Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Ho Ho Ho

The clueless cruelty of the Washington Post pundit set.

A good example of this came from Mallaby, who mocked Minnesota's insurance climate for mandating coverage of massage and wigs. (Minnesota, incidentally, has the lowest uninsured rate in the nation.) Ho, Ho, Ho. He had a good laugh over that one, I'm sure. Except the wigs are for chemotherapy survivors -- the sort of thing none of us expect to need, but may one day find necessary to continuing our lives. Good wigs, sadly, are very expensive, and few major businesses appreciate Cancer Chic among their employees. Without one, a breast cancer survivor can scarcely hope to continue her normal life. And massages, which sounds silly, are often more effective, less costly, and safer than over-the-counter medicines in treating back pain. Few folks know that. Like Mallaby, they've not read the studies. Unlike Mallaby, they're not professional domestic policy thinkers. Yet if he could make so elementary a set of oversights, why do we expect the average American can do better? And why are we so willing to abandon them if they fail?