We’re from the government, and we’re here to help…
As the late, great Ronald Reagan said, those words above are some of the scariest in the English language.
Think about that phrase when Obama promises health care for everyone. Think of the situation Barbara Wagner of Oregon faced:
…Last month her lung cancer, in remission for about two years, was back. After her oncologist prescribed a cancer drug that could slow the cancer growth and extend her life, Wagner was notified that the Oregon Health Plan wouldn’t cover it.
It would cover comfort and care, including, if she chose, doctor-assisted suicide…
Treatment of advanced cancer meant to prolong life, or change the course of this disease, is not covered by the Oregon Health Plan, said the unsigned letter Wagner received from LIPA, the Eugene company that administers the plan in Lane County….
“We can’t cover everything for everyone,” said Dr. Walter Shaffer, medical director of the state Division of Medical Assistance Programs, which administers the Oregon Health Plan…
“The letter said doctor-assisted suicide would be covered. To say to someone, `we’ll pay for you to die, but not pay for you to live,’ it’s cruel,” she said. “I get angry. Who do they think they are?”… (emphasis mine)
Check out the full article here at Vox Nova. H/T to Jay Anderson at Pro Ecclesia.
June 11th, 2008 at 2:05 am
The sad truth about universal health care (or socialized medicine or whatever you want to call it) is this: you get what you pay for.
I look at my situation with an essentially broken back and the work comp system here in California. In three and a half years, I’ve had one surgery and another is pending. If I lived in the UK, I’d just now be getting my first MRI or CT scan. That happened to a friend of mine who hurt his back getting pizza out of his oven. (True story, and even he laughs about the cause of the injury.)
Do we need to make health care more affordable and more widely available? Hell, yes! But we can’t make it free without putting a lot of people in harm’s way. What we need, more than anything, is some cost control and better management of the insurance industry. Maybe someday they’ll actually have people with real knowledge about medical, dental, vision issues in charge. I know, it’s asking a lot. I’m hopeful that way.
Until the bureaucrats with their eyes on the dollar signs are put out of work and people with the real intel on what patients need are put to work in their place, we’ll have continued stupidity — whether the care is free or not. (But seriously, free “state”sponsored care would suck even more than what we have now)
June 11th, 2008 at 9:07 am
It’s sick that they’ll pay to kill her but not make her live. What is wrong with these people!