BETSY WHO? Via Kevin Drum, an op-ed in The Los Angeles Times by Betsy McCaughey embraces my colleague Phil Longman's conclusion that the Veterans' Administration health system is a good model for national health care. (Phil's book, Best Care Anywhere, is now available.)
The paper identifies McCaughey only as "chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (hospitalinfection.org)," which certainly sounds like a worthwhile medical organization.
But is this Betsy McCaughey the "Elizabeth McCaughey" who as a fellow at the Manhattan Institute wrote the legendary article, "No Exit," in The New Republic in 1993, in which she claimed to have read the entire Clinton health care plan and adduced all sorts of nightmare scenarios? Is this Betsy McCaughey the "Betsy McCaughey Ross" who, solely on the credential of having discredited the Clinton health care plan, was chosen as the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1995, becoming probably the first person ever to make news from that position by, for reasons never explained, standing up for the entirety of Governor Pataki's 1997 State of the State address? The same Betsy McCaughey who then became a Democrat, ran for governor, and divorced and sued her husband, Wilbur Ross, when he refused to bankroll her campaign?
Yes, all the same person. And her new gig, the "Committe to Reduce Infection Deaths"? A good cause, to be sure: make sure doctors wash their hands. But the actual activities are vague and the "committee" itself consists of folks like Erica Jong, Tina Brown, Sir Harold Evans, the architect Richard Meier, and various other New York socialites.
I suppose a paper should let a contributor use whatever affiliation they want, and the current affiliation is usually better than one from the long ago past. But think how much more interesting an op-ed implicitly endorsing a single-payer health system would be if the author was identified as the person responsible for discrediting the Clinton health care plan.
--Mark Schmitt
