Charlotte Allen, writing in the LA Times, on the ugly downside of ObamaCare. Allen sees the same ObamaCare “solution” to the problem of escalating costs as I do: Rationing and the cutoff of care for older Americans.
Here’s a way for America to cut its spiraling healthcare costs: ice floes.
This idea isn’t mine. It’s President Obama’s. Or rather, it’s where we’re likely to end up if the president prevails on Congress to pass the adventurous healthcare reform proposal currently being discussed, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will cost about $1 trillion over the next 10 years. That’s on top of Medicare’s annual $327-billion budget, whose massive deficits, if they continue at the same rate, are predicted to bankrupt the Medicare system by the end of the next decade.
In looking for a way to fund healthcare, Obama has set his eye on the oldest and sickest. You see, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, about 30% of Medicare spending — nearly $100 billion annually — goes to care for patients during their last year of life. What if there were no “last year of life,” the president seems to be asking. The Eskimos used to set their elderly and sickly adrift on the ice or otherwise abandon them during times of scarcity, and that, metaphorically speaking, is what Obama would like us all to start doing.
The scarcity of resources to pay for expensive medical procedures will only increase under a plan to extend medical benefits at federal expense to the 47 million Americans who lack health insurance. So why not save billions of dollars by killing off our own unproductive oldsters and terminal patients, or — since we aren’t likely to do that outright in this, the 21st century — why not simply ensure that they die faster by denying them costly medical care? The savings could then subsidize care for the younger and healthier.
All of you older Americans who voted for Obama – this is the change you hoped for, apparently. To be denied treatments based on bureaucratic, one size fits all whim. All of you younger people who voted for Obama – a reminder – everyone grows old if they live long enough. This is what you have to look forward to.
A decision by a Federal bureaucrat will simply send the old out onto the figurative ice floes.
And remember: Congress is exempting itself and all Federal employees from ObamaCare. That should tell you everything you need to know about the merits of this plan to “improve” health care.
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are failing outright right now. You know that these programs are predicted – by the programs themselves – to run out of money in the near future. And you expect a different outcome if the government is running your health care?
Time to get rational, folks. Because you are going to lose the health care you like and be forced to take what the government decides you should be allowed to have.
And it will be a lot less than what the government gives itself.
Well, blue crab, welcome to hope and change! However, the math is brutal. Not enough coin to help everyone. So, before the old fogies can be kicked aside, They (we) have to be neutralized politically. Factually, money should be spent on the future, instead of the past. My wife is a RN-RRT and she tells me about what happens when an 85 yr old male is given major surgery. Unfortunately, most don’t get back out of the bed. Wasteful? Perhaps. I don’t know what the answer is, and I’ve done a lot of soul searching. Another thing is the poor people who are warehoused in nursing homes. My father passed after 15 yrs with Alzheimer’s and other psychotic problems. It was a nightmare without end. I was his only caregiver due to the fact that he had been so abusive in his past. The things that I saw as all of this happened showed me where the money is going. Major surgeries on people who aren’t going to have any quality of life, just because the family doesn’t want to let them go. I’ll go ahead and say that major surgery on the taxpayer’s dime after 77-80 doesn’t make any sense if they aren’t physically and mentally fit. Does that sound harsh? Well, I’ve seen poor unfortunates hooked up to feeding machines, not being allowed to die with dignity, as the nursing home leeches away their money.
Blue Crab, it’s a known fact that if you deny serices to a hundred people, only 10-15 will stick it out to a successful resolution. Now, I’m 52 yrs old with some health problems already cropping up. I quit smoking in 1990, but the damage was already done. So, I live with COPD. There are various other problems, but I’ve told you enough so that you can understand my level of interest. Alzheimer’s has run rampant in my family, and my aunt died the other day. I didn’t know what to say to my cousins. You see, I had power of Attorney, and My father had requested many years ago not to be kept alive. So, no feeding tube, pallative measures only. 2 yrs before he died, he asked to borrow one of my pistols with one round in it. I couldn’t do it. So, you see, I understand both sides of the “debate”, as it were. When I wouldn’t help him commit suicide, he became desperate, and cut his wrists in his bath tub, but I found him before he bled out. He knew his mind was going, and didn’t want to live thru that.
Are you aware that there’s a tidal wave of dementia headed our way? I certainly wasn’t. I’m trying to explain why I personally feel that an older person needs to be in mental and physical shape to benefit from advanced medical care. Honestly, I could have chosen to spend an untold fortune on my father without changing anything. Should an 85 yr old woman who has mild dementia be given heart surgery? After seeing what I’ve seen, I don’t believe so. The fact is, everyone dies, and I think the money is better spent on younger people who contribute to society. We are broke, folks, and Obama has spent what little was left. No one wants to think that they have to put Aunt Ethel on an ice floe, but if, say, 400,000.00 dollars are spent on Aunt Ethel, someone younger loses out.
You see, the elderly are a cash cow, and quality of life is ignored when money is involved. There have to be reasonable limits on what can be spent. Now if the family has private money, have at it. But, due to the fact that we’re BROKE, some sort of triage has to be done.
I realize that these opinions are’t popular. However, if it’s a choice between women and kids on one hand (the future) vs the elderly in terminal conditions(and I consider dementia to be a terminal condition) then I go with the future. I say this even though I’m almost certain to be showing signs of dementia within 10 years or so. I hope for a cure, but I realize that it isn’t likely to help people who already have damage to the structures of the brain. I’ve spoken to a number of people who basically are in my shoes, and we are all terrified of ending up like that. So, down to the nitty gritty, as they say. I don’t want to be kept alive out of a sense of duty by my family.
As for what the bureaucrats vote for themselves, well, as Orwell once said, some pigs are more equal than others. I don’t expect them to act any other way. Only violent revolution will change that, as our founding fathers foretold. That’s the reason for the second amendment, to be able to violently overthrow an oppressive government. Nervous bean counters don’t stray so far when they know they can be picked off. I digress….Ice floes are coming, whether we like it or not, because we don’t have anymore money.
Plumber, it is people like you that the Obamessiah and his minions are counting on. We spent most of the last century improving medical care so that people could have a longer and healthier life and you want to spend this century making sure that when they get there, they can’t get any of that medical care we spent so much effort developing. Why bother? Let’s just take everyone and give them a lethal injection when they reach the age of 65. That way we won’t waste any of the money needed for medical care for those who are younger. If we kill them off at 65, they won’t drain our resources. You could even make a special law that lowers the age for anyone who contracts a possibly terminal illness past the age of 50. Got cancer? Die, die, die! Do away with chemo-therapy and radiation treatments. No mastectomies past age 50. Transplant for someone over 50? No way, don’t even let them make the list. That way their good organs can help some deserving younger person.
Martian, I’m not in step with Obama. The views I hold were formed in response to what I’ve seen and how medicine was practiced around my father. He died in July’06, and so, really, Obama doesn’t have anything to do with it. I live in Texas, I’m bi-lingual, and I know what I see in the emergency rooms. Mostly Hispanic, mostly illegal, and just glad they’re here for the medical care. I don’t believe we should give medical care under any circumstances to illegals. Harsh? Que se vaya a Mexico. Go to Mexico, see for yourself. Nationalized health care, right? The problem is that we are BROKE. Our money is going to be severely devaluated, and then the fun is really going to begin.
Medical care in this country is as fine as it gets, for some people. My wife has watched folks die because they didn’t have insurance. I don’t favor heroic measures for anyone over 75 or so. That’s just the way it is. What are we going to do about the HUGE number of dementia patients that the Government has predicted? Why should we spend so much money on people when the end result is the same? I’m one of the folks who ain’t gonna make the cut if I’m struck with Alzheimers. How many readers have spent much time in nursing homes? Boy howdy, that’s some way to live. If we don’t invest in the future of this country, and by that I mean make some hard choices as to who we can help, then I fear for the worst. The fact is that our society is going to be so top heavy that if something isn’t done, then the whole system will collapse. If you inquire as to my politics, I’m a tea party supporter. Once was a republican, but disgust at fiscal policy drove me away. Like it or not, TRIAGE will be performed, no matter who is in office.
As this severe recession deepens into a bona fide depression, then, well, it’ll be “katy bar the door”, because, then, there won’t be any money. What the nurses are saying is that with national health care, every one gets something. Hey, right now, if I get hurt at work, (I’m self employed) – I’m sunk. In another month my wife’s insurance will cover me, so I’m hopefull. I can remember spending 600.00 a month for Assurant when my wife was in school, and it was pitifull, the coverage. Pre-existing conditions, you see. So, the money is gone, we’re all staring at the life boats, and I’m sayin’ “american women and children first”. It’s a hell of a mess, I admit, but here we are.
What can be done in a practical way? What will keep this country going forward in these difficult times? Each person has to answer that question in their own heart. Unlimited Senior Care isn’t feasible. Martian, do you realize that the Senior citizens of this country have been lied to for about 30 yrs or so? Medicare and Medicaid are on the verge of bankruptcy. Social Security ain’t far behind. Have you paid attention to the dwindling numbers of young people to contribute? It just won’t last. Most people have known it is a house of cards. Can you explain rationally where the money is going to come from? How about the growing shortage of primary care doctors? You see, it isn’t simple, and, yes, a lot of good people are going to die for a lack of medical care. What I’m hoping is that our society remains intact.
So, PPB, what gives you the right to decide for others? You have every right to decide for yourself, but not for other people.
My grandmother was about 90 when she had cataract surgery. By your yardstick, she should not have been allowed this procedure. Yet she did not die until she was 103 years old. At age 95 she took up the study of conversational German just because she had always wanted to.
You do not have the right to impse your decisions on others. And if we are, indeed, out of money, then the worst thing we could do is spend even more to assure crap-level care for everyone – until a bureaucrat decides, arbitrarily, that you can’t have any more care.
You may be quite sincere, or you may be another of the troll patrol, I have no way of knowing that. But I do know your reasoning is completely wrong for others – even if it is personally right for yourself.
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Gaius, cataract surgery is minor. What I’m talking about are major surgeries that aren’t outpatient, for example, such as cardiac procedures and hip replacements and the like. The point I was trying to make is that events are overtaking us and that we are going to be faced with such unpleasant choices. Do I have the right to force these choices upon you? Clearly not. As I have pointed out, my wife is an RN-RRT, and I’m exposed to a lot of what happens in hospitals.
I’ve been reading BCB for a while, and I know that you are expecting our economy to hit the skids. I see it everyday that I have a chance to work. I work for a lot of older folks who know what is coming. You see, I didn’t realize just how baldly the government lied to my dad’s generation to get them to go for social security. They were told that the government would pay for everything when they got old. Fat Chance! We had to sell his property to spend him down, and there wasn’t any choice. I’m glad, Gaius, that your grandmother did so well.
However, the policies of the Obama administration are becoming clearer. If he leads this country off the edge into financial ruin, then what happens next? He wasn’t in favor of giving his grandmother a hip replacement. I wish that none of these things were happening, but they are. How can Obama be stopped?
So, once again, what I’ve written in these posts are firmly held beliefs and opinions, which as stated, are mine alone. To be fair to my wife, she doesn’t believe that we are going to face such stark choices.
This is a great country, and our souls are going to be tried sorely before this is all over. You see, I read a lot. And I keep noticing small little problems, that, taken by themselves might not mean much, but when you add them up begin to show trends. For example, very few doctors are choosing primary or family care when they graduate. Saddled with enormous debt, they go for specialized slots that pay much better. Another example – Here in Texas, rural care is getting harder and harder to come by. And as the existing doctors retire or die or even move to where they can make more money, well, the problem just is getting worse. Nurse practitioners and physicians assistants are somewhat filling the gap, but there again, these folks are so deep in debt when they graduate that they are in the same fix. My problem is that I can see bad times coming, and I believe that if health care is severely rationed, which I hope it isn’t, then terrible choices will be made.
This is an article that is must reading at Belmont Club as it deals with health care rationing. http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2009/07/06/electing-god/
To the Point.
PPB, whether you formed your opinions before Obama was elected or not, you are most certainly in step with him and most certainly one of the people he’s depending on to support the crap he wants to put in place.
Martian, if you read my posts carefully, you’ll see that I’m looking for a way out, but that there doesn’t seem to be one. If Obama controls how the health care dollars are spent, and the conservatives keep hiding in the shadows, then Obama has a free ride to do what he wants. The basic tenor of my posts are one of resignation, when it is apparent to me that the RINOS simply won’t put up a fight. To be truthfull, I’m not optimistic, because the only way to stop him requires courage, and there is precious little of that in the republican party nowadays. Boehner tries, but it seems that our last, best hope might be the woman from Alaska, Palin.
Severe rationing is a given under certain circumstances such as a collapsed economy, a major terror attack such as a nuclear weapon, and so on. Obama seems to be bringing us closer to the brink with each passing day, so that is what I’m worried about. I would rather see our elderly citizens get what they were promised by the government, but I don’t think that will happen. So, Martian, Gaius, how do you see us getting out of this mess?