Misinformed reporting leading to avoidance of reading media coverage on health care reform

I went to a cancer conference this week, the topic of which was, "Have we won the war on cancer?" An interesting topic. More interesting is that one of the plenary talks was about ... health care reform! Now, I'm not sure I understand the connection between the war on cancer as declared by Nixon in 1971 when he signed the National Cancer Act and the very current issue of health care reform, but I welcomed the opportunity to hear a lecture on it anyway.

The main point I took away was the surprising clarification that we don't really seek health care reform, we seek insurance reform, followed by delivery reform. This will be a long, slow (and surely painful) but also necessary process. But here's my shameful truth: The rhetoric and misinformation (on both sides) has led me to avoid reading about something that should be of primal importance to me as a physician and as a person with a chronic illness. I found the more I read, the more overwhelmed and confused I become. But we should care, I realize. It is our voices that are getting lost in the conversation. It is our patients who may serve to lose if we don't become more political about this, and especially about yelling (loudly) when there is misinformation perpetrated in the media (hello, death panels!).

If you are like me, and feel pretty misinformed about the situation, you can go to an excellent subsite on The New England Journal of Medicine website all about health care reform. Also, follow the health care reform coverage on HemOnc Today.com.

I also find the slides and figures on the Kaiser Family Foundation Health Reform website particularly illustrative of the issues. As Dr. Kathryn May, DNSc, said at the conference, we are "reminding the experts — this is as personal as it gets."