Is there an editorial version of a Darwin award?

While I generally have no problem discussing healthcare reform with my more conservative friends - we're grownups and generally manage to avoid head-butting each other - I get annoyed when the more conservative publications start clutching at straws, desperate for a new way to scare the proletariat into agreement.

A fellow blogger/visitor spotted this embarrassing woopsie recently:

You’ve got things like Investor’s Business Daily running an editorial that said:
People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn’t have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

The editors at IBD* need a pants-down spanking for not checking out Hawking's passport. He's English. And Hawking bumped up the embarrassment factor with this comment to the UK's Guardian newspaper:

“I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for the NHS. I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived.”

I still hold that Americans are always going to have unique problems with healthcare reform, as our healthcare expectations are so different.  I consider myself extremely fortunate to have tried out the NHS, Australia's Medicare system, and a couple of other countries' healthcare services in person. I just wish I could explain them a bit better.  (I liked the Aussie system the best.)

For example, my oncologist friend's gross annual income is seven figures.  Yes, I know he doesn't get to keep it all, but he is not living under a bridge either.  I can't think of another country in the world where he'd make that much money. But doctors in other countries don't expect seven-figure salaries, and they're living comfortably, so they're not fretting excessively. No more than the rest of us, anyway.

I don't have an opinion of the new healthcare legislation yet for two reasons: I haven't had time to read the final version, and I think it's one of those "wait and see how it pans out" things. Besides, people got just as upset when Medicare debuted, so I figger I might as well let the furore die down.