Showing posts with label Healthcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Healthcare. Show all posts

Saturday, June 27, 2009

RED ALERT -- La Raza: "If the American people found out..."


"Suzanne", a female caller to Mark Levin's show on June 25th, revealed the ominous secret of the Democrat health care reform effort.

I want to tell you that last week I attended a conference on health care reform sponsored by La Raza. And I will tell you that what they had to say, Mark, is scarier than anything that's been said so far on the health care plan.

The kind of comments that were made and the notes that I took... they started the conference out by saying "America does not need health care reform, but Latino immigrants need health care reform."

And someone from Menendez' office [Ed.: Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ] promised that he would make sure that "the useless barriers of citizenship would not be in this bill" and that he would make sure that they would use keywords like "streamline"...

It was La Raza, the Childrens Defense Fund and Senator Menendez from New Jersey, a representative from his office...

...Yes [they said they would get free health care for illegal aliens], these are my notes, Mark. They actually got up and said "Latino children need health care more than whites". And then they would say things like "you must go out into your communities, use words like 'streamline', use phrases like 'all workers' and 'all families'," because they said -- and I quote -- "If the American people find out that this bill is about giving health care to non-citizens, they will rise up against it."

...One of the quotes they said was, "We want to make sure we take care of barriers like verification, but we can streamline programs to the more affluent" and, quote, "Useless treatments for the elderly can be gone because we don't need to spend money for people who are going to die anyway."

That's a direct quote from that meeting. They also said, "We are very concerned there will be an effort to include" the illegal immigrants in this argument, so "we must make sure that we focus this" to the American people that it's looking like we want "health care for everyone".

And they also said that 75% of the children who will be picked up in this will be non-citizens and that 44% of the uninsured are non-citizens and they can't possibly allow the American people to know this." [Ed: Oops!]

Menendez' office said that he's going to make sure that "a family of four that makes $66,000 a year or less will pay nothing at all for the new health care. And he was the one who said he was going to get rid of specifics like "citizenship status" and focus on, quote, "equity for all workers".

And he said he's going to make sure that the Latino immigrants are the focus of the health care reform.

And La Raza said if they get this, they don't even care about amnesty, because they've fixed it so that one family member can apply for all extended family members. And... Mark, if you think we have a problem with illegal immigration now, wait 'til you see the borders when this thing gets passed.

"If the American people found out?"

Gee, what a surprise. A group that preaches racial superiority and divisiveness wants to enact a stealth illegal immigration bill -- not dissimilar to chain migration. The bill will reward illegal immigration to the direct detriment of all American taxpayers and especially the elderly.

Kind of puts Judge Sotomayor's membership in La Raza in a new light, doesn't it?

Groups like La Raza encourage the Balkanization of America. They promote mutually hostile political groups that do not form a "melting pot", that do not utilize a common language, and that do not share the principles of America's founding.

Fifty years from now, if La Raza gets its way, America will look more like Yugoslavia in 1993 than America.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Action: Contact Senator Robert Menendez at 202 224-4744, 973 645-3030 and 856 757-5353 and politely tell him we know what he's up to with this health care bill, that illegal immigration is not tolerated by the citizens of New Jersey, and that we will expose him -- as the anti-American traitor that he is -- to the public.

As for those who belong to or support either La Raza or The Children's Defense Fund, I would strongly encourage you to drop your membership and support. The racial divisiveness promoted by these outrageous groups is antithetical to America's civil society.

It's time to politically punish these cretins who are out to dismantle our country.



Update: A press release issued by La Raza on 6/15 mirrors the caller's report (hat tip: Oil for Immigration):

As our nation’s leaders consider health care reform in the coming weeks, NCLR (National Council of La Raza), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, strongly urges President Obama and Congress to make every effort to ensure that health care reform reaches all communities. No single community stands to gain as much from this important debate as Latinos. In the U.S., one out of every three uninsured persons and roughly 40% of all uninsured children are Latino. NCLR stands for health care reform that makes coverage affordable and accessible for everyone—all families and all children.

..."This debate should be about health care for all, and setting the nation on a pathway to future health and well-being. Adding layers of immigrant verification and bureaucratic red tape to a new health care system would guarantee that millions of citizen children are effectively barred from accessing preventive care and would raise the cost of health care... we are extremely concerned that some view health reform as a way to scapegoat immigrants... Making health care easier to use and accessible for all workers and children is simple common sense."




Other Items of Interest

Somali Coast Cruise Brochure
Dealergate: 40 Democrat-friendly Dealerships Become 42
Star Trek: The Stimulus Doomsday Machine
Rx for Disaster
An open letter to Colin Powell
Illustrated Results of Barack Obama's Community Organizing
True Life Fannie Mae Testimony
Jamie Gorelick, Mistress of Disaster
The Bidens: Hedge Funds, Hair Plugs and Ponzi Schemes
Unintended Consequences

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Top 10 Questions ABC's Infomercial 'Forgot' to Ask [Mister R.]


Our resident health care guru, an industry insider who uses the handle "Mister R.", hasn't forgotten about us. Ironically, he's been battling his own health issue but stopped by long enough to relay the following observations regarding ABC's health care infomercial.

Obama is pushing the "competition", like the battle for market share will be on an even playing field.

However, Obama is trying to stack the field to be so tilted that the private insurers will start their inning with two outs and no men on base, while Obama starts with no outs and the bases loaded.

ABC's infomercial never addressed the core issues of this supposed "competition":

1. How much do doctors and providers get reimbursed?

2. Does it differ by region? In other words, do you pay a doctor the same in New York City than one in Great Bend, Kansas?

3. How is fraud detected in the system?

4. Will doctors and providers be forced to participate?

5, Who manages the network?

6. Who ultimately decides the level of care?

7. Who adjudicates the claims?

8. Is the public option supported by taxes, premiums or both?

9. How is it that private insurers cannot do business across state lines but the federal government can (private insurers must file with each state and abide by that states rules and regs. Businesses that have several locations in the country must participate in a plan in the state in which the business is domiciled)?

10. Will the public option abide by each states mandates?

This is just for starters. I see Obama is considering taxing health care benefits and everyone who makes over $100,000 to fund the plan.

That is pretty ironic: the left pushes health care as a right, but if you have a private insurance plan, the government wants to tax your "right". Nothing surprises me anymore.

I view number 9 as one of the most critical questions.

As for ABC -- the All-Barack Channel -- I predict a ratings slide into oblivion. What happened to news organizations that reported the news? So far as I can tell, there's only one real television news organization left.


Previous Mister R.:
• Mister R. Chapter 1: The '47 Million Uninsured' Lie
• Mister R. Chapter 2: Health Care Insurance: Puzzling Questions No One Will Answer
• Mister R. Chapter 3: Obama's Pharmaceutical Delusions
• Mister R. Chapter 4: Obama's speech to the AMA

Monday, June 22, 2009

Calling the Democrat Socialized Medicine Emergency Line


Welcome to the ObamaCare Emergency Help Line!

For Espanol, press 1.
For Urdu, press 2
For Arabic, press 3
For Farsi, press 4
For Hmong, press 5
For all other languages, press 6

6

Thank you! Did you press 6? If yes, press 1. If no, press 2.

1

Thank you. To speed processing of your call, please key in your 9-digit social security number, whether it was illegally obtained or not.

5 5 5 4 4 3 3 3 3

Thank you. Did you enter five five five four four three three three three? If yes, press 7, if no, press 3.

7

Thank you. Please enter the nature of your ailment, condition or problem.

For Achondroplasia, press 1-0-0-0. For Acne, press 1-0-0-1. For Acrodysostosis, press 1-0-0-2. For Acromegaly, press 1-0-0-3. For Adenoids, press 1-0-0-4. For Adrenoleukodystrophy, press 1-0-0-5. For Age-related macular degeneration, press 1-0-0-6. For Agoraphobia, press 1-0-0-7. For Albinism, press 1-0-0-8. For AIDS, press 1-0-0-8. For Alcohol poisoning, press 1-0-0-9. For Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, press 1-0-1-0. For Alport syndrome, press 1-0-1-1. For Altitude sickness, press 1-0-1-2. For Alzheimer's disease, press 1-0-1-3. For Amyloidosis, press 1-0-1-4. For Anaemia, press 1-0-1-5. For --

*

Thank you. To enter the nature of your ailment, condition or problem by name, use the touch-tone keypad to spell the name, then press the pound sign.

4 (h) ... 3 (e) ... 2 (a) ... 7 (r) ... 8 (t) ... 2 (a) ... 8 (t) ... 8 (t) ... 2 (a) ... 2 (c) ... 5 (k) ... #

Did you select HEART ATTACK? If yes, press 2, if no, press 9.

2

On a scale of 1 to 9, with 9 being excruciating pain, how much pain are you in?

9

Enter your age, followed by the pound sign.

7 4 #

I'm sorry, the maximum age of treatment for this condition, as determined by Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research is Seventy-three. Thank you for calling.

Good-bye.

7 2 # ... 7 2 # ... 72 #

*** Click ***

[Call recording terminated]


Sunday, June 21, 2009

Cold Chills and Assisted Suicide: Why Every Senior Must Oppose Democrats' Health Care Plans


The gargantuan "Stimulus" bill passed by Democrats sight unseen ordered the creation of a "federal medical database of every American by 2014."

The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (pages 445, 454 and 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system.

It also establishes a "National Coordinator of Health Information Technology" to monitor the database.

This coordinator will have the ability to verify that "doctors are using treatments that are federally approved and cost effective."

The goal is to manage costs and "guide" your doctor’s decisions (442, 446).

The stimulus bill calls it the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (190-192). The goal that is described by Tom Daschle’s book -- which serves as the Democrats' blueprint -- is to slow the development and use of new technologies and drugs because they drive up costs.

Daschle praises Europeans for accepting "hopeless diagnoses"; he also criticizes Americans for expecting world-class treatment from the U.S. health-care system.

Daschle admits in his book that Socialized Medicine "will not be pain-free". He insists that Seniors should accept the aging process and forgo expensive treatments.

Quite simply, the elderly will suffer most.

How do we know this? We have many examples from Canada and the UK where access to medical technologies is carefully restricted and rationed.

But we can see it in this country as well. Oregon's socialized medical program is an utter disaster. Just days ago, it was discovered that Oregon's health plan covers covers assisted suicide, but not drugs, for certain cancer patients. The drugs are too expensive, but the suicide is deemed cost-effective.

What's next? Euthanasia of the elderly? It's not far-fetched. Euthanasia is legal in the Democrat utopia of Holland, where socialized medicine has become expert at rationing care.

There are more damning ramifications of the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research, which will decide the treatments you should get, who should get them, and whether they should be made available at all.

Using the "comparative effectiveness" (CE) approach, virtually every country with nationalized health care routinely denies patients life-saving medical treatments because of out-of-control costs.

In Britain, CE is specifically employed as a deadly tool to deny advanced drugs to patients suffering with breast cancer, Alzheimer's and Multiple Sclerosis under the banner of cost.

How do we know that the Democrats plan the same thing for their "Comparative Effectiveness" research?

A recent proposed amendment prohibited the use of CE research to deny coverage of health care treatments under any federal health care program. The amendment required "that comparative effectiveness research take into account [Page: S4127] the individuals and their treatment responses and their preferences, and it [protected] doctor and patient sovereignty over health care decisions."

In short, the amendment would "expressly forbid Medicare and other federal health programs from using results of comparative effectiveness research to deny coverage of any treatments."

The amendment -- to protect American Seniors -- was defeated on a straight party line. All Democrats voted against protecting American Seniors and instead supported the creation of a deadly health care-rationing bureaucracy; all Republicans voted the other way.

Every Senior in America should shudder in fear. With Democrat Socialized Medicine, assisted suicide is a certainty and euthanasia may be in the cards as well.

And where is the AARP? Too busy raking in dough from its various affinity programs, it would seem, to be all that concerned with the fate of its members.

In fact, Seniors should boycott the AARP until it puts its members first.

And they should call their representatives in Washington to oppose Democrat socialized medicine. To not do so would be -- quite literally -- suicidal.


Saturday, June 20, 2009

Why does Obama seek to crush free-market health care?


The Democrats' War on Poverty is nearly 50 years old, yet we're told there's too much poverty despite trillions in wealth transfers of every type.

The Democrats have run the education system for nearly 100 years -- with monopolies like the NEA and the AFT teacher's unions, yet we consistently hear that education is broken and that schools need more money.

Government was responsible for securing the southern border since the era of LBJ and it has intentionally failed in order to bolster the Democrat Party's voting base; this has led to the presence of as many as 20 million illegal aliens in the country thanks to Johnson's policies including "chain migration". It has helped result in bankrupted states like California as Democrat policies ensure a culture of dependency.

Democrats were responsible for implementing Medicare and Medicaid, which along with Social Security, are in ruins with approximately $55 trillion in debt. That's nearly a half million dollars for every household in America.

Democrats raped the Social Security Trust Fund -- there is no trust fund. They raped the Medicare Trust Fund -- there's nothing left. They raped the Highway Trust Fund -- it's empty. I could go down a long list of things the government said it would do, but hasn't done. Because the Statist Democrats are liars. They even moved these massive expenditures "off the books" to conceal the damage they've done.

And now the Statist Democrats are launching the most massive attack on the American people in the history of government.

They promise health care for everyone, but they will not -- and they can't possibly -- deliver it.

While our health care system is certainly imperfect -- because all humans are imperfect, including doctors, nurses, hospitals and insurance companies -- they are more perfect, more competent, more informed, more capable than all of the bureaucrats to whom they'll be forced to report: a bureaucracy that will make all decisions about your health care.

And it is easy to confirm the havoc that socialized medicine will wreak on American society. All you need to do is to look at how Democrats are trying to ram home socialized medicine: they're doing it as fast as possible with as little debate as possible. For the indigent and the poor, we already have programs like Medicaid and SCHIP and dozens of state programs. Yet we're told tens of millions of us must give up our private insurance and pay for a government-run program.

Democrats claim it will be more cost-effective and efficient. That's bulls***. The man who's had the least experience at running anything is going to unleash the most massive federal leviathan in history, nationalizing nearly 20% of the economy.

This has been the dream of the Statist Democrats since FDR: to force each and every one of you, whether you like it or not, into a strait-jacket form of health care. It controls you; the actual being, the person.

Nameless, faceless bureaucrats substituting their decisions for those of your doctor.

Deciding whether you will have an operation or not. Whether you will have an MRI or not. Whether you will receive a life-saving, life-extending drug or not.

And we know this, because this is what occurs in Canada and Britain and other centralized bureaucracies, where you simply can not have access to advanced health care, period.

Where will their new drugs come from, since we produce half of them? Who will invent the new medical technologies for them, since we invent roughly three-fourths of them?

Who will run the hospitals and what will they look like when the government unions run them?

Who will be responsive in a massive federal bureaucracy, where no one takes responsibility for anything, and yet they're all-powerful decision-makers for your family's well-being?

And for what? Why would anyone advocate dismantling our health care system for something that won't work and will further bankrupt our nation?

Because it's yet another payoff to the Union bosses and ACORN (but I repeat myself), who owe billions in health care benefits they don't want to pay.

Where will Barack Obama be in ten years, when the rest of us are struggling with a massive, out-of-control, federalized medical system that doesn't give a damn about individuals and is busy rationing?

He will be retired as a very young man; a very wealthy young man, who will have imposed his Marxist ideology upon this society and then walked away from it.

The politicians don't last. But their policies live forever.

And in every successive election cycle, the Statist Democrats will use the health care system to bludgeon their opponents. They will use health care as a weapon, rewarding you by offering more benefits for your votes and punishing you with less benefits if you dare to vote against them.

So much power for a faceless set of bureaucrats who can't possibly have the best interests of your family in mind. And yet they're going to take those decisions away from you and your doctor. And they've been lying every day to justify what they're doing.

They've been lying about the number of people without health care. They've been lying about whether the public is satisfied with health care. They've been lying about every aspect of health care.

They unleashed the slip-and-fall lawyers on the medical system, causing untold higher costs for medical practitioners. They've attacked the health care system relentlessly, driving up costs just like they've attacked the energy industry and the automakers.

And even when they have complete monopolistic control of a system, like the educational system in America, they want more control. It's never enough. They want more money, more regulations. More. They need to "invest". They need to raise taxes. They need to repress. They need to compel.

Because the Statist cannot make the imperfect perfect, even though he says he can. The Statist is more imperfect than anyone else.

I ask you to consider something: what kind of persons can Obama and the Democrat leadership be, to think they can do these things when history tells them they can not?

What kind of a mind refuses to look at the evidence? What kind of person would refuse to look at Britain and Canada? Or engage in arm-twisting secretly, behind the scenes? And use brownshirts like ACORN and the SEIU to intimidate organizations and legislators alike?

They're going to rush socialized medicine through the system, without any debate or transparency... and it's going to be a complete disaster on multiple levels.

Call the so-called conservative Blue Dog Democrats now. Make your voice heard. Help us stop this rush to disaster.


Based upon: Mark Levin 4/24/09.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Interpreting Obama's Speech to the AMA [Mister R.]


Mister R.:

Obama's speech to the AMA only proves the point we drove a few short days ago: Obama wants to protect his largest contributors while telling doctors how much they can make.

By publicly stating he does not want tort reform, he has politicized the process. And he will never achieve savings as long as lawyers can practice jackpot justice.

Even after the Wall Street Journal runs an article ("Why Doctors are heading for Texas") showing improvement in health care in Texas, the trial lawyers still spew the same, old, tired line: There is no evidence to suggest tort reform can reduce health care costs.

As the old saying says "there are liars, damn liars and lawyers."

There is a reason for that saying.


Related:
• Mister R. Chapter 1: The '47 Million Uninsured' Lie
• Mister R. Chapter 2: Health Care Insurance: Puzzling Questions No One Will Answer
• Mister R. Chapter 3: Obama's Pharmaceutical Delusions


Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Sneak Preview of ABC's Infomercial for Socialized Medicine


Need a sneak preview of the free, one-hour infomercial for socialized medicine that ABC will run for the Obama administration?

One segment of the show will reassure Americans that the long lines in public health centers won't be significantly worse than those in the DMV or the Social Security Office. Another portion will deal with the rationale for prioritizing illegal aliens above U.S. citizens and legal immigrants (to make their lack of prior health care treatment "fair").

Finally, an entire segment will remind Americans of the many free home remedies available in medicine cabinets, attics, basements, shoe boxes and moving boxes throughout the country. Like these.









Feel better?

Oh, and remember all of those bizarre references by progressives to a so-called "Bush Imperial Presidency" (only 356,000 references on Google)? I wonder how the drones like the real thing?



Images Credit: The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Pocket Guide to Democratic Statements on Health Care


In Green Bay this week, President Obama expressed an urgent need for health care reform and a willingness to accept any ideas that can help.

Obama said cooperation with Congress is needed in putting together legislation overhauling the country's health care system. He said Thursday that Democrats and Republicans can agree on most aspects of a new health care program, but he conceded there are gaping differences over how large a role the government should play.

The president told his audience Thursday that he doesn't have all the answers and that he doesn't want to simply submit a plan and say, 'It's my way or the highway.'"

He said he's open-minded and "happy to steal other people's ideas."

Yes, let's nationalize one-fifth of the nation's economy by August.

Obama always seems to be in a hurry, trying to ram legislation through without any time for a review. This was the case with the enormous and failed "Stimulus Package" that no one had a chance to read.

And now, Obama proposes to create the largest government entitlement program in world history, despite the fact that government has raped the Medicare "Trust Fund", raped the Social Security "Trust Fund" and offloaded huge Medicaid bills on state governments.

As for Obama's "open mind"? Roll Call Magazine reported this week that interested parties were threatened by Democrat staffers for even talking to Republicans about socialized medicine ("Baucus Aides Warn K Street"). The threatened private groups include representatives of hospitals, doctors and nurses. And the Democrats are threatening them with punishment if they even talk to Republicans.

Top aides to Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) [warned Democrat lobbyists] to advise their clients not to attend a meeting with Senate Republicans set for Thursday... “They said, ‘Republicans are having this meeting and you need to let all of your clients know if they have someone there, that will be viewed as a hostile act,’” said a Democratic lobbyist who attended the meeting.

“Going to the Republican meeting will say, ‘I’m interested in working with Republicans to stop health care reform,’” the lobbyist added. [Republican John] Thune said Democrats are using threats and intimidation to keep unhappy stakeholders silent.

“It is notable that Republicans are really finding their voice, and their level of frustration is building with the stakeholders’ inability or refusal to speak out,” this lobbyist said. “They’re getting frustrated. Republicans are doing it themselves.”

...But with Baucus’ office still warning dissenters that anyone who makes their opposition public could be permanently excluded from future negotiations, the groups representing businesses, health care providers, hospitals and similar stakeholders are still wavering on whether to voice their concerns publicly...

Obama and other Democrat thought-leaders are on record as stating that their real goal is to kill private insurance. Kill it outright. They want to shove it down your throats -- by August -- without review, without transparency and without any impact analysis on the health care industry.

What will be the effects of socialized medicine on the supply of doctors and nurses? Will talented youngsters want to work for a government-run system and make significantly less money? What will happen to the pharmaceutical industry, which currently provides 93% of the world's drug innovations? Or the private hospital system, or private insurers? Or your insurance? And your doctor?

The Democrats don't give a damn. They are secretly planning the takeover of one-fifth of the economy and they want you to shut the hell up about it.

Never mind that they have no way to pay for it, that they're slashing Medicare benefits by $313 billion while proposing $600 billion in new taxes... and that still won't be enough.

So here's your handy, pocket guide to Democratic statements on Health Care Reform:

So call (202-224-2651, 202-224-3121, 406-657-6790, 406-586-6104) or email the cretinous Senator from Montana Max Baucus now and politely tell him these four things:

• You work for us, we don't work for you!
• We want our voices heard on socialized medicine and we want you to stop threatening private parties!
• And our voices say: we don't want socialized medicine!
• And we want a fix for Social Security and Medicare before you even think about killing our health care system!

We demand to be heard or the entire country will mobilize to throw you out of office the next time around!

Be polite but firm. And keep calling and writing.


Linked by: Curmudgeonly & Skeptical. Thanks!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Obama's Pharmaceutical Delusion [Mister R.]


Health care insider Mister R. offers his examination of the pharmaceutical industry and the impact that socialized medicine would have on it.

I think many writers are hitting the healthcare issue on the head with their comments, so I want to deviate from that a little to another issue not getting much focus.

The United States develops 93% of all new and breakthrough drugs worldwide. The reason for this is pharmaceutical companies are willing to spend the resources and take risks in order to develop new drugs that people will use to improve their wellbeing.

The cost for each drug to get from concept to market is $1,000,000,000 to $3,000,000,000 ($1 billion to $3 billion) each. And that does not include the money spent on drugs that do not make it to market (that's over and above the $1 to $3 billion).

The United States then issues a patent for the drug, which usually lasts seven years. Now, the company could appeal and it would then last longer, but for the most part, the pharmaceutical company has seven years to get their money back. After seven years, it comes off patent, and any company can make the drug generically. And since "other companies" didn't spend any research and development funds on the drug, the cost to make the drug is very low, and that is why generics are so much cheaper.

Most times, the company that actually developed the drug will also manufacture the drug in generic form to squeeze more revenue from the market.

A person reading this might say, "oh, so that's why new drugs are so expensive." And the answer is, "yes", that's one reason. However, the other major reason will make everyone cringe.

Pharmaceutical companies then bring their drugs to other countries for their approval. Once approved by a country, they can sell their new drug there, but there's a catch: the drug is either hit with high tariffs or there are price controls on the drug.

In other words, the foreign country is dictating the price a drug company can sell their drugs. The pharmaceuticals still make money, but not nearly what it should be making if it were sold at fair market value.

People in the United States are furious that we're paying much more for the exact same drug. But the anger is misplaced. It is not the pharmaceutical companies' fault they cannot make nearly enough money by selling in other countries than in the United States. The companies need to make their money back, and they need additional resources to continue to research and develop other drugs to improve our lives. They can only do that by selling the drugs they've already developed.


The bottom line is other countries do not have the resources to develop breakthrough drugs, and they rely heavily on the U.S.

The U.S. has the resources because they have a free market system that encourages the development of new drugs. A government takeover of health care in the U.S. will result in huge cutbacks in research and development and a screeching halt to the development of new drugs.

President Obama can fix this problem very easily and reduce the prices of new drugs in this country: he should demand other countries drop their tariffs and price controls and pay the same fair market value as citizens of the United States. That alone would drop the price of new drugs in this country by 20-30%.

But you won't see that happen. Because other countries must impose price controls because they have closed, government-run health care systems and do not have the resources to pay for the drugs at fair market price. If they did pay fair market price, they would have to ration care even more.

Put simply, the U.S. is the last bastion of medical innovation. Our free market system drives the invention of new drugs. If, heaven forbid, government takes over health care, then our pharmaceutical innovation process will simply drop dead.


Related:
• Mister R. Chapter 1: The '47 Million Uninsured' Lie
• Mister R. Chapter 2: Health Care Insurance: Puzzling Questions No One Will Answer

Update: Commenter Fred notes, "The last major drug from Canada was insulin, discovered at the University of Toronto in 1926."


Thursday, June 11, 2009

E.R. P.R.: The Lying Liars of Socialized Medicine


The push for socialized medicine has begun in earnest. Radio and TV commercials are airing. Print ads are showing up in newspapers and magazines.

And the Democrat Party's public relations arm -- also known as the mainstream media -- is laying down covering fire. It began with a New York Times op-ed (what else?) by Nicholas Kristof exclaiming the virtues of the Canadian health care system using the anecdotal experiences of one woman.

Of course, Kristof studiously ignored Canadian medical publications like the fascinating bestseller Management of MRI Wait Lists in Canada (Health Care Policy, 2009), the abstract for which reads: "Excessive wait times for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies are a major problem in the Canadian healthcare system."

And Kristof carefully omitted trivial matters like cancer survival rates. The United States is number one in the world -- for all of its citizens, insured or not. U.S. females have a 63% of living five years or more after a cancer diagnosis versus 56% of European women. Men have a larger advantage: 66% to 47%.

The average survival rate for all cancers is 60 percent in the United States compared to 55 percent in Canada. That five percent would mean the world to you if, heaven forbid, one of your parents -- or one of your children -- received that diagnosis.

We can gain valuable insights into Obama's plans for socialized medicine using one specific book as a guide. Tom Daschle, Obama's first choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services, authored Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis. The book was endorsed by Barack Obama.

The book proposes the establishment of a "board" to set standards for health care. The board would be modeled after the Federal Reserve and the SEC, overseeing every aspect of care for public health systems. Thus the board would automatically come to administer Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Health Administration, etc., or roughly one third of all health care in the country.

Presumably Daschle recommends the Federal Reserve-SEC-Politburo-style central planning model, presumably because it's functioned so smoothly during the current financial crisis.

On Page 179, Daschle writes, “The Federal Health Board (FHB) wouldn’t be a regulatory agency, but its recommendations would have teeth because all federal health programs would have to abide by them.” Although the FHB would have no official oversight of the two-thirds of health care delivered through the private sector, Daschle asserts that Congress could easily change that aspect of the Board: "[Congress] could... link the tax exclusion for health insurance to insurance that complies with the Board’s recommendation.”

Yesterday USA Today reported that Democrats are using just that approach. "The biggest tax break in America — tax-free health benefits from employers — could be scaled back to pay for President Obama's overhaul of the nation's health care system."

By doing so, Congress would utterly and completely destroy America's private-sector health care system because no health insurance program could survive if it were denied the tax deduction. And it would never be able to match the inherent pricing advantages of a publicly-funded plan.

And using this approach, the FHB would effectively control the operation and practices of every doctor, every nurse, every drug company, every hospital, every health insurance company, every third-party administrator, etc.

On page 199 Daschle helpfully describes who the "losers" would be in his centrally managed system: "Doctors and patients might resent any encroachment on their ability to choose certain treatments, even if they are expensive or ineffectual compared to alternatives. Some insurers might object to new rules that restrict their coverage decisions. And the health-care industry would have to reconsider its business plan."

Put simply, government bureaucrats would decide whether your parents or your children or you live or die. They'll use statistics and actuarial tables and computers in Washington, DC to figure out which treatments are most affordable, where in the queue you'll be placed and how rationing will work.

The book states that the FHB will force and end to the "technology arms race", which he asserts health care systems use "to attract aging baby boomers with the latest diagnostic imaging machines." These are, of course, the same machines that Daschle says "help(s) doctors estimate the spread of cancer or the extent of cardiac disease without surgery." (Page 125)

Daschle believes those tests often lead to treatment; and there's far too much of that going on. To prove his point, he spotlights a study of 828 angiograms in which a third were likely to benefit patients, 50% might or might not, and 14% were not likely to offer a benefit. Thus 86% of patients might benefit, but Daschle claims the approach is too wasteful: "When the test revealed a narrowing of the artery, however slight, cardiologists couldn’t resist doing something about it."

If it were your spouse or parent or child involved, wouldn't you want something done?

In other words, the Obama-Daschle plan proposes to have the Federal Health Board dictate to cardiologists -- and all other Doctors -- which treatments can be rationed to whom. I somehow doubt that Daschle and his cadre of FHB bureaucrats would ever be denied treatment, though.

Daschle also offers a stunning criticism of the current private sector health care system: "Many patients with insurance want any care that might do some good, and plenty of doctors will oblige them." (Page 122)

Anticipating a massive outcry over this Politburo-style approach, he recommends two legislative tactics for creating the Federal Health Board. First, the bill must be passed in the first year of Obama's presidency, when he is most popular. Second, the bill must omit any details of the program. It must be nebulous and vague: "[the] Federal Health Board should be charged with... filling in most of the details. This independent board would be insulated from political pressure.” By "political pressure", Democrats want to prevent our representative democracy from interfering with the Kremlin of Health Care.

By hiding the details of the program, the FHB will be unaccountable to the American people. Which is why the Democrat-Statists are always in a hurry. With the Stimulus bill that no one read. The massive, deficit-ballooning budget bill. The choking deficit spending that quadrupled 2008 levels. And socialized medicine. They want to rush that through before the American people even have a chance to read the bill. That's how much they care about you.

No, they care about power. Acquiring more power. And taking more of your liberty and more of your money to distribute to the unions and the community agitators.

* * *

Freddie Mac: bankrupt. Fannie Mae: bankrupt. Social Security: bankrupt. Medicare: bankrupt. Medicaid: bankrupt. Postal Service: bankrupt. Amtrak: bankrupt.

But the drones still think the government can run health care!

When Obama said, earlier today, that he is not interested in socialized medicine, he is lying. Just as he lied about how the Stimulus package would keep unemployment capped at 8%. How it would revive the economy. How 95% of Americans would receive tax cuts.

This illustration is my depiction of our future health care system should the Statist-Democrats get their wish.


Update: The Obamacare Payoff to Unions. Based upon: Tony Blankley's "Daschle-Obama health care possibilities". Hat tip: Mark Levin. Linked by: Dan Riehl, Dr. Sanity and Libertarian Bass. Thanks!