I am beginning to think that President Obama hasn’t a clue about how the health care system works. The other day, he said that a foot amputation costs $30,000-$40,000-$50,000.” That seemed high to me, so I went to the New York State Medicaid site and looked up the surgical fee schedule. The cost of amputating a foot for the surgeon is only $425, about 100 times less than Obama contended.
Now, I have no doubt that private insurance companies pay more, but not 100 times more! (If anyone knows what a surgeon gets for a foot amputation in the private sphere, I would appreciate hearing from you at wjs@wesleyjsmith.com, or in a comment to this post. Thanks.)
I think some more research needs to be done on this, but the more our president speaks off the cuff in the Great Health Care Debate, the less he seems to know. More, at Secondhand Smoke , including the YouTube clip of the quote in question.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
