Health Care Rationing In The US?

When the Democrats rammed the health care takeover down the collective throats of Americans we were promised that the program would bend the cost curve, cost less and save money. When people like Sarah Palin raised the issue of “death panels” we were told she was out of her mind and that the government would not turn people away or deny care to those who were in bad health.

The health care takeover will not be fully instituted until 2014 (after Obama runs for a second term) but some parts of it have taken effect or will shortly. One of those programs is for the high risk patients. It was fronted $5 BILLION and the program is designed to provide health care to the high risk folks, those who cannot get insurance and who have risky health conditions. It looks like the government will not be able to cover everyone and is considering denying health care to people who need it. It also looks like benefits will be reduced:

The Obama administration has not ruled out turning sick people away from an insurance program created by the new healthcare law to provide coverage for the uninsured.

Critics of the $5 billion high-risk pool program insist it will run out of money before Jan. 1, 2014. That’s when the program sunsets and health plans can no longer discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions.

Administration officials insist they can make changes to the program to ensure it lasts until 2014, and that it may not have to turn away sick people. Officials said the administration could also consider reducing benefits under the program, or redistributing funds between state pools. But they acknowledged turning some people away was also a possibility. [emphasis mine] The Hill

Denying health care to high risk patients amounts to a death panel. Government bureaucrats will determine who will best benefit from the available funds and those who are not deemed viable will be turned away. This sounds like what Palin described as “death panels.”

Additionally, the care could be rationed as a method of providing some care to more people.

While it is early and the regime could procure more funding we are left with a snapshot of what health care will look like once the government program goes into effect.

We were assured that this would be paid for and that it would save money. We are already seeing that this is not the case. The relatively small high risk program is in financial trouble so what makes anyone think the entire program will do any better?

We were also assured that care would not be rationed and that a bureaucrat would not get between us and our doctors. Looks like this small program has put this lie to bed. People will have care rationed or denied and this will be decided by government bureaucrats. If they have not ruled it out then it means they are at least considering that which they said they would not do.

The small program portends badly for the entire program where millions more people will be affected and where money will not be available.

The government will certainly ration or deny care and will have severe cost overruns.

This is all contrary to the line of BS that we were sold when they decided to ram it through against the will of the public.

Those of you who support this regime and think they are wonderful can take solace in knowing that they will not be denied care and will do quite well.

You didn’t think that the rulers would be hampered by such problems, now did you?

They knew this when they sold it to us because they only provided the CBO with what was needed to get the numbers to sell it. It is expected to cost at least $2.5 TRILLION. The CBO expects it to cost more than advertised now that it has been able to look at the entire package.

They lied to us and now the early warning signs are present in the relatively small high risk program. There will be “death panels” and there will be rationing and denial of care.

This has been the case from the start and we all knew it.

So did those who decided that we should have it.

Vote everyone of them out of office in November.

Never surrender, never submit.
Big Dog

Gunline

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Venezuela Shows Us How Great Socialism Is

Hugo Chavez rang in the New Year in Venezuela by rationing electricity. The government there owns damn near everything and the people are dirt poor. The country is a huge oil producer but is unable to generate much electricity because it depends on hydroelectric generators and there has been an ongoing drought.

So, Chavez celebrated the new Year by limiting the amount of electricity that businesses can use, what hours they can be open and what other items can use electricity and when (billboards, casinos, etc). There are penalties for businesses that do not comply with the order.

This is the Socialist nation that the liberals love so much. Penn, Obama, and a handful of others have all been down to kiss Chavez’s ring (or a lower and posterior part of his anatomy). He is held up as a great leader by the liberals who want our country to follow the path of Venezuela.

It is not hard to imagine being like Venezuela with Obama and his government taking over one private business after another. Obama took the lead of Bush and got government involved in the banking system (should have let them fail) and then moved on so that now we all own car companies. How long will it be before Obama is snapping up other private businesses? The government is already working on telling business how much executives may be paid. It is not a far stretch to get to the point where government is running everything (health care included). It happened in Venezuela and liberals love that place and its dictator.

If we have to ration anything then it should be food and water. Liberals get none until the crisis is over.

Never let a good crisis go to waste…

Big Dog

Gunline

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Elderly Get Practice For Obamacare Death Panels

The idea of death panels made the liberals laugh at Sarah Palin. She suggested that the Obamacare plan would create an environment where care would be rationed and the elderly would not get the care they needed. She likened those who would make those decisions to death panels and the left ridiculed her for it.

They ridiculed even though there is no doubt that there will be rationing of care. Forcing people to have health insurance and then adding millions more people to the mix will mean that care must be rationed for two very simple reasons.

The first is that there will not be enough health care providers.

The second is that the plan will cost so much money (two or three times what they say) so care will be rationed based on cost and the number of years a person has on this Earth. Young people work (when Obama has not caused unemployment to rise) and they pay taxes. The elderly consume about two-thirds of the health care dollars spent in this country so they will be allowed to die off for the sake of efficiency and cost savings. Obama did tell them they might be better off just taking a pill.

The elderly are already finding out what rationing will be like and they are finding out because of the Swine Flu vaccine. The elderly cannot get it. They are being denied the vaccine because of shortages. There are plenty of elderly that have underlying diseases who should be vaccinated but the vaccines are being rationed to children, young people with underlying medical conditions, pregnant women and health care workers. The elderly, left out in the cold:

But as grateful as he is, the 74-year-old Anter admits one thing will be bugging him during the holidays.

“The truth is,” the retired paper sales executive said last week, “when I think about not being able to get a swine flu shot, I get real pissed off.”

Two months after H1N1 flu vaccine was first distributed to public health districts around the country, people 65 and older with serious medical conditions still can’t get vaccinated.

Anter’s doctors at Stanford University Hospital, where he received his transplant, tell him he has a compromised immune system and “the H1N1 flu could do me in.”

He takes at least nine prescription medications daily to stay alive.

“But when I try to get a shot, I’m told I’m too old ” he said as he sat in the study of his Peccole Ranch home.

“I feel that they see me and other older people as garbage and are just waiting for the trucks to come pick us up,” Anter said.

“I served my country. I enlisted during the Korean War. You don’t treat people this way just because they’re older.” Review Journal

I am well aware of the statistics of who is more likely to get the Swine Flu and the young appear to be more susceptible than the elderly but this assumes the elderly who are in relatively good health. Those with serious medical conditions, especially conditions that compromise their immune systems, should be immunized.

They should be in the group of people who get the vaccine first but since they are old they are not getting it.

What other possible reason could there be for denying the vaccination to old people with compromised immune systems?

The sad reality is that they are not as productive and do not have as many years left as the younger folks so they are not getting the vaccine. Sure, those in good health have no reason to worry but the elderly with medical conditions that put them more at risk should be vaccinated.

This is a foreshadowing of the death panel. Care is being rationed because the government could not fulfill its promise to have a vaccination for every citizen who wants one. Since the vaccine must be rationed the elderly with health problems are the ones who are denied.

The senior citizens in this country are getting a preview of Obamacare. You folks better get busy and let the people who represent you in Congress know to kill this bill.

What will happen when they decide that the elderly should not have costly blood pressure medication, clot busting drugs for myocardial infarction, antineoplastic drugs for cancer treatment, or joint replacement surgery all because of age?

Well, at least Obama will give you a pill instead.

It will probably be a cyanide capsule.

Big Dog

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In Health Care Government Gives Rationing

The federal government wants to run health care. It is the desire of the Obamatons to take control of this large part of our economy so that it can take control of the people. This is what happens with Social Security and Medicare. Every time there is an election old people are scared to death over threats about cuts in services if the right candidate does not win. They also hear the doom and gloom as excuses for tax increases come into play. The government realizes that a large portion of the elderly vote so the politicians try to placate them.

This year there will be no cost of living increase because the cost of living has not gone up. The Congress is looking to give each SS recipient a $250 check because there will be no COLA. The law says that benefits cannot be reduced so the SS never goes down regardless of how well the economy is doing. The law also says that there is no COLA increase if the COL does not go up so why don’t we stick with the law? The Congress wants to placate the elderly by buying them off.

The real concern should be what will happen to them if the government controls health care. Rationing WILL take place. If the government needs to control costs or if there is a disaster then people not deemed worthy, per Ezekiel Emanuel, will be denied care.

The state of Florida is a prime example. The Florida Department of Health, a state government agency, has issued guidelines to hospitals regarding who is to receive care and who is not should the H1N1 flu cause a shortage of hospital beds.

Florida health officials are drawing up guidelines that recommend barring patients with incurable cancer, end-stage multiple sclerosis and other conditions from being admitted to hospitals if the state is overwhelmed by flu cases. Sun Sentinel

A state government agency has drawn up guidelines on who should be refused care should the flu overwhelm the system. The state agency has given guidance for rationing care.

Take this to the next level and you have the federal government. The federal government will also have guidelines that determine who gets what treatment based on age and general health. A 90 year old person stands little chance of getting a hip replacement or heart surgery if the procedure costs too much based on life expectancy. The big difference is that an emergency need not exist for the feds to ration care. The budget will be a major consideration as a cost is placed on human life. If they only expect you to live a few years more then you will not get what you need.

We see it in place in Florida based on a flu outbreak but the fact that they are deciding now who lives and who dies is a foreshadowing of things to come should government take control of the health care in this country.

No longer will a doctor and patient decide. It will be some bean counter in DC who decides based on life expectancy charts and the budget.

We, as a nation, need to decide that it is time for all members of Congress to be denied what they need to exist. That, of course, would be elected office.

Vote them all out in 2010.

And say no to government run health care.

Big Dog

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Preview Of Government Run Health Care

It has been stated that if you like the Department of Motor Vehicles or the Post Office then you will love Obamacare. The government cannot run anything efficiently and there will be lines and denied claims (Medicare is the biggest denier of claims) so the question is why do some want the government involved in health care?

In Detroit word got out that government was giving away $3000 to people in order to help them make ends meet. This is part of the stimulus (if the stimulus worked these people would not need the money). Chaos ensued, fights broke out and people were mobbing the place.

Imagine what it will be like when they can get free health care.

This is a picture from the Detroit handout. Just think, if Obama gets his way this could be your doctor’s office.

This is the one page “Small Bill” proposed by Republicans. It is much better.

Big Dog

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