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Why We Must Ration Health Care
NY Times ^ | 7/15/09 | Peter Singer

Posted on 08/10/2009 4:12:10 PM PDT by FrdmLvr

All the "best people" like Peter Singer, the bioethics professor from Princton who, a few short years ago, was advocating POST-NATAL ABORTIONS! praise Obama's Shovel-Ready Healthcare! Please read his article.

You have advanced kidney cancer. It will kill you, probably in the next year or two. A drug called Sutent slows the spread of the cancer and may give you an extra six months, but at a cost of $54,000. Is a few more months worth that much?

The costs of the current health care system are becoming increasingly clear, and public sentiment for a more systematic approach may be growing. We’d like to know what you think about the prospect of rationing.

If you can afford it, you probably would pay that much, or more, to live longer, even if your quality of life wasn’t going to be good. But suppose it’s not you with the cancer but a stranger covered by your health-insurance fund. If the insurer provides this man — and everyone else like him — with Sutent, your premiums will increase. Do you still think the drug is a good value? Suppose the treatment cost a million dollars. Would it be worth it then? Ten million? Is there any limit to how much you would want your insurer to pay for a drug that adds six months to someone’s life? If there is any point at which you say, “No, an extra six months isn’t worth that much,” then you think that health care should be rationed.

In the current U.S. debate over health care reform, “rationing” has become a dirty word. Meeting last month with five governors, President Obama urged them to avoid using the term, apparently for fear of evoking the hostile response that sank the Clintons’ attempt to achieve reform...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bhohealthcare; eugenics; petersinger; singer; utilitarians
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1 posted on 08/10/2009 4:12:11 PM PDT by FrdmLvr
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To: FrdmLvr

NY Times — enough said.


2 posted on 08/10/2009 4:13:55 PM PDT by cranked
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Hey NYT editor....you first!!!!


3 posted on 08/10/2009 4:14:59 PM PDT by ak267
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To: FrdmLvr
Free Handout/Flyer Images
Exposes Obamacare!

4 posted on 08/10/2009 4:16:29 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat
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To: FrdmLvr

You can’t put a price on a human life.


5 posted on 08/10/2009 4:16:54 PM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: cranked
amazing.. this Singer certainly has a very callous and nefarious viewpoint in regards to the importance of fighting with every last breath, to keep alive.. in that it is a fundamental human drive.

Soylent Green indeed. This is one heck of a scary article.

6 posted on 08/10/2009 4:20:17 PM PDT by Chuzzlewit
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To: Chuzzlewit

Peter Singer must no doubt be related to Margaret Singer....


7 posted on 08/10/2009 4:22:16 PM PDT by cranked
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To: cranked

...errrr Sanger ;p


8 posted on 08/10/2009 4:22:56 PM PDT by cranked
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To: FrdmLvr

You first.


9 posted on 08/10/2009 4:23:24 PM PDT by pabianice
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To: Chuzzlewit

Once you accept the notion that man is nothing more than a mutated descendant related to any other animal, the notion of life having special meaning becomes alien.

Singer is not the exception, other than being smart enough to reason through the consequences of an evolutionary framework to the logical conclusion.

No doubt, Obama would not want to give $54,000 of his own money to give someone else 6 months of life — he said that if it wasn’t his own grandmother he would have questioned giving her hip surgery.


10 posted on 08/10/2009 4:24:44 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT (,)
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To: FrdmLvr
"You have advanced kidney cancer. It will kill you, probably in the next year or two. A drug called Sutent slows the spread of the cancer and may give you an extra six months, but at a cost of $54,000. Is a few more months worth that much? "

How about this version.

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi age 69 has advanced kidney cancer.It will kill her, probably in the next year or two. A drug called Sutent slows the spread of the cancer and may give her an extra six months, but at a cost of $54,000. Is a few more months worth that much to YOU? Is it worth that much TO HER??
11 posted on 08/10/2009 4:30:36 PM PDT by silverleaf (If you can't be a good example, at least don't be a horrible lesson)
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To: cranked

You should read the article as it ends. It’s not at all supportive of Obamacare or any of the other democrat plans. Singer pretty much reaches the conclusion that publically paid for health care should be rationed based upon cost/quality of life issues but with a private insurance available to cover anything that the public plan does not.

This is a far cry from anything the universal single payer proponents would find acceptable. They want a system where everyone receives the absolutely the same care regardless of ability to pay. Therefore such a system must ration care since to do otherwise would bankrupt the system.


12 posted on 08/10/2009 4:32:32 PM PDT by DugwayDuke
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To: silverleaf

How bout this? In Pelosi’s case, she will get the treatment she wants, but we will not.


13 posted on 08/10/2009 4:33:31 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: cranked
They're related in goals and aspirations.
14 posted on 08/10/2009 4:34:51 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: pabianice

That was just the title of the piece.


15 posted on 08/10/2009 4:39:37 PM PDT by FrdmLvr
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To: FrdmLvr
seems to me he just made the case...for non rationed health care.
16 posted on 08/10/2009 4:59:58 PM PDT by stylin19a (Obama's Plan B - Payday Loans)
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To: FrdmLvr

The question is WHO will make the decisions to treat or not treat. Will the decision be made by the patient, patient’s family and personal physician or will a government doctor or bureaucratic board make that determination with no appeal or recourse.


17 posted on 08/10/2009 5:00:30 PM PDT by The Great RJ ("The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." M. Thatcher)
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To: FrdmLvr
President Obama urged them to avoid using the term, apparently for fear of evoking the hostile response that sank the Clintons’ attempt to achieve reform...

That's so he can say "We never said anything about rationing!"

Whatta putz.

18 posted on 08/10/2009 5:00:56 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: FrdmLvr

Since liberals think killing babies is no big deal, we shouldn’t be surprised that killing adults and children is no big deal.

Logan’s Run, anybody?


19 posted on 08/10/2009 5:01:11 PM PDT by CodeToad (If it weren't for physics and law enforcement I'd be unstoppable!)
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To: cranked

There is no difference between Peter Singer and Dr. Mengele. No difference whatsoever.


20 posted on 08/10/2009 5:05:43 PM PDT by Rsgood Dsbad
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