No Such Thing As Death Panels?
2009 August 9
It’s already begun
From American Barack Corporation News
54 Responses
leave one →
“He was guilty of nothing, except that he earned his own fortune and never forgot that it was his.“ The concept contained within that phrase is what has set America apart, and made her the greatest nation on Earth. And it is the systematic attack on that concept, that this website is dedicated to fighting. This website is NOT devoted to making people “wealthy”, but rather to fighting the notion that the “wealth” they DO have needs to be “redistributed”.
Stay Updated
Get the latest and the greatest news delivered for free to your reader or your inbox:
RSS Feed Email Updates
[1]
It seems to me that the article you linked actually HELPS Obama.
[2]
It’s a government health plan, initiated by the state of Oregon
If it were a fully private plan you would have appeal rights
[3]
Why are drugs so expensive? I mean $4,000/mo? What are they made of? Platinum. In any case, I don’t see this as a death panel. All the insurance did is deny. If the woman can find a way to pay for the drugs herself, she can take them. Is the same as in Europe. No panel is issuing orders to kill.
[4]
If she had an HMO she would have extensive (and multiple) opportunities for appeal
Here, with a government plan, she’s just up the creek
They handed her a de facto death sentence
Ergo, a Death Panel
Please don’t pretend that you don’t get this
[5]
The point is, when Euros or Canucks get their death panel sentence, they can come here and be treated. Once the communists are death paneling Americans, where can these people go, or our people?
Bolivia?
Honduras, perhaps?
Some hospital ship out in the ocean?
[6]
MFG
Let’s say she goes through the appeals process and the drugs are still denied. Does this mean that insurance companies have death panels? Or the appeals panels can be death panels? In any case, is there anything preventing her from buying the drugs herself? I just don’t think the death panel is effective or accurate. I really wish we would focus our debate on the fact that the Obama plan DOES NOTHING TO REDUCE COSTS. Oh well, let’s agree to disagree.
[7]
Does anyone remember the 1995 Budget battle, where Rs were crucified for slowing the rate of growth in medicare/caid and ss, to prevent its bankruptcy? How the press went nuts and said Newt wanted the elderly living in drainage pipes?
And now, Ogabe openly boasts of $300 billion in reduced medicare spending, and openly admits that denial of care will be used to get there.
and Nothing……
[8]
India
My health insurance premium keeps escalating so dramatically year after year I have wondered if I get really sick down the road what options might I have
Google “Medical Tourism” it’s really interesting…
[9]
I really wish we would focus our debate on the fact that the Obama plan DOES NOTHING TO REDUCE COSTS.
denial of care reduces costs. Of course like any government program, illegals and AlQueda, and Obama’s political cronies will eat up whatever savings are realized from turning grandma into fertilizer.
[10]
I have a lot of experience with contracts and studied my Blue Cross insurance contract pretty closely when I got it
They might still deny me the care but I would have multiple appeals, could go down swinging and could embarrass the local plan by bringing attention to the issue
They might still get me, but at least I have a fighting chance…
[11]
I am at about $980/ month for my family, and I have outstanding coverage, fantastic.
However, I would happily pay from my pocket for routine med and buy insurance for catastrophic only…
[12]
I have $7 million in coverage. My agent told me that after you spend 7 million on health care you’ll be 99.9% certain of lying in a pine box.
[13]
People have to live better (I admit I’m a hypocrite because I’m fat) that’s the key
Diabetes, heart disease all of this caused by horrible diets, smoking, no exercise
We need to incentivize good behavior, or scare people into good behavior
Lower premiums for controlling blood pressure or premium penalties if you don’t lose weight
[14]
I remember when I was a lad, my dad paid about 450/month for coverage for our family.
Inflationwise, I don’t think there’s been much change in 25 years….
[15]
I went the HSA route, $5,000 deductible
I have to say I understand why Ochsner has a world class reputation; when I had to have my gallbladder out recently I was very pleased with my care
[16]
I am to the point of dropping the insurance. It is too expensive. For minor infections, I can go to PrimaCare and take care of the problem for about $100. If something major happens, I will go to Parkland Hospital. I mean I have been paying the taxes so that illegals get care. Now it is my turn.
[17]
Your employer is subsidizing your premium? At least partially? Premiums have been going up very dramatically the last decade or so for the self employed…
[18]
Why are drugs so expensive? I mean $4,000/mo? What are they made of? Platinum.
Chekote, I really don’t want to pick a fight with you, but you really need to expand your understanding of the way the world works. First, the ingredients in the drug may be very expensive to synthesize in sufficient quantities to create the drug. However, even if the ingredients are cheap as aspirin, the cost of the drug needs to cover not just the manufacture, but the R&D budget associated with developing the drug in the first place. Years of clinical tests and truckloads of paperwork to demonstrate the drug is safe and more effective than alternative treatments. It could cost anywhere from $10s millions to over a $1 billion to bring a drug to market — and the pharmaceutical company has to cover the cost not only successful drugs, but costs of drugs that failed somewhere along the line to make it market. For drugs that have a smaller market such as for cancer versus a broad market such as baldness the manufacturer must recoup the costs from a smaller pool of customers which drives the cost up. Finally, the cost must include profit to make it worthwhile for the company to fund the development of additional drugs. The end result is a drug that costs $4000 a month. If it will save your life, that is probably not a bad price.
[19]
If you threw all of the illegals out of the country, capped damages for medical malpractice and put in financial incentives for healthy living you’d solve this problem and help the economy as well…
[20]
Your employer is subsidizing your premium? At least partially? Premiums have been going up very dramatically the last decade or so for the self employed…
Yes, they are paying it, and I kick in about 30%. However when I had my HSA as a self employ, from 2006-2008, I paid about that per month, $900 or so, and had a $2500 deductible, per year, for the family. That also had the 7 million limit.
I want to pay out of pocket. It’s only fair to pay for what you use. I would pay, even if I didnt have to. It’s the principle.
[21]
Yes, exactly right….
[22]
MFG
I have insurance through my husband. It is ridiculous. We never make the deductible. Basically, it is good for major medical kinda stuff. Like I said. I will just go to Parkland. It is an excellent hospital. I just want have a private room and pretty decor.
[23]
Yes, I have $5,000,000 of coverage, beyond that, what would be the point…???
[24]
If you threw all of the illegals out of the country, capped damages for medical malpractice and put in financial incentives for healthy living you’d solve this problem and help the economy as well…
You are right, of course. But I don’t hear anyone talk about this.
[25]
Well, I am over 40 now (barely, heh) so I won’t race bikes anymore. But that’s another thing:
The government can deny you care if they deem you were hurt by taking a ill-advised risk.
I never had a bad crash racing bikes, but I saw some really awful ones that required ambulances. At 30+ mph, wearing nothing but spandex, trust me, the road rash is deep and painful, and bones shatter like toothpicks.
[26]
Chekote
That’s the reason to have the insurance, the disastrous medical problem, cancer, heart problem, car wreck with reconstructive surgery, etc
[27]
We need to incentivize good behavior, or scare people into good behavior
If Obamacare doesn’t scare you, nothing will. I’m in my mid-40s and in the middle of a program to lose 50 pounds. Just got back from a 4 mile run earlier this evening and I’m trying to permanently change my previously glutinous diet. I had a medical scare earlier this year that told me my warranty is up and I need to get in shape so I have a fighting chance in our brave new health care world.
For those in the same situation I would encourage you to maximize your health before it becomes too late. You certainly can’t mitigate everything that might happen to you, but you can significantly reduce the problems that are within your control.
Besides, even if Obamacare doesn’t pass and things stay the same it still is a pretty screwed up system. Your helping yourself no matter what happens.
[28]
I had to go to the emergency room in Feb for my gallbladder, had no idea what was happening, just blinding abdominal pain
Filled with illegals
I’m paying for them, me, everyone else too
What happens when the productive go on strike…???
[29]
Let me tell you something. Asphalt roadways are called “flexible pavement” in the engineering business, because they do in fact flex. As opposed to rigid pavement like concrete.
But if you smack the road at 30mph, trust me, it does not feel “flexible”, heh.
Medic! Sanitater! (If you watch saving private ryan, the combat scenes, the US soldiers yell “medic!” when they are injured, while the Germans yell “Sanitater!” which is the same thing. “Cleanup, Isle 5!” heh.
I used to yell “Sanitater” when I fell off my bike just to make my buddies laugh, as we watched that film and I had explained what the word meant…
[30]
Yes, MP, yes
I lost 50 pounds on the South Beach Diet in the last year and got walking but have backslid some recently
Still have another 50 pounds to go
Yes, we all need to get our health together before this disaster passes…
[31]
Heh, I tool boy1 to the ER a few weeks ago, at midnight, because he was running in the dark (out of bed, BEATING!) and cut his head open.
Guess who was in line in front of me? 8 families of illegals. Some looked very ill so we stayed away from them, got another room and glared at them so they stayed out.
hey Swine flu, you never know.
I don’t hate them, but they really need to get the hell back to Mexico and fix their own country. They are killing us, slowly, and once they get the vote, they will finish the job.
[32]
Filled with illegals
Same here.
[33]
I think we should send Mexico a bill for all the healthcare we provide to their citizens.
[34]
None of them speak English, none of them
How can you function in the country when you can’t speak English…???
[35]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m45HWD9sPKY
Look at 5:25, my grandfather was a panzergrenadier, tank infantry, walking behind the tank…..
[36]
I am on my 3rd tour of the P90X system. I will admit I have always been an athlete from childhood to now (40 in October.) I am 6′1″ and between 170-175 lbs. depending on the day and if the Mrs.’ has been baking. I feel great and look fairly well at the beach too. If you are looking to lean and strengthen up, it is a hard routine but IT WILL provide results and rather quickly.
[37]
Good luck MFG. I’m not trying any specific diet, but rather concentrating on portion control — the steady eating of less calories. That, and exercising to lose body fat and build up lean mass. Hopefully I can habitualize long term changes that will take me at least into my 60’s, if not my 70’s. Great genes on my father’s side, horrible gene’s on my mother’s side. Got to maximize what good I have going for me.
[38]
I’m up too late!
What am I doing, busy week, coming up
Good night all and God Bless
[39]
looking for “sanitater”, can’t find it….
[40]
How can you function in the country when you can’t speak English…???
Nearly every place has bilingual people. My in-laws are from Central America. They don’t speak a word of English and get around just fine whenever they visit.
[41]
I am 6′1″ and between 170-175 lbs.
Wow, I’m envious. I’m 6′ and my goal is 180 — I have 35 pounds to go. Seriously, I can’t imagine me at that weight. I haven’t weighed that much since high school. I might as well set a goal of 100 pounds and it would seem just a real to me. But, I’m determined to make it — if I can stay on course I should be there by December or so.
[42]
Well, I can’t bloody find it. I am beat. I’ll try again later….I mean like 20 years from now…
[43]
Look at 5:25, my grandfather was a panzergrenadier, tank infantry, walking behind the tank…..
For summer vacations, we used to go to Nettuno which is near Anzio. Some of the old buildings still had the bullet holes from WWII. My father is in construction and he found several bombs from WWII. He also got an old American Jeep from the same time and restored it. BTW, Nettuno is where the American cemetary for the fallen during the battle is located. Really amazing place. I think Bush I visited it.
[44]
Stay with it. It can be done and you know you can do it. Remember, do not get discouraged. Rome was not built in a day and neither was your body. Also, do not crash diet. It is very unhealthy and the weight you lose almost always comes back and usually a person will add a little. I feel like Rob Schneider but it’s the truth…. “You can do it!”
[45]
Once you go past 40 it is very hard to keep the weight down.
[46]
Ghost, thanks for the encouragement. I’m losing a pretty steady 1.5 lbs a week which seems a reasonable rate — and why it will take me so long to reach my goal. I feel great with what I’ve lost so far which is very encouraging.
Chekote, that’s why I think it’s now or never for me. If I hit 50 and I’m not lean and fit the future for me will be pretty bleak if my mother’s family is any guide.
[47]
Do your situps and crunches, and don’t be a gurly man!
[48]
MPT
I have to keep my weight down. I have a lot of diabetes in my family.
Good night everyone!
[49]
I like to eat. I eat a lot, but it is lots of vegetables, whole grains, rarely eat bread, I make my own no fat yogurt, drink nonfat milk, no processed sugar (except on occasion), rarely eat fried foods, if I do I scrape breading off, no butter, lean meats…I grind my own lean meats and make lean sausage, etc.
It’s an acquired taste and I don’t consider it a diet. It is the way I eat. I don’t exercise much now except for walking. We just walked a a 3.3 mile round trip to have some craft beers downtown and then went out to walk the dog. I need to get back into cycling. That used to be my exercise. 15 mile sprints each weeknight and
30 miles weekends.
[50]
RWY, you may make me cringe sometimes, but you always make me smile.
[51]
Just got a scale that calculates hydration and body fat. I was at 21.5% fat, I had good hydration and 24.0 body mass index with 5.8 bone. According to the chart that’s pretty good for a guy that doesn’t exercise a lot and will be 54 next week, God willing.
[52]
Just thinking about some things….
I understand Obama was a constitutional law professor. Did anyone ever say whose constitution he was expounding on? I mean, was it like…the Venuzuelan constitution or the Russian?
/s
[53]
chekote
Why are drugs so expensive? I mean $4,000/mo?
Chek, you can be such a dunce at times. Why are Rolls Royces, Gulfstreams and Nonsurgical insurance policies so expensive? Its either because the intended audience is small and the cost of product is high or the risks are so great that lawsuits are a given for the procedure.
I am on a drug regimen right now that costs about $6k a month if it were out of pocket. There are only 2m people in this country with the problem so there is not a lot of patients to spread the costs around to. That and the extractive raw material comes from the snot of pigs and cows which is expensive to distill.
Damn.
[54]
MFG
If you threw all of the illegals out of the country, capped damages for medical malpractice and put in financial incentives for healthy living you’d solve this problem and help the economy as well…
In a sense this is where the medical profession has gone wrong. They have developed the habit of sugar coating serious problems. Many procedures are offered, work but are very high risk. You go in for certain pulmonary or neurological procedures and there is a high level if something does go wrong it goes very wrong.
Not slamming the medical profession either. We have a very high level of care here garnered by dint of the hard work of many skilled practitioners. Its the administrative side that is not laying down proper expectations for all they see is a % for profit to the institution.