That misplaced sense of entitlement doesn't end with "I want it now and I want it free." Everyone thinks that because they have a Facebook page or a blog or a website that they have fractional ownership of the Web. And in that tiny little bit of electronic real estate they can post pretty much whatever they want regardless of who else it may harm, injure or insult. Or, in most cases, bore to tears. Twenty years ago were these folks all writing annoying letters to the editor of their local pager to opine they way they do online now? Or did they hire film makers to chronicle their sad little lives and play the results on a betamax loop running on a 26 in TV in their front yard for all the neighbors to watch? Being invited over to someone's home to watch a carrousel of 250 slides they took in Venice was an open invitation to drop a couple of Quaaludes and down a pint of gin before the lights were dimmed.

The deduction may seem a wonderful thing, but it isn’t. It benefits the wealthy more than anyone else. It encourages employers to overspend on health insurance, because $100 in untaxed medical benefits is more valuable to workers than $100 in taxed income. And, as Mr. Baucus said, the deduction has a certain Willie Sutton appeal for Congress: it’s where the money is.

The government forgoes $250 billion a year in taxes because of the deduction. Capping it, to apply only to reasonably priced health plans, would bring in enough money to fill most of the $90 billion hole.

The idea seems to be classic Obama: empirical, pragmatic, bipartisan. Unfortunately, it happens to be an idea that John McCain campaigned on last year and that Mr. Obama, sensing a political opening, blasted as a tax increase. “Taxing health care instead of fixing it,” intoned the narrator in an Obama campaign advertisement, with ominous music playing in the background. “We can’t afford John McCain.”

It’s a long road, given how many fat people themselves are convinced they hate themselves and deserve poor treatment. The fat-isn’t-actually-a-moral-failing-and-won’t-kill-you cat is out of the bag, on the internet, and you can’t undo it.

This is a great blog. Unique!

Critical observations of health, science, and the physical therapy profession.

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Back Pain Hotline

May 10, 2009 | Eric Robertson | Filed Under Physical Therapy

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I’m not sure this was designed to be just a back pain hotline, but Intermountain Healthcare ran a unique outreach program and put consumers in touch with Physical Therapists via hotline. Anyone with questions could call in and speak to an expert. Very nice, and deserving of this piece of good press.

Jake Magel was featured in the article which discussed the conservative management of back pain:

“If people get proper care up front, they tend to use less health care in the years following,” he said. “They visit physicians less, take fewer medications and miss less days at work.”

By the way, Jake Magel is the lead faculty for my virtual rounds course in the EIM Fellowship program in addition to his role as the director of the Intermountain Orthopedic and Spine Therapy Clinic at Intermountain Medical Center. Go, Jake!

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