Posted on 09/01/2009 9:17:52 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
What is it, something like two-thirds of us are supposedly happy with our health coverage?
A few years ago, you could have counted Mary Casey in that number. But then she contracted a rare form of cancer.
Her insurance company wouldn’t pay for the drug that her doctor said might save her life. Corporate bureaucrats were the ones rationing health care then — and still are.
And when Casey appealed the decision, she learned of the existence of death panels long before Sarah Palin started mouthing off about the mythical ones in the House proposal.
The company’s denial of her appeal left Casey and her family to count the months she had left or slowly go bankrupt because, naturally, the drug that her doctor felt gave her the best chance of survival was also expensive.
I told you about Casey’s battle against her disease and a broken system back in 2007. She eventually got coverage for the drug she needed, but only after her story went national and because her husband’s employer switched insurance carriers.
Her thoughts about today’s rancorous debate:
“People have no idea, unless they have a chronic illness, what happens if they have to go above and beyond going for a physical or needing anything more than a prescription for their high blood pressure.”
No, I think we all know what can happen. It’s just that some of us would rather fool ourselves into thinking it could never happen to us. Like the shouters at the town hall meetings.(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
What is exactly "broken" in the U.S. healthcare system? Why do foreign dignitaries almost always come here for treatment? The Shah of Iran didn't head to Cairo or Havana when he got sick.
Saul Alinsky tactic-CREATE discontent where there is none. For example, repeat the same lie til people believe it, like , the healthcare system in the U.S. is ‘broke’. Complete lie. And then of course put out some sob story, to manipulate people’s emotions.....
This isn’t about healthcare, insurance, costs, coverage, doctors, competition, or anything else being bloviated about.
It is about Government Control of Your Body.
Nothing else.
Slavery by another name.
Then pray tell us, O liberal, why Congress promptly took OUT the “mythical” death panel language?
Rahm Emmanuel’s brother Ezekiel Emmanuel, health care advisor to 0bummer, is a Death Panel of One.
In the WSJ he laid out why he’d kill grandma.
Mary could have sued them too, as well as gone national with the story.
with Soetoro’s death panel the buck stops there.
Health care isn't a right, it's a privilege TO BE PAID FOR BY THE RECIPIENT!
I'm not willing to pay for someone elses health care!
If the health insurance companies were not FORCED to pay for Viagra and Sex Change operations and ‘diversity’ training maybe they would have money to do catastrophic ilnesses.
I would be happy to pay ALL My doctor bills except the major catastrophies- why can’t I BUY that kind of insurance?
And if the government runs healthcare, that will be yet another layer of bureaucracy to fight. You'll be dead before the battle is over. They will be counting on it.
I just read my wife’s new AARP newsletter. They are shrill about what the doomed health care reform bill says or said. It’s all Komsomolskaya Pravda-esque lies and backpedaling of course, to stem the tide of members leaving the building by all exits.
Apt designation as they are soon to be relegated to a weekly (weakly) digest - free at restaurants and barber shops.
The articles are written with liberal tastes in mind specializing in the minority readers(?) in mind, most of whom only watch Oprah and black sitcoms, never, ever read and certainly do NOT subscribe to any newspaper - unless it's a black one with mostly photos.
One "sob story" does not necessarily imply that the present system is "broken" nor does it necessarily imply that the proposed changes are somehow "better."
The grass is not always greener on the other side, and it is dangerous to make such an assumption.
The company’s denial of her appeal left Casey and her family to count the months she had left or slowly go bankrupt because, naturally, the drug that her doctor felt gave her the best chance of survival was also expensive.
The irony is that, under a socialized medical care system such as that which once existed in Soviet-bloc states behind the Iron Curtain, the drug in question that would have saved Ms. Casey's life would almost certainly not have existed, period.
How can I be certain?
My dad grew up behind the Iron Curtain, and for dental work, folks didn't get anesthesia. Just drink vodka, and it's time to pull teeth. Oh, and drugs that people needed...well, they were usually smuggled in from Western states.
It's a totally different story in the States. When I had my impacted wisdom teeth taken out several years ago, I *did* get anesthesia.
You wonder if they’d like the current system so much if they or someone in their family came down with a deadly or debilitating disease, only to have their insurer dump them.
And how can any of the proponents of socialized medicine be so certain that Government, acting as an "insurer," will be any different than today's privately-operated insurers?
Much of this article incoherently rants about the supposedly astronomical costs of health care in the United States as if it was the norm. Furthermore, the author insinuates that somehow...government-run, or socialized, medicine will somehow fix all the problems with costs when, in fact, it will not, as evidenced by socialized health care systems in other states (such as France) or even here in the U.S. (e.g., in Massachusetts, Florida, and other states). Hell, one could look to Medicare and the VA health systems--particularly Medicare, which is insolvent, or soon will be--and ask, if the Federal Government can't even run health care for the elderly and for veterans, then who in his or her right mind would think that the same Federal Government could run health care for everyone else, questions about the Constitutionality of such programs notwithstanding?
The proper "solution" to the present health care problem is to first stop assuming that there is such a thing as a free lunch. Excessive government regulation and trial lawyers run amok...well, they do have costs, costs that are reflected in the price of health care. The best thing that the Federal Government can do is, for the most part, step out of the way and let individuals, the various States, and private organizations take care of health care.
HDHP + HSA plans.
Or, do you want more flexibility, including the ability to pick coverages a la carte, and the ability to choose which State regulates your policy?
She feel much better when the government denies her treatment.
At least it won’t be some greedy ole insurance company doing it.
He will also get richer providing seminars and the like....
304 million (2008 US population +/-)
(40 million without health "INSURANCE")
Even Jethro Bodine could do better.
“People have no idea, unless they have a chronic illness, what happens if they have to go above and beyond going for a physical or needing anything more than a prescription for their high blood pressure.”
I tell you what, Mary, if you think you would have faired better if the government was running AND RATIONING health care, you are out of your mind.
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