NYT editorial: Senate Health Care Follies

The first week of debate on the Senate’s health care bill was a depressing mixture of foolish posturing by members of both parties and blatant obstructionism by Republicans. If this is the best the Senate can do, we are in for very rough going.

The Democrats had hoped to start voting on amendments to the bill on Tuesday but ran into such head winds that the first amendments — involving women’s health care and Medicare — were not put to a vote until Thursday. The debate gave new life to overheated claims and misrepresentations.

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MAMMOGRAMS AND THE MYTH OF RATIONING The battle over women’s health care emerged after a federal advisory committee recommended recently that younger women should not routinely have mammograms but should first consult with their doctors.

The task force concluded that for women in their 40s, every life saved by mammography would be accompanied by harm to many other women who would undergo surgery, radiation or chemotherapy to remove tumors spotted by mammography that would never have killed them or perhaps even become noticeable.

(More here.)