Opinion
A4
Saturday, August 20, 2022
OUR VIEW
Elections are
crucial to a
democracy
regon voters may well secure one of those
rare election moments in November when
they can choose from three diff erent can-
didates but the key, as always, is that all residents
take advantage of the opportunity to vote.
That may prove to be quite a challenge, though
we hope not.
Now, three candidates — Betsy Johnson, Tina
Kotek and Christian Drazan — are vying for the
state’s top political position.
Kotek is on the Democratic ticket while
Drazan is the GOP front-runner. Johnson, who
is unaffi liated with any party, recently turned
in enough signatures to get a spot on the Nov. 8
election ballot.
While there will be plenty of bombast and
wide sweeping proclamations by all the candi-
dates between now and November, what is really
key about the election is that enough Oregonians
vote.
The right to vote is more than just a nice,
quaint concept about America. It is the key ele-
ment to our Democracy.
Multitudes of people have died on distant bat-
tlefi elds for us to enjoy that right. Many brave
souls during the Civil Rights era marched and
faced danger to ensure everyone held the ability
to vote.
As voters we owe them all a great debt, but if
we do not use what is the key tool of our democ-
racy then our very future is at risk.
Sure, at least for now there isn’t a whole lot of
variety within the candidates. Kotek is as solidly
Democrat as Drazan is Republican. Johnson is
trying to capitalize on her role as a political out-
lier to get elected.
In other words, this election doesn’t appear to
be one that will be needlessly complicated. The
battle lines are drawn. The issue is familiar. Now
all that needs to happen is that eligible voters
actually vote.
Regardless of what one reads or hears, every
vote does count. We, as Americans, enjoy a spe-
cifi c ability to peacefully complete a process that
selects those who will represent us during every
election. Our privilege to vote — and it is a priv-
ilege — is only as eff ective as those who chose to
use it.
We must guard against apathy and the disso-
nance created by modern day pop culture and
political sound bites to focus on exercising our
right to vote.
The state faces many challenges, no doubt
about it. Yet we have the opportunity to do some-
thing about those challenges by voting. Every
election is crucial in a democracy. Let’s not allow
our great privilege to be wasted.
O
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VA shows pitfalls of government health care
SALLY C.
PIPES
OTHER VIEWS
I
n the fall of 2020, a patient in
Augusta, Georgia, went to the
local Veterans Aff airs med-
ical center for a minimally inva-
sive urologic surgery, according to a
new report from the VA’s Offi ce of
Inspector General.
Less than two weeks later, the
OIG reports, he was dead. The
Inspector General concluded that
there had been “multiple defi cien-
cies” in the patient’s care. Among
them, his doctor allegedly failed to
account for his history of chest infec-
tions and alcoholism.
Sadly, this is just one of count-
less examples of the VA’s failure to
provide adequate care. And it shows
why proposals to nationalize U.S.
health care—- like Senator Bernie
Sanders’s bill to establish Medicare
for All, which he reintroduced in
May — are bad news.
Every six months, the VA’s
Inspector General submits a report
to Congress on the agency’s per-
formance. And every six months,
the story is the same: gross incom-
petence, fraud, long wait times and
substandard care.
The OIG’s most recent report,
which covered October 2021 to
March 2022, identifi ed more than
$4 billion in “monetary impact” —
waste, questionable spending, fraud
and the like. Investigations into
off ending behavior led to more than
100 arrests for crimes that included
wire fraud and bribery. One Loui-
siana doctor had received more than
$650,000 in kickbacks from a med-
ical supply company.
But while the waste and crimi-
nality are galling, the patient stories
are worse.
A veteran who sought treatment
and eventually died at a VA center
in New Mexico waited 175 days for
a CT scan for possible lung cancer,
according to the OIG. Then, even
though the results showed signs of
cancer, the patient did not receive a
follow-up biopsy. The patient even-
tually received a conclusive cancer
diagnosis at a non-VA hospital.
The OIG also reported on a
patient who died 17 days after being
discharged from a VA medical
center in Gainesville, Florida, after
a 33-day hospital stay. The Inspector
General concluded that the facility
“failed to develop a discharge plan
that adequately ensured patient
safety and continuity of care.”
U.S. PRESIDENT
Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Sally C. Pipes is president, chief executive officer
and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care
Policy at the Pacific Research Institute.
U.S. SENATORS
Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Offi ce Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
La Grande offi ce: 541-962-7691
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Offi ce Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
Pendleton offi ce: 541-278-1129
Cliff Bentz
2185 Rayburn House Offi ce Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6730
Medford offi ce: 541-776-4646
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Even patients not in imminent
danger face the stress of extremely
long waits. At the VA clinic in Ana-
heim, California, at the beginning
of June, new patients could expect
to wait 29 days for an appointment.
At the three clinics in Jacksonville,
Florida, the average wait in early
June was 52 days. And at one clinic
in Fayetteville, North Carolina, ear-
lier this month, it was 96 days.
None of this should be especially
surprising. Long waits and sloppy
care characterize single-payer health
care all over the world.
Canadians face a median wait
of more than 25 weeks for treat-
ment from a specialist following
referral by their general practitioner,
according to the Fraser Institute, a
Canadian think tank. Such delays
have serious consequences. Second-
Street.org, another Canadian think
tank, found that over 11,500 Cana-
dian patients died while waiting for
surgeries, procedures, or diagnostic
scans between 2020 and 2021.
Canada and the VA off er a glimpse
of the subpar treatment, needless suf-
fering, and rampant fraud and abuse
we can expect under Medicare for All.
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