ObamaCare Survival Guide

Boldly one-sided in this presidential election year, this book lobs stink bombs from the start at president Obama and the Democratic Party. Journalist Tate (The Sick Building Syndrome) lays out at the beginning who he thinks will benefit from the Healthcare Reform Act: essentially, no one, except the uninsured. And taxpayers will be harmed. Tate's leaps of logic are frequent; acknowledging, for instance, that life expectancy in the U.S. is lower than that of 36 other advanced nations, he says it is still higher than the world average, implying that it's reasonable to compare American lifespan with that of the world's poorest nations. He states that a focus on prevention, and required preventive screening, will increase costs, though many major insurance companies already pay 100% of the cos of these test in the belief that an ounce of prevention costs less than a pound of cure for, say, breast or cervical cancer. Tate covers many key points that should be clarified in an intelligent discussion about health care in the United States. Unfortunately, in undermining his credibility with his blatant animus, he will feed political arguments rather than intelligent discussions. (Oct.)