Elderly patient in doctor waiting room/Forotsearch.com.
Under the Obama and Democrat Congress- -created Stimulus plan, what kind of medical treatment Americans are allowed to have and whether they will live or die will be decided by a panel of 15 federal employees. If United States (US) citizens' thought Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) were terrible, they ain't seen nuthin' yet!
For Americans with adequate means, traveling to a foreign country, for example Brazil or India, for medical treatment, will allow them to remain in control of their health care. Americans with lower incomes will be the guinea pigs for the Obama administration experiment in deciding what, if any, medical treatment will be used for individuals needing care. The federal government, not a personal physician, will compare the treatments available, and then choose the one bureaucrats decide is most cost effective. Unless they decide that the medical attention or surgery is necessary, especially when it comes to Americans under Medicare, after seeing a doctor, the next visit might be to the funeral parlor to pick out a coffin.
Researchers will receive $1.1 billion to compare drugs, medical devices, surgery and other ways of treating specific conditions. Then the 15 federal employees will coordinate the research and advice President Obama and Congress on how to spend the money. When a similar plan was created by Hillary Clinton during her husband's administration, there was such an uproar by the public, reflected in Congress, that it was discarded. Americans decided that it would be "rationed care" and did not want the federal government making decisions about health and medical needs. (NYTimes 02/16/2009)
Critics say this would put the government in the middle of the doctor-patient relationship. Writing in Bloomberg.com, Betsy McCaughey, a former lieutenant governor of New York, said, " Bureaucrats will monitor treatment to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost-effective." This could mean that life-saving treatments for children, seniors and disabled people would be denied. No matter what the Democrats say, that could be the end result.
Presently, the more affluent patients in countries with socialized medicine (and that is what it is, no matter which euphemism Democrat politicians use to describe it) are already flocking to private clinics and hospitals--often staffed by American-trained doctors in foreign countries. It may provide an alternative to the Obama health and medicare intrusion into their lives. But for those Americans who cannot afford the luxury of choosing their own medical treatment, they maybe come the equivalent to laboratory rats.
Comments
I hate to break it to the author but Americans ALREADY get rationed care! The rationing can be found in the low-quality ratings of healthcare that everyone across the board already gets! In 2006 the New England journal of Medicine looked into those numbers and saw 55% on average for the overall level of care.
Let me rephrase that so the reader can parse it correctly: Insurance driven, protocol-oriented ACTUARIAL table calculated care as is controlled by the insurance concerns rates 55% of what it should be in the NEJM and the RAND survey done in 2005.
Look to the studies!
Our care is ALREADY rationed by statistical fiat - and it was this Godless application of numbers to regulate care that allowed CIGNA insurance to KILL the 17 year-old Nataline Sarkisyan in December of 2007.
Got insurance from a private source? Don't get all puffed-up about how good you got it. You could be the next to fall afoul of the numbers.. but hey, at least it's not 'rationed' care, right?
Deb.
Here may be a really stupid question.
Will congress come under this new scheme also?
Yes, American already has rationed health care for the economic lower and middle class patients. The wealthy now have private doctors to whom they pay a "retainer", usually starting at $5,000-$10,000 a year.
If these doctors have patients that are not approved for a procedure which he decide is best for them, he can connect with a clinic or hospital in a foreign country which will respect his decision of what treatment or surgery is best.
By the time Americans realize what this medical program is about, it will be too late because it will be firmly entrenched.
If you want to know if your representative in Congress will be covered by this health plan, contact his/her office by e-mail so that you receive a written response.
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