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The Ultimate Price of Universal HealthCare: Life

     There is one aspect of being a Conservative that makes me proud is that we value Life above all else. The sanctity of life is precious and worthy of protection. That is why I reject abortion as an abhorrent birth control measure, and want embryonic stem cell research limited and neither should receive Federal funding; on a side note I believe adult stem cell research holds out the best chance of medical miracles (actually not miracles but real treatments/cures).
     The greatest fear that I have regarding HealthCare Reform, or Health Insurance reform as it now seems to be called, as one more arena for the government to decide life. The scariest aspect of any bureaucracy deciding the who/what/when/where medical decisions, leaving the patient and doctor on the sidelines to abide by the whims of some committee. There is no question that when the bureaucracy makes decisions based on economic factors the lives of those who should be most protected will fall by the wayside. The elderly, the infirm and the youngest will suffer the greatest. Is it worth saving an elderly grandmother if her life is in jeopardy? Should the committee accept treatment and not merely make the patient comfortable, but should they allow treatment to cure the ailment? In Oregon, the answer is "no." This is the reality of a bureaucracy making decisions. The Universal Healthcare of Oregon has run into the dilemma, and the result is not pretty:
 
By Michael Laprarie on Health Care
(July 31, 2008) Barbara Wagner has one wish - for more time. "I'm not ready, I'm not ready to die," the Springfield woman said. "I've got things I'd still like to do."
Her doctor offered hope in the new chemotherapy drug Tarceva, but the Oregon Health Plan sent her a letter telling her the cancer treatment was not approved.
Instead, the letter said, the plan would pay for comfort care, including "physician aid in dying," better known as assisted suicide.
"I told them, I said, 'Who do you guys think you are?' You know, to say that you'll pay for my dying, but you won't pay to help me possibly live longer?' " Wagner said.
Dr. Som Saha, chairman of the commission that sets policy for the Oregon Health Plan, said Wagner is making an "unfortunate interpretation" of the letter and that no one is telling her the health plan will only pay for her to die.
[...]
Saha said state health officials do not consider whether it is cheaper for someone in the health plan to die than live. However, he admitted they must consider the state's limited dollars when dealing with a case such as Wagner's.
"If we invest thousands and thousands of dollars in one person's days to weeks, we are taking away those dollars from someone," Saha said. (emphasis added)
Source: Wizbang

     This example is one of the best arguments against socializing and/or nationalizing our healthcare system. If the government steps in to rule on life or death situations based on a set of bureaucratic rules, do you think that they will make the 'right' decision? Will those decisions be politically motivated? Will the lives of the elderly and say the very ill young be valued the same as a working 30 year old? If the life of an 80 year old is put up against the 30 year old whose life will be chosen? These are not decisions I want made by some green shade wearing bureaucrat.
 
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Health(Care) Insurance Reform IS A Stepping Stone To...

      No good crisis is ever left to its own demise. The current rush to cram HealthCare Reform by the Democrats is merely a stepping stone to get Single Payer HealthCare in the United States. We political junkies on the right warned that then candidate Obama was telling us exactly what he was out to do. From the beginning he has let slip his ultimate goal: to remake the United States into a liberal utopia.
     It was no mistake when he spoke with Joe the Plumber and he made it clear that "…when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody." Htere are many on the left for whom this is just fine and dandy. However, there is a great many who reject that philosophy out of hand. The reformation of HealthCare has become the ultimate definition of the direction our government. The beginning came about with the crisis of economic stimulus.
     If we didn't pass the stimulus the world was going to end.  Economic ruin, the financial world was evil, the executives were all crooks. the Democrats threw millions, billions, a trillion dollars (now we're talking real money)at the problem without a real plan. There was legislation with well over 1000 pages and we still have no idea what was in the plan. Boondoggle. Now the same will be done to HealthCare.
     Legislation with 1017 pages. A document the brightest legal minds and the vast majority in Congress haven't even read. There is no way we can know what will become of our Health Care system until well after its enactment. This is the leadership that voters chose with the misnomer "change."
     I do not believe this is the change many believed they would get. It is finally time that voters and those who tend to quietly sit on the sidelines awaken to the madness. The first step in the direction in the socialization of America began after January 20th. General Motors was is now Governemnt Motors. Banks have become nationalized and next is 1/6th of the economy, Healthcare. Obama told us on the campaign trail and before:

Obama (D-IL): “I don’t think we’re going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There’s going to be potentially some transition process” (3/24/07, at SEIU “Universal Health Care Forum”); “I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal health care system” (2003 at AFL-CIO event):

(Source: Red State)
Barney Frank followed it up recently:
Barney Frank (D-MA) says reagrding Healthcare Reform is not ready for passage: "...because we don’t have the votes for it. I wish we did. I think if we get a good public option it could lead to single payer, and that’s the best way to reach single payer. Saying you’ll do nothing until you get single payer is a sure way never to get it. (Emphasis mine).

     I am one who is willing to have the discussion and/ordebate that we need some reform in the HealthCare Sytem. What we can't have is the government takeover. I, also believe that our smartest and brightest have some answers. htat said we dont need to rush through it to prove a political point. This has been a outright overreach by Democrats and the enactment of another entitlement is going toplunge the US into debts and deficits for as long as the eye can see.
     Fortunately, the Democratic Congress couldn't pull out all the stops and get the mess passed. Now they must face the music at home during their August recess. If they won't read the darn legislation at the very least they will have to listen to their constituents; and it hasn't been pretty- ask Kathleen Sebileius and Arlen Specter (ouch, heh!):
 

 
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