Healthcare Hyperbole

Via Memeorandum

Anytime a writer feels the need to claim that he is not engaging in hyperbole it is a pretty good guess that he is. Consider this from Glenn W. Smith at FireDogLake:

The gravity of America's health care crisis is the moral equivalent of the 19th Century's bloody conflict over slavery. This is not hyperbole, though the truth of it is often lost in abstract talk of insurance company profits, treatment costs, and other cold, inhuman analyses.

Today's health system condemns 50 million Americans to ill health and death while guaranteeing health care to the economic privileged. It cannot stand.

Not only is Smith’s post grossly over-wrought, he also conveniently leaves out any fact that would lower the emotional tone of his piece. He doesn’t mention that twenty to twenty-five million of the 50 (?) million uninsured are illegal aliens. He doesn’t mention that another 8-10 million uninsured are people who earn over $75,000 a year but choose not to purchase insurance. He certainly doesn’t mention that the plan the administration has put forward would cost 1.6 TRILLION dollars and would leave 30 million people still uninsured. And he certainly doesn’t mention that the majority of that 30 million currently have insurance but would lose it under the President’s plan.

Instead of dealing with facts, Smith appeals to white guilt over slavery. That is nothing short of pathetic. I would also like to know how Smith defines “the economic privileged”. Is health insurance yet another class warfare issue?

You would think that if healthcare is so important to Smith that he would deal with it in a straight forward and honest manner