I prescribe a conversation with a medical professional

Maybe if he had gone with another whipping boy (Restless Leg Syndrome is a popular one) I wouldn't find this quote from Sec.HHR-aspirant Phil Breseden so irksome:

"Over the years, we've bought into an assumption that everything that can be called "health care" is somehow on an equal footing with everything else. But that's not common sense.

If you need an appendectomy, it is vital and life saving. Most people would agree that if you are pregnant, you should have a doctor making sure the mother and child are as healthy as possible. But if you have a cold, there is not the same moral imperative that the public sector provide the latest decongestant to clear your head.

... we have in America a very efficient and flexible economy, and business has of course found ways to capture as much of this new money as possible. What my mother called heartburn and took Pepto-Bismol for is now acid reflux disease, and the little purple pill is a multi-billion dollar product. "

But he did, and because I recently underwent anesthesia and swallowed a garden hose for what his "mother called heartburn" (and spent, despite my amazing employee health plan, a Benjamin out of my own pocket for the privilege), I'm going to call bullshit.

I have no problem with tough talk, or with an approach to health care reform that asks recipients of government money to "get a little skin in the game," as he puts it. What I do have a problem with is ignorance, particularly the assumption that patients seek care for treatable conditions because they're wimps. Especially when most medical experts, and an increasing number of companies, know that getting treatable conditions treated early is one of the best ways to bring down sky-rocketing costs.

In other words, you leave acid reflux untreated - call it a "tummy ache," say, and do a shot of Pepto every now and then - for enough years, you end up with Barrett's Esophagus and adenocarcinoma. And you know what's a real expensive bill for Medicare to foot, Phil? Cancer.

The rap on Breseden is that he's an industry insider. I don't object to that out of hand, especially if giving the industry a seat at the table means avoiding Hillarycare 2.0. But it's not out of line to demand a Health and Human Resources Secretary that understands more about health care than cost-cutting and one-liners.