When I wrote this on October 16, 2010, I wasn't sure of what was coming next. I thought I knew, but not this. This insertion in the New England Journal of Medicine has no place being given space. This author cries fowl because the GOP now can block, de-fund, and generally make the ACA (Affordable Care Act) generally ineffective.
Congress cannot presently repeal the ACA, but it can now pick and chose the parts that may get support. While I don't like many parts of the ACA, I can support other parts. I do not like that our medical insurance industry is being so greedy and determined to reap their profits before they are regulated and this needs to stop. The other problems are that many of the insurance companies will be slowly forced out of business so that people will demand universal care insurance from the government. There is no balance in what is happening.
There are issues in all this, but a respected medical journal is not the place for politics. This is more appropriate for blogs and other places. That the NEJM chooses to air the political furor of its members degrades it's place in medical journals and should be on the boycott list by the medical community and research community. Will this happen?
I doubt it, but there are other medical journals that have recently gained traction and this position may lose this journal some respect.
While the author tries to present his arguments fairly, it is easy for me to see where this is heading and this is the reason I am so against this in a medical journal.
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