jeff Denham because such a thing would eliminate some of his biggest donors. After all, Jeff Denham at last count had received $136,250 from pharmaceutical companies alone, and all he had to do was make sure American citizens can’t negotiate drug prices like people do in every other democratic nation.
During his debate with Josh Harder last Saturday, Jeff Denham repeatedly said, “Don’t take my word for it.” Fortunately for Valley citizens, Dr. CV Allen didn’t take Denham’s word on health care. Instead, he responded with an act of public citizenship typical of a man who has spent a lifetime dedicated to his community.
As for Jeff Denham, his word on water is no better than his word on health care. The congressman who says he’s, “against the Delta Tunnels,” voted in Washington DC to prohibit lawsuits against the Delta Tunnels and the California Water Fix. In fact, all Jeff Denham has done to protect his constituents’ water is attend a rally in Sacramento, then brag about it.
But don’t take Jeff Denham’s word for it, check the record. And while you’re at it, thank Dr. Charles (CV) Van Allen for his lifetime of exemplary citizenship.
Mike birch says
September 29, 2018 at 11:46 amYup, “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor”…Obama and democrat lies. Obama care has been a disaster, now you want more destruction?
Eric Caine says
September 30, 2018 at 5:33 amDoctor Allen’ s point, well documented, is people on Medicare like it. We don’t need hypotheticals (in this case contrary to fact), to assess whether it’s popular. We know it is. As for Obamacare, it is not Medicare/single payer. False analogy.
John Duarte says
September 29, 2018 at 2:30 pmIf you like public housing, the lack ofaccountability an choice public schools, and your visits to the DMV then you will love public medicine. Otherwise we should all be thankful that Congressman Denham is standing up to single payer government plantation healthcare.
frank says
September 29, 2018 at 3:58 pmIf the private sector could provide affordable housing to those in need, we wouldn’t need public housing. If the private sector would provide affordable and quality education to ALL, we wouldn’t need public schools. I think you get where I’m going with health care. The DMV is a strange and mysterious throwback to the times when we didn’t know how to improve processes and use technology effectively.. Time to rethink the whole system!
Damon Woods says
September 30, 2018 at 6:20 amI would strongly suggest that those folks who want socialism type government sponsored healthcare- connect with anyone in Europe or Canada. I have. yes, you can google it and get a few standard – it is great responses. It is just like Kaiser- if you just need a check up, it is great. But, if you are old and need a knee replacement, you get put on a list- and you will never get to the top of that list. Plus, beginnging tax rates to cover government health care starts at 30% . Our beginning tax rate is 0%- Europe and Canada start at – if you make $1.00- 20% to 30% goes to the government. Government is not as efficient as the private sector. Josh Harder is a Democrat- he will vote for the water tunnels and the bullet train and he will gladly take all of your money for government programs. Ism’s like Socialism and Communism don’t work.
Eric Caine says
September 30, 2018 at 8:51 amMr Woods: Your claim that Mr Harder will vote for the tunnels lacks even a scintilla of support and ignores the fact Mr Denham supported legislation that would prohibit litigation against the Delta Tunnels. Yes, you can find anecdotal evidence of unhappiness with any health care plan anywhere. However, statistical evidence shows conclusively that Americans like Medicare and Canadians in general like their own health care. Be aware, Mr Woods, that falsehoods, conscious or not, will be exposed here. If you wish to spread canards there are plenty of other platforms.
Kathleen clarke says
September 30, 2018 at 2:41 pmMr Woods, all people needing an elective surgical procedure get put on a list. There is very little choice when one needs to choose a doctor. Most private practices aren’t accepting new paitients. Many health plans have lists of providers who are on their panel. We have relatives in the UK who are quite happy with their health care system.
Ross Hunter says
September 30, 2018 at 10:01 amConsider also this Mr. Woods: The USA does not produce enough doctors & healthcare professionals because intelligent people can’t afford the cost and dread the 20 years of debt that follow. We have a lot of immigrant Doctors who have supplemented our inability for decades to produce enough for our country. But we aren’t a country that contributes to the number of doctors that ALL nations seek and WE are holding the world’s doctors down, when they have come to OUR country to practice. WE affect those waits in other countries, when immigrants come here instead. With the plans to further cut immigration, we will have LESS immigrant doctors. I have relatives born in both nations. For elective surgery there can be a wait, contrast that with living in a nation where people we love NEVER have adequate health care and die young. How can we live happily in a country where the best medical care is available, but we have friends, neighbors & relatives unable to access it? American doctors are hamstrung by the business of insurance, and end up being forced to prescribe for insured patients what the insurance companies dictate. This drives up our medical costs and puts off the correct treatment for months or a year or more. It also kills patients because our healthcare is corporate-run. We have American veterans who receive minimal care & ALSO have to have insurance, like my dad, 91 & a vet of 3 wars now receiving insurance-dictated INADEQUATE care. And we wouldn’t have to worry about Veterans care if we all went to the same facilities for care. WE would have control over government-run medical care. WE DON’T have any control over the present Corporate Care & our CURRENT government, including Denham who receives made-up corporate medical awards from pharmaceutical & medical device companies, who is working for medical corporations, not the medical job economy & medical care of his district.
Denham ALSO VOTED TO TAKE AWAY HIS DISTRICT’S WATER RIGHTS. He voted for a bill that takes away our right to sue if Southern CA (his birthplace & where his Republican cronies desperately NEED OUR WATER) takes too much of our water and as someone who has experienced water loss thanks to corporate farming, I am disgusted and worried. That was essentially an act of Crony-ISM. I am tied to this area, So is Harder. Denham is not.