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DEL.ICIO.USHealth museum or health insurance?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Joan Yoon writes that if we are willing to shell out $250 million for a health museum in downtown Atlanta, we should also be willing to invest more in the health of Georgia citizens. “I have no doubt that the national health museum can teach Georgia residents and visitors alike about the importance of healthy living,” she writes. “At the same time, though, I think it only right to consider investment in the new national health museum in Georgia in the same vein as investment in the health of Georgians. “I’m worried about the health of our state. Beyond our failure to protect consumers in the health insurance market, I’m concerned about our state’s uninsured and underinsured. More specifically, I’m concerned about the more than 300,000 children in Georgia who lack health insurance coverage, the rising number of babies born at a low birthweight, the alarming growth in the number of obese children and adults, and our collective failure to identify and properly treat adolescents with mental health issues.”
In building the new health museum, do we have our priorities straight?
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By PJ
June 23, 2008 8:28 AM | Link to this
I must say I was puzzled when I saw this announcement - what exactly is a health museum, and why do we need one? If the aim is to educate people about health, this may not be the best way to spend $250 million for that purpose. At some point I can foresee a funding crisis related to operating expenses of the museum, requiring taxpayer support. I suspect much of the enthusiasm comes from getting tourist traffic to downtown - nothing wrong with that, but an expensive way to do it.
By Fred
June 23, 2008 9:01 AM | Link to this
I think of the energy and excitement that a National Health Museum would generate downtown and I… zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
By Chris
June 23, 2008 9:07 AM | Link to this
Good museums, especially those with a contemporary mission on top of historical information, do serve to increase tourism, prestige, and education about their subject. The investment in this museum is not free-floating money looking for a place to land. It is targeted spending by people and organizations interested in the mission of the museum. Saying that it would be better spent on the uninsured (who will, I assure you, always be with us due to their refusal to own their lives and take responsibility) is like saying that the money spent on archaeology would be better spent on agriculture, since both involve digging in the ground. It doesn’t make sense, which you would know if you visited the National Logic Museum.
By AH
June 23, 2008 9:13 AM | Link to this
I’m planning on buying a new condo in the next couple of months I guess instead of doing that I should just give my money to the poor, specifically the 300,000 children who lack insurance. Give me a break. Build the damn museum and let those 300,000 children have something to look forward to, a goal to strive for. Or if we listen to Mrs. Yoon we can give them pity and charity that way they know as long as they don’t have something big government will come along and give it to them. Stop using children as if they are tragic victims when speaking about social issues.
By Margaret Holt
June 23, 2008 9:40 AM | Link to this
Not Amused
I wonder how people who work in public health feel about a quarter billion dollars being spent on a museum to stress a healthy lifestyle? I wonder if the people who suffer most from health disparities in Georgia would find any relief in a museum? I supposed if they could afford to get to such a place and it is heated and cooled they might get some relief from the weather-of-the-moment. Such a plan makes me again feel that Neil Postman had it right when he wrote his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death. This makes as much sense as an aquarium in a desert. I believe the documentary Unnatural Causes (www.unnaturalcauses.org) should give all of us who genuinely care about health a better grasp of ways to spend federal dollars to improve health in our State and Nation. Our horrific problems with infant mortality, teenage pregnancy, obesity, diabetes, depression, smoking and other health “matters” are not going to be confronted by touring a museum. What will such a museum do to confront health disparities in Atlanta, Georgia and the Nation? Will the children of New Orleans, the victims of the Midwest flooding, the evicted by foreclosures, and others displaced find healthy comfort in this museum?
Margaret E. Holt, Ed.D. Watkinsville
By mark
June 23, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this
Why do we always speak of “the children” as if they are ours?
They are not ours. They belong to their parent(s) who make decisions for them. For better or worse.
Almost any female can have a baby. What happens after that is her call.
By Andy
June 23, 2008 10:14 AM | Link to this
One question: Since it’s here, will they serve fried chicken and BBQ at the museum snack bar?
By DDT
June 23, 2008 10:28 AM | Link to this
It would be OK if it was a true health museum - showing our stupidity of health treatments through history up to AND THROUGH today. It used to be healthy to smoke cigarettes and take kids’ tonsils out. Butter used to be healthy. And then margarine. Cocaine was fine, and alcohol was in baby’s cough syrup. Now? Vaccines are GREAT and anyone who questions this is automatically stupid. You need to slather on a shot glass of chemical sunscreen everyday even though cavemen used to walk around all day in the sun everyday. Mammograms which are like 10 X-rays on very sensitive tissue that replicates itself constantly are the only way to prevent breast cancer. And it’s healthy and environmentally friendly to use hand sanitizer which can only lead to superbugs which survive that stuff (versus plain hand washing without antibacterial soap). Antibiotics and pesticides loaded in cow’s milk is good for you as it builds strong bones. (even though Chinese who hardly drink the stuff have a very low incidence of osteoporosis compared to us).
By Kane
June 23, 2008 10:36 AM | Link to this
I’m sure that $250M will be quite a boon to the local museum-building community. It’s about time they got a break.
By Margaret Holt
June 23, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this
Kane, I don’t know about fried chicken and the barbecue, but if you read who some of the major funders will be, you can count on obesity producing soft drinks and plastic oil-depleting bottles of water. Or perhaps only locally-grown healthy foods? What do you think based on history?
By Economics 101
June 23, 2008 11:27 AM | Link to this
Listen, morons: I hate to break it to you but there is no “pot” of general money out there that will keep you from having something if it is spent for another reason. There is absolutely no connection between money being spent on a museum and your lack of health insurance. Take a simple class on economics, or even easier, go to a library or online and READ about economics and then maybe you’ll be able to understand it.
By Cy Brown
June 23, 2008 12:06 PM | Link to this
The museum is really a non-issue…it’s that socialist kind of thinking regarding universal healthcare that is getting us into trouble as a country…elect Obama and you will see more of this socialist crap! Next thing we’ll be hearing if Obama is elected is all of that BS about slavery reparations again….mark my words!
By Jeff
June 23, 2008 12:25 PM | Link to this
Wasn’t there just an article about budget cuts at the state-run mental health hospital? Nice priorities.
By Joe
June 23, 2008 1:54 PM | Link to this
The whole idea of a health museum is just plain stupid. Sounds like some local politician’s brother in law or uncle hasn’t gotten a good construction contract lately so they had to come up with something. It makes as much sense as a national candy wrapper museum.
By CJ
June 23, 2008 2:12 PM | Link to this
Most of the people who opt-out of health insurance aren’t going to visit a Health Museum. Their priorities are elsewhere (i.e. spinnas, Lexus, BMW, and paying rent on the apartment they are parked outside of). So frustrating.
BTW - A Health Museum sounds absolutely BORING! Surely we can come up with something better than that!
By ron
June 23, 2008 2:37 PM | Link to this
With today’s rising energy costs there is indeed a serious need for bigger and bigger buildings to heat and cool.$250 million should build a gargantuan cooling problem in the Atlanta summer heat and a fairly serious heating load in the cooler months.Way bigger than Al Gore’s usage,I’ll bet.
By RealityKing
June 23, 2008 2:53 PM | Link to this
300,000 children in Georgia lacking health insurance coverage? Pleeeeeeeeseeeee….
Haven’t you ever heard of SCHIPS!!?? ==> Authorized under Title XXI of the Balanced Budge Act of 1997, State Children’s Health Insurance Programs provide health insurance to eligible uninsured children. States may set eligibility criteria regarding age, income, resources, residency, and duration of coverage within broad Federal guidelines. States also have the option of creating a separate CHIP, expanding their existing Medicaid benefit, or doing a combination of both options .
Georgia’s threshold is $36,000! So there are 300,000 children in Georgia whose parents make more than $36,000 but still do not have health insurance!? And that is still the states responsibility!!??
By Keon Johnson
June 23, 2008 3:16 PM | Link to this
I think it’s a great Idea. Let’s face it, this is a capitalistic society and that isn’t going to change anytime soon. We are also very much concerned with entertainment and leisure. If this Museum is done correctly, then it will be a tourist draw and will continue the stimulus of the Centennial area. It will also inform people about health and taking care of themselves. I’m sure that the big Insurance companies wouldn’t mind being sponsors of this. They are insurance and insurance companies thrive when they don’t have to pay out. Health insurance companies don’t have to pay out when people are healthy. So if the museum does teach people to be health…then the insurance companies may well support it with corporate sponsorship.
By itsme
June 23, 2008 3:24 PM | Link to this
Health museum or health insurance. I don’t see why the question even needs to be asked. Insurance clearly is far more important. Georgia does not even allow high-risk health insurance coverage. Even Alabama does that.
By Billy
June 23, 2008 3:48 PM | Link to this
Maybe we can put the Health Museum next to the Patriotism Museum… between the two them it ought to be pretty easy to find a parking space around there.