I believe there will be many, many problems with the proposed government health care bill (of which we have very few details yet), but one of the most egregious parts of this bill will be the rationing of health care services.
Mr. Daschle has already stated that health care reform "will not be pain free." What does that mean? Well, the stimulus bill has already provided for a federal agency to ration health care. With a budget of over 1 billion, the new Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research has been given the mandate to oversee doctors and hospitals to make sure physicians are giving what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective treatment.
This will inevitably lead to rationing of health care. As House Appropriations Chaiman Obey (D-Wis) describes it, treatments and medications "that are found to be less effective and in some cases, more expensive, will no longer be prescribed." This will first affect federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
But it was also be part of any federal Health Care proposals.
The council is modeled after Great Britain's National Institute for Health and Clinical Effectiveness, nicknamed "NICE". NICE judges whether a medication or procedure is cost effective. Currently, NICE has denied effective treatments for kidney cancer, colon cancer, ovarian cancer, Alzheimer's, and rheumatoid arthritis. This means people are dying or in pain because they cannot access clinically proven drugs.
This is morally and ethically wrong. What's more, it will stifle research and development of new medicines and treatments, and, even more, it will not save money. This type of cost/benefit analysis must be researched before being applied, and this research is estimated to cost more than any savings realized.
Mr. Daschle has already stated that health care reform "will not be pain free." What does that mean? Well, the stimulus bill has already provided for a federal agency to ration health care. With a budget of over 1 billion, the new Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research has been given the mandate to oversee doctors and hospitals to make sure physicians are giving what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective treatment.
This will inevitably lead to rationing of health care. As House Appropriations Chaiman Obey (D-Wis) describes it, treatments and medications "that are found to be less effective and in some cases, more expensive, will no longer be prescribed." This will first affect federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
But it was also be part of any federal Health Care proposals.
The council is modeled after Great Britain's National Institute for Health and Clinical Effectiveness, nicknamed "NICE". NICE judges whether a medication or procedure is cost effective. Currently, NICE has denied effective treatments for kidney cancer, colon cancer, ovarian cancer, Alzheimer's, and rheumatoid arthritis. This means people are dying or in pain because they cannot access clinically proven drugs.
This is morally and ethically wrong. What's more, it will stifle research and development of new medicines and treatments, and, even more, it will not save money. This type of cost/benefit analysis must be researched before being applied, and this research is estimated to cost more than any savings realized.
WARNING: Editorial!!
But the most important point is the moral emptiness of this kind of health care rationing. How can you deny life saving treatments to fellow human beings? I daresay this type of thinking comes out a world view that does not value human life. President Obama has shown--by upholding partial birth abortions and the murder of born-alive babies in botched abortions--that human souls have worth only by fiat. There is no intrinsic, God-given merit in human life unless it is economically beneficial to society--as determined by the government.
From:
BBC
Bloomberg.com
BBC
Bloomberg.com
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