WASHINGTON — Of all the members of Congress, Phil Roe, a Republican from Tennessee, seemed the best prepared for a cancer diagnosis.
When it comes to Roe and medicine, it is hard to separate the personal and the professional: He heads the GOP Doctors Caucus. His colleagues, Republicans and Democrats alike, call him “Doc.‘’ (He is an OB-GYN by trade.) He almost missed his own wedding this May because of a threatened weekend vote on a repeal and replace of the Affordable Care Act. And he was practiced at delivering cancer diagnoses to his own patients.
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Preaching about the virtues of preventative care is fine. Apparently the irony of doing so while voting to take away access to it is lost on the Congressman and on STAT.
Please people!! I work for a large hospital and know we never turn away a patient. I also know we give a lot of health care away for free….a lot….. A vote to eliminate or change Obama care is not taking away anything, health care is available as it has always been. No one is preventing anyone from getting care here. The only difference is taxpayers will no longer be paying for it. It will fall back to individual responsibility.
Sorry, STAT. I have to pile on with others objecting to the demeanor of this article. Right now we are faced with the Graham-Cassidy bill, another pitiful attempt to repeal Obamacare that if it passes will be worse than the previous attempts. ‘Doc’ Roe has ALL the advantages to deal with a cancer diagnosis — and even a few extras. He has fabulous government-provided insurance that most of us self-employed people can only dream of, the medical background to understand his options, and incredible connections both in the medical and political community to smooth out any of the rough edges. He has access to it all — what exactly are we supposed to absorb about his struggle/journey? And this guy will probably use all of these advantages to be available to vote for Graham-Cassidy, a bill that will make it more difficult for others with prostate cancer to receive care. This is the heart-breaking part of this article, the things that are not said.
Definitely have to agree with Jill here. But on the other hand, I believe the death panels for elderly are in Obamacare. Not great if you’re one of those people.?
Recently you had to retract a story for not meeting your own standards, and now your editor allowed this interview to be printed without the congressman being asked about his views on healthcare? What’s going on with your journalistic professionalism?
This story is a disgraceful puff piece. So much for statnews
Does Roe believe his constituents should have the same quality health care that he received, allowing him to live a healthy life with dignity? This is a shameful article to allow him to be presented as a light-hearted politician without mentioning he supports legislation that will make the lives of cancer-patients hell.
Shame on him.
this is shameful. He is perfectly fine gutting healthcare to those with no recourse, while enjoying the benefits of a very different policy.
This should have had SOME sort of counter.
Wow. Why is STAT doing a puff piece on Senator Roe? Is there some expected return — access, information? It’s clear he’s a likable fellow and can poke fun at his own state. Incest is always a laugh. And I’m glad he can afford the care and has health insurance. Can most of his constituents in Tennessee? Is there an analysis of his proposed health care reform vs. Obamacare – a whiff of information, rather than just a whiff. It’s good that he can joke about the Foley catheter. Instead of a political and policy analysis, however, the article could have gone in a health/medical/scientific route instead. What kind of prostate cancer? What was his PSA (and what guidelines was he following for having it tested — there’s been debate about those)? Does the Gleason score matter?
In addition, an article on another site references him saying that his back surgery was more expensive because of Obamacare. That would be an interesting thing to follow up on and analyze.
Or, to go negative, how about parsing through the joke on incest? The numbers vary, I’m sure, depending on the source and reporting, but one Times Press article from the last few years (accuracy unknown) reported that 87 percent of the victims in Tennessee were juveniles. A sense of humor is good, and I’m glad that Senator Roe has one, but…really…what’s being reported here and does it count as health/medical/scientific or political news or story-telling that is worthy of being reported?
Is Rep Roe really so “honest.” There’s nothing here about how we as taxpayers take care of his health insurance so he doesn’t have to add that to his worries in making his treatment decisions as many do. And he has voted for bills that would cause millions of people to lose their insurance or pay more for it. Wish he’d use his soapbox to say wouldn’t it be great if everyone had the access to the same care that he did.