How to Save Medicare? Die Sooner

NY Times ^ | February 27, 2005

[MarMema]

Ta-Da!

[the invisib1e hand]

How to Save Medicare? Die Sooner

Wow. This must be the year that the came out of all its closets.

[MarMema]

said David O. Meltzer, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago who also teaches economics.

There's an interesting career mixture.

[stopem]

So, how can Medicare's ballooning costs be contained? One idea is to let people die earlier.

Let them die earlier? Good grief, isn't that Michael Schiavo's idea? I think we are entering into dangerous ground here with such a suggestion. What is needed is to let the RX plan go and stop it now and stop paying for unnecessary procedures such as stomach stapling and RX such as Viagra.

[G.Mason]

Ironically that's what I was discussing with Anita (Hunter Thompson's wife) at dinner the night he bit the pellets.

You don't think she mentioned that to him do ... Nah ... couldn't be.

[MarMema]

What I hate is that I cannot recall all the freepers I tried to explain this too on Terri threads.

The reason Terri needs to die is because her success and life will be a huge obstacle for the "new society" of healthcare savings that they are trying to establish.

[MarMema]

But that won't give them all the kidneys and hearts to play with and become god with.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

Put Dr. Kevorkian in charge of Medicare.

I'll bet he just loved the movie, MILLION DOLLAR BABY.

[Snoopers-868th]

Raise retirement age, cut the elders SS, Medicare and any other government program. Continue to campaign for organ donations, funnel huge amounts of money into foreign relief, medical and drug research, but deny the elders access using a certain age as the factor.

This ought to make the younger generations thrilled at the prospects for them.

What goes around comes around--BEWARE.

[Brilliant]

But don't die until they resurrect the death tax.

[the invisib1e hand]

There's clearly more behind Terry's case than Michael Schiavo's guilty conscience or greed. There is political clout coming from the euthenasia backers, and I am willing to wager -- sadly -- that the invisible force behind it -- the earthly one, that is -- is the insurance lobby. so much of what is egregious and plainly evil in legislation these days seems to play directly to the interests of insurance companies. Where money is concerned, there are no coincidences.

[cgbg]

I guessed I missed the part in LBJ's Medicare announcement speech where he indicated that the in the future the government will decide who will live and who will die. I must not have been listening closely enough. :-(

[MarMema]

There's clearly more behind Terry's case than Michael Schiavo's guilty conscience or greed.

YES. Thank you.

[FairOpinion]

Why don't we just create a decree, to send everyone, when they reach the age of 65 into a "disintegration chamber"
There was a Startrack episode like that.

The problems with both Medicare and Social Security would be solved immedately -- of course we would expect younger people to keep paying into that their entire working lives.

(/sarcasm, of course)

Considering that Medicare only kicks in, when people reach age 65, when they start to get various ailments, of course they need a lot of medical treatments. And who is to say when to start witholding medical care from them.

I can see, that the doctors shoudl educate people, that if someone is 88 with cancer, which is 80% fatal within a few months, it doesn't make sense to further put them through the suffering of radiation treatments and chemo, but it should always be the decision of the patient and their families.

I know a lady, who got breast cancer at age 83, but otherwise was healthy and active, she was treated agressively, recovered, and is still alive, I think she is not 88 or even more.

So, who is to say, who should be treated or not.

[MarMema]

that the in the future the government will decide who will live and who will die

Some ten years ago I was shocked when a physician sat down and explained to me how Medicare had slowly taken over. By dictating which and how much in reimbursement expenses were allowed, and being over 50% of those remibursements, healthcare is now financially a function of Medicare.

The state owns our right to healthcare.

Let Hillary come in after this term and this country will, indeed, be a brave new world.

[MarMema]

And who is to say when to start witholding medical care from them.

Not to worry, this is why we now have bioethics committees, and why palliative care has been groomed to become a specialty all on its own.

[MarMema]

And why they are debating changing the definition of death, and why they are talking about allowing organ donors to donate before death, presumably by being taken to the operating table, having their organs pulled, and then being allowed to expire on the table with nothing left inside of you.

[cake_crumb]

Fine. How about we kill averyone over 30?

[cake_crumb]

I remember a TNG episode like that. I think we should kill everyone off at 30. After all, there's no way to know if a 29 year old is approaching the end of his or her life, so why prolong it?