Thanks Marge…it is there in black and white.
Mike
We got this e-mail from Steve Westly,
I was particularly upset with what he said near the end of his e-mail about ways to cut health care costs. I changed his point number 3 to be in bold letters so you can find it easily. People who said that this new health care bill would cause rationing and less care for the old and sick were ridiculed. Yet after reading what Mr. Westly said, maybe they were correct after all.
What do you all think?
Marge
Dear Marge,
Lot's here!!! Thank you for the post. Lots of evidence that "experts", "scientists", and other Pooh-Bah's are as confused as to what to do as we all are. Especially in the matter of end of life. It is true that resources are limited, so where do we allocate them?
BTW, as I write I am listening on the radio about the man who was supposedly in a vegetative state for 20 years (with lots of folks advocating a diversion of his resources, I am sure); and it turns out he was physically paralyzed instead (right out of that old Hitchcock TV segment, which I am old enough to remember). The way I see it, the ethical questions are numerous, and answers none.
Regards,
Marcy
60 Minutes, last night, made a very convincing case for 'rationing' end of life care.
$50 billion a year is spent on the last two months of patient life. Yet, the patients would be more comfortable dying more quickly and dying in a hospice instead of in an ICU. With end-of-life counseling, more patients would decide against prolonged suffering in the ICU.
CBS even noticed the problem occurs in the US because the actual consumer, the patient, does not pay for the services provided by the free-market hospitals.
Harland Harrison
LP of San Mateo County CA
----- Message d'origine ----
Taking personal control of one's own situation is one thing….having someone else do it to you as a matter of government policy is another.
People are supporting this health care bill because they believe they will be getting something for nothing. Once they realize that isn't the case, the tide will turn. Watch the generational warfare begin.
The government is not trying to ration health care, not now and not in the proposed bill. Actually, that is the problem; the government, government-regulated insurance companies, and government-regulated hospitals have to pay for healthcare that NOBODY rations.
The original bill did include end-of-life counseling, so patients could understand and take "personal control of their own situation". Republicans called this "death panels". Shouted it, waved signs, and brandished side arms. That did not make the charge true but it did stop the end-of-life counseling. The only people who benefitted are the ones running Pap smears and other pointless procedures on women already dying in the ICU.
The voters are not expecting to get something for nothing out of the "healthcare bill'; they expect that finally they will get what they pay for when they buy health insurance. I doubt that they will, but I know for certain they will not get universal, government-paid, healthcare.
The generational warfare has already begun! The Republicans quietly passed Medicare Part D when they were in power. The unfunded liability of Part D has already exceeded that of Social Security:
http://www.usdebtclock.org/index.html
Seniors getting government health care and paid prescriptions carry signs reading "Keep government out of my Medicare." The real issue is whether or not the younger generation will get equality with their parents.
Harland Harrison
LP of San Mateo County CA
I hope you are right that most people are simply trying to get what they pay for with health insurance. But your comment about seniors carrying signs suggests otherwise. All the people I know who are advocating this bill see free health care as a "right".
Yes they do….
The generation on Medicare now are certainly getting something for nothing. They seem to OPPOSE the new bill.
This bill does not provide free health care; it imposes punitive taxes on people and businesses who do not buy health insurance! Do the people you know actually believe that young people will get government-paid health care from this bill?
The problem with seniors is that they think they have a "right".....and they are right....
They have paid into the system that made them all this maddoff-type promises and now feel entitled to see the benefits.
Thus, i see their point in a way. This is the ultimate ponzi scheme where you are forced to participate whther u want it or not....