Longtime newsman John Stossel announced he has lung cancer in an opinion piece that took aim at the medical industry.
The 69-year-old Stossel, a television personality at Fox News Channel, revealed Wednesday that he’s had a fifth of his lung removed — but his prognosis is good.
“My doctors tell me my growth was caught early and I’ll be fine,” he wrote.
Charles Sykes/Invision/APJohn Stossel revealed this week he has lung cancer.
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But the missive goes on to blast hospitals as “largely socialist bureaucracies” with customer service that “stinks.”
“Instead of answering to consumers, which forces businesses to be nimble, hospitals report to government, lawyers and insurance companies,” writes Stossel, a consumer reporter known for his libertarian leanings. “I’m as happy as the next guy to have government or my insurance company pay, but the result is that there’s practically no free market. Markets work when buyer and seller deal directly with each other. That doesn’t happen in hospitals.”
Stossel, who came up as a reporter with ABC News before jumping ship to Fox News in 2009, lauded his “excellent medical care” at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the No. 1 ranked medical center in the city.
But the red tape is what weighs down the customer service aspect of the experience, wrote the veteran TV man, who’s got 19 Emmys to his name.
Richard Drew/APStossel spent years at ABC News before moving to Fox News Channel, where he hosts “Stossel” on the company’s business channel.
“Patients will have a better experience only when more of us spend our own money for care,” he wrote. “That’s what makes markets work.”
It’s unclear how much time Stossel will miss as he recovers from the procedure or what further care will entail.