I have the honor of having enraged Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel.

Yesterday, I attended a talk by Dr. Emanuel on health care management and policy at
the Yale School of Management. His talk focused on bringing the costs of health
care down by paying doctors for a package of care rather than fee for service.

During the question period, I stood up and said, "Thank you for your talk. My
question has to do with your 1996 article in the Hastings Report. You proposed a
health care system according to communitarian principles..."

Then Dr. Emanuel interrupted me: "That was a book review! I have already made my
position on that issue clear, and I am not going to discuss it any further!"

"May I ask my question?" I asked.

"I have already written on that issue, and my position is obvious!" said Dr.
Emanuel.

The moderator of the panel frowned at me, and I was instructed to sit down.

Why does a senior Obama Administration official censor a dissenting point of
view? Is that a healthy debate?

Andrea Nagy Smith