How Would Rationed Health Care Affect Me?
I’m very worried about my sister who was rushed by ambulance to a hospital the night before last. She has symptoms that baffled her and her husband. After admittance, the hospital staff performed several tests but it wasn’t until the following evening when a neurologist examined her that a couple of possible diagnoses were opined. Today she will have an MRI which will help determine which diagnosis is the correct one.
In light of what could happen to health care in our country, I can’t help but think about what would play out if we fast forwarded this event to the future that provided Obamacare for the same situation. After reading about rationed care, I am wondering if she would even have been allowed to go to the hospital or if they would examine her and send her home due to her not having the correct place in line. And what if we could not know the diagnosis for several weeks? What if the diagnosis was something serious? After several weeks, would it even matter? When I opened my email this morning, I received the following (from Jeanette Nordstrom at ncpa.org):
There is a petition from NCPA (National Center for Policy Analysis) floating around the internet that already has 740,000 signatures where Americans have voiced their opposition to nationalized health care and the increased cost, reduced access and lower quality it will provide.
At his press conference Wednesday night, President Obama admitted that the government will be intervening between you and your doctor. Only to prevent “unnecessary” care, he said but it will be the government, not the doctor who decides what’s necessary.
The nationalized health care plan proposed by President Obama calls for rationed care. Rationed care requires that patients forego medical procedures which fail to meet federal approval. Under nationalized health care, a bureaucrat will have the power to delay or deny care to a patient without regard for the patient’s medical needs or for the physician’s advice.
In Canada and the United Kingdom, both of which have adopted a nationalized health care system, patients’ access to care is far more restricted and wait times are far longer than in the United States. http://www.ncpa.org
For example,
Consider the following wait times:
- Better late… In a recent survey of adults suffering from a chronic condition, 74% of U.S. patients met with a specialist within four weeks of scheduling an appointment. By comparison, only 42% of British patients and just 40% of Canadian patients were able to meet with a specialist in the first four weeks suffering from their condition.
- …than Never? In the same survey, 33% of patients in the United Kingdom and 42% of patients in Canada waited for more than 2 months before meeting with a specialist to address their chronic condition. In the United States, only 10% of patients waited for longer than 2 months before meeting with a specialist.
- Hazardous Delay. Canadian wait times exceed the clinically reasonable wait time for every medical specialty . For neurosurgery, for instance, although the clinically reasonable wait time is 5.8 weeks, the average Canadian wait time exceeds 31 weeks. Orthopedic surgery is even worse. The clinically reasonable wait time is 11 weeks; Canadian patients waiting on orthopedic surgery wait on average almost 37 weeks before they receive treatment. http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/Canadian_UK_HealthSystems.pdf
What can you do about this?
- Forward the petition www.freeourhealthcarenow.com to your friends, family and networks!
- Print the petition http://actionpack.ncpa.org and collect signatures, send to NCPA.
- Use the Action Pack http://actionpack.ncpa.org to access our Learning/Teaching Tools about health care so that you can educate your friends, family and neighbors.
- Attend The Heartland Institutes Health Care Roundtables and meet innovative leaders promoting health care reform. http://www.heartland.org/events/Roundtables/index.html
- Send a copy of the proposed government-run plan to your lists http://docs.house.gov/gopleader/House-Democrats-Health-Plan.pdf
- Track the progress of the “Free Our Health Care NOW!” petition by going to http://actionpack.ncpa.org and clicking the ‘ticker’ link.
- Share the petition through viral networking by clicking on the icon of your preferred social media.
Although, I remain anxious, I feel relatively secure that the doctors will pinpoint the problem with my sister and then be able to help her, but I worry about my 83 year old mother who Obama’s health board may determine is “too old” for any treatment she might need and I worry for the rest of us who are likely to get caught in the web of his political rise to power. Because that is what this health care debacle is about; it’s not about people or dollars; it’s about power.
You are a stupid, close-minded, idiot. You are everything that is wrong with this country.
Godster, you know that comment really changed my mind! You are really applying logic to the argument! I just LOVE a good debate!!
Wowzers! Where did you get yer edjucashion?
God…are you serious? That tag? That moronic 3rd grade level statement? Don’t clog the web with your drivel if that’s all your peanut-sized gray matter can come up with.
Chicago Girl…keep it up…spread the word.
SPD: Thanks for writing. They say liberalism is a mental disorder and it seems to be proven over and over again, doesn’t it?
What do you think healthcare is about now? People? Insurance companies have nothing to do with healthcare and everything to do with MONEY. IT’s all about MONEY. And money is power. They are corporations. No private health insurance company gives a sh*t about your sister or your mother.
Godster, this is about losing health CARE and not about the INSURANCE companies. Of course the insurance needs reform, the health care doesn’t but it’s the health care we’d lose with B.O.’s bill (tell me someone you know who goes to Cuba or Canada for their quality health care? NO ONE…they all come HERE). The Bamster-care would destroy my choices and your choices because private sector health care cannot compete with government run-tax-payer-funded health care no matter how substandard the government care is because when the government runs out of money, they print more.
If you knew how to read or cared enough to read the bill instead of swearing and spitting and swirling in your little liberal circle, you would know that on page 16 of the Bamster bill, those who have private sector insurance would lose it if they changed jobs or if the company changed options. Then they’d be stuck with substandard government run health care. NOW I can switch companies or opt out. After Bama-Care, I’ll be fined if I opt out and I’ll be forced to take whatever his little self-appointed czar health-board decides to give me WHEN they decide to give it. On page 134, the bill explains that my elderly mother would be “counseled” on euthanasia. NOW I make decisions about whether to go to the doctor or hospital or not , THEN they would. Insurance reform is needed and could be done without destroying health CARE such as having health savings accounts or health tax credits or how about this? How about using that trillion dollar porkulous monstrosity of a stimu-less bill to fund health care for those who don’t have it?
Yes, god-boy, it IS all about power and money–government’s and Obama’s power and money, not yours, not mine. Go read the bill, ask a conservative to explain it to you and get back to me. “If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until it’s free!” (P. J. O’rourke).
Well, since you keep telling God to read the bill, why don’t you go ahead and read the bill for us, chicagobluesgirl?
Heh.
It hasn’t even been written yet.
You’re throwing a hissy fit over something that doesn’t exist.
Tell you what. Once the House and the Senate come to an agreement on their respective bills, why don’t you give it another try, only intelligently this time. And without lying about it, if you’re able.
Until then, we’ll see how many people get coverage denied or dropped by the health insurance industry you’re representing.
Honestly, there are WAY too many moronic liberals and WAY too little time. If you threw a few less hissy fits about nothing and actually took the time to do some research, you’d sound like you actually had something to say. Read the bill, darlin’ and then get back to me…nah…don’t bother.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-3200
Daily mark-ups of the bill:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/
As an individual who has worked for physicians, with insurance companies as well as government run health care for over 15 years, I am well aware of the problems on both sides of the fence. Barry and his gang’s most recent grab at controlling and stealing our liberties through the rushed in a crisis health care reform is a sure recipe for the end of a country that has been the “place everyone wants to come to” to the place every true American will want to leave. You have to give it to the libs that the successful theft of the White House and our government, was executed very cleverly, but American’s are not as dim as some that post on here, and they are unfortunately too late realizing the foolish mistake they made in falling for the lies and facade of the chosen one. There is a reason this country has been the strongest most successful country for the past 200+ years in spite of the foolish liberal agendas. There is a reason men and women have fought and died for our freedoms. This country was founded to break away from the restrictions put on it’s people, and we will break away again if necessary. Those simple minded people that refuse to respect our constitution and the freedoms that have been fought for can go crawl under a rock in some other country that they think we should emulate, and they can take the present apologizing, socialistic administration with them. They won’t be missed.
AMEN! Yes, the insurance system needs reform but the Health Care in this country with few exceptions remains the best in the world. To destroy this country’s health care because we need insurance reform is insane. Of the supposedly 40 some million who don’t have it, 20 million can afford to buy it, according to a study by former CBO Director June O’Neill. Most of the other 27 million are single and under 35, with as many as a third illegal aliens. When it’s all whittled down, as few as 12 million are unable to buy insurance — less than 4% of a population of 305 million. For this we need to nationalize 17% of our nation’s $14 trillion economy and change the current care that 89% like? WTF?
You are on fire Chicago!! Keep it up…it truly is amazing what these people will say, and the sorely misplaced trust they put in our god-awfully corrupt govt!
If you don’t know that there are MANY bills being considered by many different Congressional committees right now, then you’re a bigger fool than I thought. You picked one bill submitted by one Congressman, and you’re disingenuously presenting it as the only bill under consideration. And you’re insinuating that bill is something submitted by Pres Obama. Are you really that stupid or are you just getting your kicks by lying?
Just in case it’s because you’re an idiot, you SHOULD know that Pres Obama doesn’t submit bills to Congress. Any 8th-grader who had to take the constitution test knows that.
Now, if you wanted to be honest (ah, hahahahahaha), you’d link ALL the health care reform bills under debate right now, including the ones that your rightwinghut republican friends are trying to push through for the benefit of the American people.
Oh, wait! That’s right! The Republicans haven’t presented anything. That’s because they don’t care how many people lose their health insurance coverage, they don’t care how many people go bankrupt (mostly people who HAD health insurance) because they can’t pay their medical bills, and they certainly don’t care HOW MANY PEOPLE DIE!! THAT includes YOU! As long as people with the screwed up mindset like you have your way, the health insurers will continue to jack up premiums, continue to drop people as soon as they get sick, and continue to deny coverage that people have alread paid for.
Your priorities, lady, are really messed up.
P.S. Ask your mom how much she appreciates her Medicare (a government-run, dare I say socialist, health care program.
Linda,
Take a chill pill. The Health Care Bill that went to Committee is the one I have listed. Lots of reforms are in the works but the basic bill is flawed. The Republicans have presented SEVERAL bills since 2007 ALL voted down by SENATOR OBAMA and his minions. You need to do some real research instead of screeching and crying and spouting liberal jargon but that is not something liberals seem to be able to do. I guess it is because it involves FACTS and not EMOTIONS.
Bluesgirl,
Here is an article posted discussing this very topic that i found interesting and it’s put in simple terms for some of these liberals, it’s nice to hear that more people are learning about the truths of Obama. http://finance.yahoo.com/insurance/article/107408/5-freedoms-you-would-lose-in-health-care-reform.html;_ylt=AsOnvYbab1D5sxXlN4QXi3SCfNdF?mod=insurance-health
You are so right and as anyone in Canada or England will tell you, once lost those rights will never be regained.
Thanks for writing.
I do not think we understand what we are getting into. We haven’t grasped the full extent to what will happen when we need health care now. The fact is we will wait longer periods.
Your sister may not have received attention. They will tell her she has to wait because there is a list to go by.
Thanks for that insight, CC, I’ve heard about those lists and the lack of care in countries with socialized health care. I do not know how we can reach the uninformed when the only media in which they engage is biased toward a liberal viewpoint.