Medicare reform, French style

The Washington Times ^ | April 30, 2003 | Robert Goldberg

[xsysmgr]

The biggest obstacle to President Bush's plan to improve Medicare is the guy who runs the program right now. In his State of the Union address, the president said that no bureaucrat, trial attorney or HMO should make medical decision, that only doctors and patients should do so. Yet, Tom Scully, the director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) can't wait to extend the rationing and price controls, which now apply to doctors, hospitals, medical devices and some medicines, to every prescription drug.

[friendly]

Outstanding and informative post. A real eye-opener.

[The Great RJ]

Government paid health care simply means rationed health care. A government bureaucrat will decide what treatment works best for you or whether you will get any treatment all based on the numbers.

Do you provide a heart bypass operation for a 74 year old white male smoker with hypertension or immunize 1000 school kids?

[Free the USA]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[Electron Wizard]

I would need a lot more information to make up my mind on this one. When I see a drug company arguing that their higher-priced drug is somehow superior to a drug that has gone generic, and therefore is lower in price, I have to wonder if the hundreds of millions of dollars in potential profits is affecting their actions.