McCain's in town to talk health care

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If this is the first you're hearing about it, you're not invited to attend. Sorry. But, you can follow the senator's tweets. Hooray!

I like how McCain calls the invitation-only meeting a "town hall." The only other people invited to attend are employees of Carolinas Medical Center. What, are they scared of citizens of the Q.C.? The largest and most diverse -- and largely Democratic -- population in the state?

And, really, this is less about health care than it is about North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr getting some face time with two-time presidential loser, Sen. John McCain.

Here's hoping a few brave doctors share some of their patient's insurance horror stories with the crowd.

Hospital staff and invited guests are expected to make up the crowd this morning when Republican U.S. Sens. Richard Burr, John McCain and Mitch McConnell host a health care forum at Carolinas Medical Center.

The three senators will tour the Levine Children's Hospital near uptown Charlotte at 8:30a.m. and meet with employees, doctors and patients until 10. The event is nominally open but will take place in an auditorium that can seat only about 250 people.

“We have tremendous interest from our employees,” said hospital spokeswoman Gail Rosenburg. “We are such dominant players in this whole issue of reform that we're pleased to be able to have this event for our employees.”

More from Charlotte.com.

There's a new book out: Money-Driven Medicine, by Maggie Mahar. In it she looks behind the curtain and explains to her readers that insurance isn't about them, it's about money and power -- for those who already have money and power, of course.

"We're now treating medicine as if it were an industrial product."

In related news, Obama's Organizing for America group will be in town on Thursday.