Boston mayor rises up to kill off a sensible free market health care idea
posted at 11:50 am on January 11, 2008 by Bryan
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly
This is the kind of demagogic idiocy we could expect from a John Edwards presidency. You can’t let the free market do anything creative and you can’t talk with corporations. You have to bludgeon them while you frack up the entire health care system.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino embarked on a highly public campaign yesterday to block CVS Corp. and other retailers from opening medical clinics inside their stores, an effort that exposed a rift between Menino and the state’s public health commissioner, a longtime ally.
more stories like thisMenino blasted state regulators for paving the way Wednesday for the in-store clinics, which are designed to provide treatment for sore throats, poison ivy, and other minor illnesses.
The decision by the state Public Health Council, “jeopardizes patient safety,” Menino said in a written statement. “Limited service medical clinics run by merchants in for-profit corporations will seriously compromise quality of care and hygiene. Allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong.”
Does Mayor Menino not realize that most private medical practices are for-profit operations?
CVS’ Minute Clinic looks to me like a reasonable approach to low-level health care, and it doesn’t cost anyone who doesn’t want to use the service a dime. CVS will have to staff the clinics with trained medical personnel, or they’ll find themselves staring down the barrel of corporation-killing lawsuits before they can blink.
The risk here is entirely borne by CVS and through competitive forces it might even help drive health care prices down. What’s Menino’s problem?
Oh, right. He’s a liberal big-government statist Democrat. Say no more.
Update: Bostonian Dean Barnett emails to say that he isn’t impressed with Menino’s plan.
Mayor Tom “Mumbles” Menino exhibits a childlike simplicity that his supporters adore. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he doesn’t realize that most players in the health care game are in it for the money. Boston has many non-profit, high-profile medical centers that dominate the city’s health scene. The little colonoscopy shops on the highway where the doctors make a fortune don’t even register in the public mind.
The CVS idea is brilliant and would help thousands of people, but it lacks the Greek Ideal purity of Mass. General, Chidren’s Hopsital or Beth Israel, three non-profit institutions that make Boston the healthcare capitol of the world (in our own parochial view). This is too much for a simpleton like Menino to stand.
So “little colonoscopy shops on the highway” are fine but CVS’ Minute Clinics are some kind of offense against humanity? Geez, where did this country dig up such “leadership.”
And no, I don’t want to dwell on those little colonoscopy shops.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2
We’ve got these minute clinics up in Minnesota. They are in some Target stores. I’ve used them and think they are great. Fast, cheap, take insurance, and you can make an appointment and they’ll give you a beeper so you can shop until they are ready to see you.
I think they are great.
longshanks on January 11, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Depriving individual freedom for the common good.
That’s communism for you.
madmonkphotog on January 11, 2008 at 5:49 PM
For a Bostonian like myself, Boston is like an drug-addicted relative: You love it with all your heart, but goddamn is it fucked up.
Pat Meebles on January 11, 2008 at 6:06 PM
I am so glad I moved out of Bahston. Mumbles and Coup de Val are an embarrassment.
Mooseman on January 11, 2008 at 7:18 PM
Some mention as to LPN’s can write a prescription. They can write a prescription but can not sign it. It must be a MD, DO, Veterinarian, dentist, and podiatrist have full prescription power. Same for a RN or BSN, they can not sign the prescription in their name.
A Nurse Practitioner (NP)(or advanced practice nurses) or Physician Assistant (PA) are mid level practitioners who can sign a prescription but need a MD, DO, etc as stated above for oversight, per se.
ERs are not for minor emergencies or a substitute for a physician clinic. Some hospitals have even started minor treatment centers for these minor emergencies. Clinics in pharmacies if supervised properly and legal for that state, is a great service for the community and especially if the practitioner knows when to refer the patient to a higher level of care.
scruplesrx on January 11, 2008 at 11:49 PM
What kind of wuss goes to a mall clinic let alone an ER for a sore throat or a case of poison ivy?
Common sense in health care is important too although it is contraindicated if your a Doctor with two boats to make payments on.
BL@KBIRD on January 12, 2008 at 1:35 AM
Hey!
I resemble that remark! Make it six, OK? (Seriously,
though, it is a bear to get a login here if ya’ keep
daylight hours.)
We actually have a relatively sane state rep out here in
the western end of the state – though our federal rep is
a howling moonbat.
The only bonafides I can offer is that I have voted
against The Swimmer as soon as I was old enough to
vote – that’d have been the same year he did the DWI thing
with Ms. Kopechne.
Peet in Fklin Co
Peet on January 12, 2008 at 8:55 AM
In your world no one, however the fact remains that many people do and that is their choice and free enterprise sees the clinics a need. If no one goes they close, it they make money they remain open and deliver a need to society. I see no problem with that. There are many businesses I would not use but I certainly would not judge people who do, as a wuss.
Wade on January 12, 2008 at 9:27 AM
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2