Jerry Knirk: Not picking cherries

I am troubled by Maynard Thomson’s claim in his letter of Aug. 17 that my Aug. 10 column about Medicare for All is an example of cherry picking and that I was echoing Democratic talking points. It was offensive to accuse me of not reflecting facts and logic as I did my own analysis and wrote a balanced presentation of the study of the Medicare for All bill by Blahous, including many points not made in Democratic press releases. I have been writing about health care for two years. I did not robotically support party talking points, and I disagree with parts of the bill.

I became aware of the Blahous study in an email sent by the Mercatus Center. I read their press release and research summary, which trumpeted the increase in Federal Health Expenditures. By personally reading the full paper, I noted the study found the Medicare for All proposal would decrease total National Health Expenditures, but that was never mentioned in the press release or summary — that was cherry picking. I discussed in detail the mechanisms of the savings in NHE, including points not mentioned by Blahous.