Compassionate conservative Tom Coburn (R-OK) decided along with several other Republicans to place a hold on a bill that will greatly expand AIDS prevention techniques across the country. The bill has widespread support and is one of those no-brainer things that are passed without debate. Yet Coburn, who amazingly is a doctor, decided to stall the program.
From ThinkProgress:
Coburn may be an obstetrician, but he seems to be out of the mainstream with other medical professionals on this issue, who say that focusing on treatment as a form of prevention is short-sighted and ineffective:
“Most experts agree that treatment is only one small part of the prevention agenda,” said Denis Nash, director of monitoring, evaluation and research at the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs at Columbia University. […]
“The prevention effect of treatment is not likely to be anywhere near the magnitude of prevention through prevention,” including safe-sex education and condom distribution, said Mead Over, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development.
Coburn has a habit of blocking bills funding medical research, and his record on health care is abysmal. Coburn has repeatedly blocked legislation funding breast cancer research, doing so as recently as April, as well as funding to screen returning veterans for signs of suicide risk. In 2005, he proclaimed that silicone breast implants “make you healthier.” When running for Senate in 2004, he suggested the death penalty for abortion doctors.
In a letter to Senate leaders last month, 14 GOP senators urged the passage of the PEPFAR funding bill. ONE has a petition here urging senators to support the legislation.
Please sign that petition above and make sure the Senate understands that Coburn and his group of friends have no business blocking that funding. In my opinion, he is opposing it because like many problem-people in the health care world, treatment is much more lucrative than prevention. You can't sell expensive drugs and bill lengthy hospital stays if people steer clear of the disease altogether. It's all good if
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