Open wide." That's the sound of the castor oil called health care reform being administered to the country.
It's not that the country doesn't need health care reform; it's just that the country doesn't need stitches when the underlying wound hasn't been fully studied.
The Obama administration has set an aggressive deadline for Congress to overhaul the entire U.S. health care apparatus. How can we expect a comprehensive, well-thought-out plan in six weeks, when there have been 40-plus years of failed attempts before this?
This is supposed to be a bipartisan plan. Is it really, when the administration is trying to get it pushed through before adequate debate has taken place? Never mind the feeling that it is being run through the Congress fast -- before another election that could upset the applecart and sizable majority the democrats enjoy.
We've heard untold horrors of health care mistakes from a misread label or ill-trained technician cleaning endoscope equipment. What kind of health care will emerge from hurriedly passing what may be the largest expansion of a government program? Like patients undergoing complicated surgery in the emergency room, someone has to worry about the bill.
A real dialogue is, again, unlikely as we plod through scripted infomercials on the plan cleverly disguised as debates. The declaration by President Obama that "this is the moment" to address the moral imperative runs foul against his promise for a truly bipartisan approach to governing.
Much debate still remains over what ills the patient before we write the prescription.
That said, a deadline or some sort of deadline is not a bad idea for drawing up plans so that this overhaul doesn't languish in committee. Creating a manageable timetable -- something that includes accepting ideas and solutions from all arenas, examining the financing, crafting the reform, and placing it in front of the American people for debate -- is imperative. But it's unreasonable and unwise to expect all that to get through Congress in six weeks.
Physicians now serving congress as lawmakers should be tapped early and often in this process. There's wisdom in the ranks, regardless of what most of us think of Congress.
Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., chairman of the Republican Study Committee and former physician, said it best in a May newspaper column: "We stand at a crossroads in American health care. One direction leads to more government interference in personal decisions and, eventually, health care rationing. The other direction will ensure coverage, empower patients, foster innovation of new treatments and coverage options and provide the highest quality care.
Meddling with tax breaks for employers and complicated subsidies may undercut basic foundations for a majority of people receiving care. Choice and free-market solutions should be a complete part of the plan. The Republican and bipartisan plans unveiled Wednesday need a full review and inclusion as we go forward.
The American people are being setup to take a horse-pill prescription without really knowing how much it'll cost or what the side effects will be.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Just as only those that can pay for government schools and private schools get the best education opportunities, only those that can afford to pay for both socialized and private medical care will get the best care. This "great government benefit" will not only raise our taxes substantially, but will put the medical care we need as individuals out of reach financially. EVERY nation with national socialized medicine has to settle for a long waiting to receive 2nd rate care. America will be no better when the Mad Marxist is done "changing" our country.
My family's first encounter with socialized medicine was in the US Army. My son was born and developed a hereditary problem at a month old that requires surgery to correct. We told the Army hospital what was wrong and they said they didn't have an appointment in pediatrics for a month. I sent my wife and new son home to her family. She took him to her family doctor. He examined my son and put him in the hospital that morning. The next morning was his operation and everything was fine.
Germany has socialized medicine. While I was stationed over in Germany we were going back and forth with the Army hospital about whether my son needed his tonsils removed. We said he needed it and they said he didn't (our second run in with Army socialized medicine). Well he had an accident that required him to go to the closest hospital which was German. While there the Doctor told us that he really needed his tonsils out. We told him that we had been trying to get the Army to do it but were told if he didn't get strep throat at least 3 times in one year that they couldn't do it. I asked if they could do it and he said that I couldn't afford it because their system made non-citizens bankrupt if they had to use it even for something that minor. Again I sent my family home and within 2 days of seeing the civilian family doctor my son's tonsils were removed. We were lucky to get him in surgery when we did because as they were taking out the tonsils they burst. Socialised medicine SUCKS, just ask anyone who has had to wait in that assembly line. Ask Canadians, they come to the US for care if they can afford it.
Socialized medicine will be unlike anything that Americans have ever known. Everything from long waiting lines to evaluaion of individuals for procedures, such as performing a heart bypass on a 45 year old and refusing the same proceure on a 70 year old because of the likelihood of a longer life after the procedure. The quality of the practitioners will diminish due to their being "government employees" with a fixed amout that they can earn. Will the mulatto muslim messiah destroy our health care system?.......YES HE CAN! It's a shame that the majority of the "O" voters are not intelligent enough to understand where the health care system is headed....they're still waiting for their gas tanks to be filled and their rent paid, because "HE" promised to do so. Gear up America...make your votes count in 2010, and send the messiah packing in 2012.
Buried in the stimulas package was a new postion in health care created by Obama intitled "National Coordinator of Health Care Technology". This person will have access to all your medical care records and treatments! His job is to figure out which treatments are effective and cost effective... Look at prostate cancer. There are several side effects to various treatment modalities. One treatment ,radiation because of the side effect of making defacation an Urgent matter, could cause me to lose my job, I simply can't run to the bathroom when I want! The NCOHCT could decide radiation therapy is all they will fund since it is cost effective and just as effect as surgery! Even among urologists treatment modalities are debated, there is no best one!! So a bureaucrat in Washinton DC will tell people who spend their life treating prostate cancer which modality is best? All the folks with the pink ribbon that says "save the Ta Tas" need to realize that in countries with socialized medicine survival rates for all cancers are lower and in England breast cancer survival is 10% lower than in the US...
Why do we want more access to a system in a country that is over 40th in life expectancy in the world. Alternative care with more advanced procedures like NAET and others is cheaper, non-invasive, no drugs, and actually fun. Our whole approach is wrong as we try make disease easier to deal with, rather than fix it. With the internet it is easy to do the research and free yourself from the present medical system. The most you will need is about 20% of what the medical system has to offer. The Word says "as your days are so shall your strength be". Expect good health, speak to your body, and learn the alternative things that are out there and gain some health independence. It is hard for a country that promotes death through abortion to expect long life. Sowing and reaping always works so it is best to make it work for you, instead of against you. Your health will become what you expect it to become.
It is common sense that socialized medicine drastically lowers the availability and the quality of healthcare. When implemented it immediately and dramatically increases the number of people in the system and causes a shortage of doctors and medical staff. In addition, the socialized medicine by necessity lowers the payments to doctors and hospitials which causes older physicians to retire and fewer young people to persue a medical career. Why be a doctor when the government controls how much money you can make? Any idiot can look at the countries who have such a system and see that it does not function as well as the system we already have. The Canandians have one of the better socialized medical care systems and they still have to come to the U.S. if they need urgent medical care for serious conditions. And, oh by the way, socialized medicine, even with the poor service and long waits, has still bankrupted every country that has tried it. Why are we stupid enough to even consider letting the government run our healthcare?
soldout on Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:45 AM The increase in life expectancy is only 2 to 3 years. How much of that change is realted to death among young people ie "gang bangers" dying early deaths?
Funny how the Comical harped on the sluggishness of the First One Hundred Days, and now are crying that the Administration is moving far too fast. I suppose they view this as their fair and balanced perspective. Somewhat off topic, but enlightening nevertheless, enjoy: http://wpcomics.washingtonpost.com/client/wpc/db/
Sometimes I wonder at the ability of people to ignore facts to protect their ideology. Look at the data. Which countries have the best health care system? Based on measurable factors (WHO) -- France, Italy, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, Japan, Switzerland, Spain, etc. The U.S. health care system is ranked 37th of the industrialized nations. Which nations have the lowest child mortality? CIA data -- France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Netherlands, UK, etc. U.S. ranks 46th. Which countries have the fewest deaths due to heart disease? Norway, Sweden, UK, Finland, etc. The U.S., 13th. Which countries have the lowest rate of deaths due to cancer? Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand, etc. U.S., 9th. Deaths from digestive diseases? U.S. 16th. Which countries have the shortest wait time for cancer surgery and other critical care? UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, etc. Yes, correct. Even Canada provides care more timely than U.S. Yep, those countries with crappy "socialized" medicine have better health care. And which countries pay most? The U.S. by far. And those countries provide universal care. The insurance companies and care industry are in collusion. It's time for change
Exactly, Grubnut, and the Chronicle braying for a bipartisan effort is ludicrous. The Republican'ts are the Party of No. They have no ideas, themselves, mind you, but they'll say no to anything anyone else comes up with. And 55-F, if you look at how the demographics broke down, the more educated and higher-income folks voted disproportionately for Obama. So, you can impugn our intelligence all you like, but you don't have a leg to stand on.
That's pretty convincing, Grubnut. You have to understand though the great insurance companies are STILL trying to recapture their staggering losses realized in poor investment decisions prior to the dot-com bust. You can't expect them to just absorb those losses. Now, they have some real estate disasters you need to pay for too. Paying for contracted medical care is hardly a higher priority for big insurance than constantly enhancing the premiums rolling in. You have a duty to maintain their obscene profits; it's the American Way.
What's good for the Congress should be good enough for the rest of us.
Well, health care for all Americans is a great and humanitarian idea. The problem is we can't pay for it without ruining the country. What makes it work, even bad as it is, in other countries is that the don't have the wide disparity in income that we have in this country. Here we would have a situation of the working people currently with insurance would be asked to pay for the large number of uninsured either by direct or indirect taxes. The vast majority of working Americans have health care insurance. They don't want the system changed.
Realize the UAW will be exempt from Obama's plan, yet he claimed their health care costs caused the companies to go bankrupt. So here we have companies that the government partially owns sticking with their own plans because the workers don't want to be part of a government run system.
Grubnut@9:11&Fd1962@9:21-I liked what you both said,also grouse@9:36.
Health care needs some type of reform, but I don't want the government making medical choices for me. If a health care provider refuses an operation and someone dies then the health care ins. provider can be sued for neglect. If the government refuses an operation and people die then its oh well we made a mistake. My point, Health Care ins. providers are liable for their actions, the government is not.
Posted by Grubnut on Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:11 AM You did not list some important information out of the top thirty industrialized nations. The US is number one in Obesity, and drug abuse just to name a few contributing facts to our health care problems.
Trey, you already have the insurance companies making those choices and just try to sue THEM.
LOL all the chronicle Editorials are against President Obama, just like all the other Repub rehetoric the chronicle is singing the same song. The next hot thing to call the president the chronicle and all those angry white people will jump on that rehetoric as well *SHRUGS*
My son was born at Ft. Gordon. I had been in labor over 24 hours, the dr said I needed a C-section but there wasn't an anesthesiologist available to perform it (this was at 4 am on a Sunday morning.) An hour later my son laid on his umbillical cord in the birth canal, depriving his brain of oxygen. His brain swelled and he was born with cerebral palsy. When it was obvious something was very wrong with him, I had to fight like hell to even get him evaluated (again with the Army). I had to fight like hell to get him into a therapy program (again with the Army) and had to fight like hell to keep him there. He was able to recover from most of it, but only because I had to fight for treatment. That's what's coming for everyone.
grubnut, of all the countries that have wonderful health care, which one do ALL of them go to to get good, timely, competent health care? Is it still the U.S. ..... yes. You continue to compare apples to orange when you list countries that have different levels of measurable health factors because of life style or diet, not health care. And, using the "WHO", a strong proponent of socialized medicine, as a source of the "best" health care is, maybe, just a little biased. I don't know of that many Americans going to Canada for health care or the Netherlands, or Belgium, or New Zealand. As far as child mortality goes, thank you lefties for killing 50 million babies since Roe v Wade.
When government takes over health care, the life expectancy in the USA will go down.
Posted by HotFoot on Sun Jun 21, 2009 11:45 AM Why do you think tort lawyers are millionaires? Ins. companies settle out of court, because they don't want the publicity. The fact is, its about numbers, not people. I agree our health care system is in a bad condition, because of those who don't pay.The unpaid bills are paid by the consumer or the government. Something needs to be done, but Socialism is not the answer.
corgimom on Sun Jun 21, 2009 12:23 PM When was your son born. I have provided anesthesia at Fort Gordon for 4 years active duty and 10 years reserve. There has always been a nurse anesthetist on duty and an anesthesologist on back up. I think most OB care is now provided at MCG. I got out of the reserves about 6 years ago so I am not ramiliar with OB care now! was there a mass cal going on when your sonn was born?
Grubnut on Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:11 AM Grub man are the statistics on life expactancy balance for gang violence and are child mortality figures balanced for that also? Cancer survival rates are lower in all those countries than they are in the US Britian has 10% lower survival rates.
First Patriciathomas you have diversify your media sources I watch fox listen to beck, hannity, and limbaugh to hear all views. But you just quote them every single day in your comments one original thougth please are you jus a "ditto head". Secondly, the healthcare debate has been going on for over a half century just put it to a vote that is what we do in this pepublic. Not dragging it out by saying we need more this or more that. We all know all the facts about universal healthcare your reps will vote for you in the fashion they feel with get them reelected.
concernednative on Sun Jun 21, 2009 1:12 PM ....I hardly even watch the news or listen to rush, but agree with most of PT's post, though I have some differences. What PT and the like minded share is the called the conservative philosophy. We are like minded people who share the same views. I ask you to compare the post from those on here who are conservative, and those who are liberal. You will find that conservatives post realistic ideas, that will have a positive impact on the future. While liberals post are quick fix ideas that will have a negative impact on the future. Fox, MSNBC, and the rest are sensational journalist, just mere soap operas to gain rating. Fox special report is about the only legitimate source for political news. Sheppard Smith isn't bad either for legitimate unbiased news. Wolf Blitser is about the worst, he always adds his progressive opinion after every reporters story.
carcraft, I was told by patient assistance that Ft Gordon got out of the OB business because they kept having problems that landed them in court a few times due to level of care.
The problem, when I was there, was the fact that Labor and Deliver (L&D) was under utilized and had to be staffed full time so the bang for the buck wan't there and the staffing could be utilized better else where. They converted L&D into a set of Operating rooms for out patient surgery and closed them becuase of lack of staffing to cover!