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

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Control Freaks, Chapter Eleventy Billion: San Fran Ban of Happy Meals Imminent

In the future when I post an article on the constant encroachment by Democrats on our individual liberties, I intend to use the prefix Control Freaks. Because that's the best two-word summary I can come up with for the inane, arbitrary dictates dreamed up by the likes of Bloomberg (not the news service, the idiot mayor), who wants to ban salt in Manhattan restaurants.

San Francisco -- or, as I like to call it, Moonbase Pelosi -- is the latest local government to demonstrate a complete lack of restraint when it comes to regulating the citizenry. In this case, it appears a lunatic somehow broke into a meeting of the city's board of supervisors and introduced legislation to ban Happy Meals.

Supervisor Mar introduces Healthy Meal Incentive legislation, which sets nutritional standards for restaurant food that is accompanied by toys or other youth focused incentive items. This legislation is aimed at promoting healthy eating habits and to address issues related to childhood obesity...

...Fast food restaurants target children and youth by offering toys and other incentive items. The Healthy Meal Incentive legislation would encourage restaurants to provide healthier meal options. To provide an incentive item, meals must contain fruits and vegetables, not exceed 600 calories or 200 calories for a single food item and must not have beverages that have excessive fat or sugar.”

These leftist nutbags want to control your meals, your health care, your light bulbs, the size of your toilet tanks, what kind of cars you drive, how much water flows through your shower head, and every other aspect of your lives.

And, trivial though the Happy Meal example may sound, it is yet another reminder that these Democrat control freaks are bent on nothing less than tyranny. In fact, someday, they must hope to achieve a totalitarian form of government. Because they don't trust the individual. They don't believe in personal responsibility. And -- because they willfully defy their own oaths of office -- they are rapidly destroying the fabric of our society.


Please! Someone call 9-1-1! Eugene Robinson Just O.D.'ed on Stupid Pills!

Something is very wrong with the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson. The proof is in the pudding or, in this case, the bowl full of stupid served up by Gene on Friday. His column, entitled "President Obama's winning streak", describes the under-appreciated management skills of #44.

This is a radical break from journalistic convention, I realize, but today I'd like to give credit where it's due -- specifically, to President Obama. Quiet as it's kept, he's on a genuine winning streak... look at what he's accomplished in just the past few weeks. Let me highlight four recent headlines:

"Last U.S. combat troops leave Iraq" ... [Without thanking Bush 43 for the surge he opposed]

"General Motors to launch stock offering" ... [Another union payoff]

"Gulf oil spill contained" ... [With 23,000 unnecessary job losses]

"President wades into mosque controversy" ... [On the wrong side, as usual]

He still hasn't walked on water, though. What's wrong with the man?

Back in the little land we like to call "Reality", Americans are suffering. In the nearly four years that the Pelosi-Obama-Reid Democrats have held Congress, the private sector has disappeared faster than a sack of Chips Ahoy in front of Rosie O'Donnell.

The Democrats have given us:

* Three straight years of job losses, an unemployment rate that has more than doubled to nearly 10%, and a true (U-6) underemployment rate of nearly 18%;

* A national debt that has ballooned to over $13 trillion, a catastrophic increase of 60%;

* A $787 (now $860) billion pork-, bribe- and boondoggle-laden "stimulus" bill, which not only failed to stimulate the economy, but helped bankrupt the country;

* Record high home foreclosures that the American taxpayer is on the hook for thanks to the Democrats' favorite job shops: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac;

* Another "jobs bill" that cost taxpayers $18 billion, yet created no "jobs"... along with a $26 billion "teachers' jobs bill" that simply kicks the fiscal responsibility can down the road and rewards the AFT and NEA teachers' unions;

* The $700 billion TARP bill to bailout banks that couldn't balance their books; and...

* The 2,000+ page health care takeover bill, which leaves the American taxpayer on the hook for another $2.6 trillion to pay for this new "entitlement."

Yes, Americans are grateful for the work of the Obama Democrats. Stimulus. TARP. ObamaCare. $200 million in Stimulus propaganda construction signs. And union payoffs and political bribes -- used to pass this mess -- as far as the eye can see.

Eugene Robinson's latest excretion does prove one point:

WaPo's management team needs to start random drug-testing.


Saturday, August 21, 2010

Good News: Obama Summer of Recovery Continues as Insurance Companies Begin Mass Layoffs Thanks to DemCare

Remember: you'll get to keep your plan if you like it. And your costs won't go up. In fact, they'll go down. Or something.

Assurant health cutting jobs ahead of health reform implementation: "Milwaukee-based Insurer Assurant Inc. is cutting its workforce in various locations around America ahead of health care reform implementation."

NC's largest health insurer to cut jobs: "Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina will contract with Dallas-based Sourcecorp for some data entry work... The company wants to cut its total operating costs by 20 percent, or $200 million, by 2014. That's when much of the federal health care law takes effect."

WakeMed begins $87M cost-cutting effort: "Wake County's largest hospital system plans to slash annual operating costs by as much as $87 million as it makes changes recommended by an outside consulting firm... efforts likely will include eliminating jobs in some departments... The hospital also may phase out some services where it's not the market leader, such as providing chemotherapy and other cancer treatment."

Houston Employers chop 17,000 jobs in area: "Finance and health care companies are holding back on hiring because of uncertainties about recent federal regulations, he said. The moratorium on deep-water drilling has also caused energy companies to be more cautious about domestic expansion."

Latest round of layoffs under way at Addison Gilbert: "CEO warns this week's actions 'only the beginning'... A second round of layoffs began yesterday at Northeast Hospital Corp., as the health care organization looks to eliminate up to 100 full-time positions."

Unhealthy time for insurance brokers: "Health insurance brokers that serve small businesses and individuals are concerned that new federal regulations due next year could reduce their sales commissions, forcing some out of business and others to lay off employees... Some health insurers that serve Southeast Michigan, including Priority Health, Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, already have informed agents of commission cuts, partially because of changes stemming from the recently approved health care reform bill."

A.M. Best Maintains Negative Outlook for Health Insurers: "A.M. Best Co. is maintaining a negative outlook for health insurance companies. The driving factors are the struggles to grow revenue and the near-term impact from the implementation of health care reform... With the phased-in implementation of health care reform beginning in 2010 and full implementation in 2014, A.M. Best does expect to see some changes. One of the most significant changes in the near term is the minimum medical loss ratio requirement for individual, small and large group segments beginning in 2011. Although the definition of what is included in the medical loss ratio is not yet available, A.M. Best does expect to see margin compression as companies comply. Additionally, A.M. Best anticipates health insurers will try to lower administrative expenses [Ed: i.e., layoff workers] to help offset the increase in the medical loss ratio."

The passage of ObamaCare had nothing at all to do with either health or care. Its intent was to plump the membership of the SEIU as more and more people are forced into government-run health care options like Medicaid, SCHIP and Medicare. More SEIU members translates to more union dues. With more dues comes increased campaign contributions for Democrats. It's a vicious cycle in which average, taxpaying Americans are used as pawns in order to fund Democrat campaign coffers.

Remember in November.


Monday, August 16, 2010

If Barack Obama Was Intentionally Trying to Destroy America, What Exactly Would He Be Doing Differently?

Discuss.


Perfect Timing: Media Matters Beclowns Itself Just as FDA's New Death Panel Begins Process of Denying Access to Breast Cancer Treatment

If you look up schmucks in the dictionary, odds are you'll see this logo. The nutters at Media Matters selectively spliced Jim Hoft's pick-up of this story to apply their typical Streicher-style spin.

While I appreciate the free P.R., what you'll want to note is what the cretins forgot to mention. That is, the Susan G. Komen for The Cure Foundation -- not exactly a bunch of wingnuts -- are among those protesting the FDA's discontinuation of Avastin "for metastatic breast cancer patients, noting that it is effective for some patients and warning of a chilling effect on new drug development if approval is withdrawn."

In the kind of exquisite timing at which Media Nutters specializes, Ace o' Spades reported the following delightful development earlier today, complete with flaming skull.

Ho Boy: FDA May Rescind Approval Of Anti-Breast-Cancer Drug As Political Favor To Obama


The FDA is not supposed to consider costs of treatment. Their mandate is to determine if a drug is "safe and effective," period. If it's safe and effective, it gets approved. Period. That's their job. Officials there recently re-iterated that cost considerations are not part of their mandate.

...This presents a political problem for Obama in the case of anti-breast-cancer drug Avastin. Apparently it's quite expensive. His new head of Medicaid and Medicare, Berwick, who makes a point of talking up controlling costs by denying some treatments, is going to deny reimbursement for an anti-prostate-cancer drug, Provenge. Or, well, they're still mulling it over, which means they're considering not covering it.

And now there is the anti-breast-cancer drug Avastin. Like Provenge, it has already been approved by the FDA. But that creates a political problem -- how can Obama control costs and reassure the public that he's not, as maintained by his critics, denying useful and effective drugs to seniors in order to free up money for ObamaCare?

Oh -- here's a great idea! We'll just get the FDA to rescind its previous approval of the drug so that Medicare and Medicaid don't even have to consider reimbursing for it, thus sparing Obama a political headache, and merely at the cost of taking off the market, from anyone suffering from breast cancer, a drug already deemed "safe and effective" by the FDA.

Federal regulators are considering taking the highly unusual step of rescinding approval of a drug that patients with advanced breast cancer turn to as a last-ditch hope... The FDA is not supposed to consider costs in its decisions, but if the agency rescinds approval, insurers are likely to stop paying for treatment.

This is criminal. To avoid a difficult political debate -- and the honest confession that "bending the curve" of Medicare costs to free up money for ObamaCare is going to require a lesser standard of treatment -- the FDA is killing a safe and effective drug and thereby outlawing for anyone, including those who can be helped by this drug and no other, and who are paying for the drug with their own private insurance or own out-of-pocket money.

Ace points out that your betters -- i.e., the Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangels of the world, who are above the law -- will certainly have access to any drug they need.

As for the peasants?

We're just numbers in one of Donald Berwick's actuarial tables.

And what will you drones at Media Matters do now? The pencil-necked geek named TBogg appears to have proffered an invitation for you. Of course, it could be time for you to have another slumber party so you can regroup.


Sunday, August 15, 2010

Democrats Gone Wild: California So Broke It's Assessing Payroll Taxes and Fines on Down's Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy Caretakers It Hasn't Paid

A KPBS interview with California State Assemblyman Joel Anderson (R) describes the tragic failure of the Democrat Party's brand of socialism.

Q: Tell me where we are with the vote on the budget.

A: We haven't had a vote yet. I'm in the minority party. We don't dictate when the votes come. The majority party does. Last year, we issued over 450,000 IOUs, totaling more than $3 billion. And many of these IOUs went to individuals and also to companies.

Q: Who gets the IOUs?

A: Vendors. Primarily vendors of the state of California.

Q: People who sell to the state?

A: Or people who have services. For example, we have Novis Homes in... in San Diego County. This is a 70-bed facility for Down's Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy clients. Many are orphans, their parents have long since passed away. And they're looking at a $270,000 fine.

Q: Can they say open under these circumstances.

A: I don't see how they can. Because they're having a tough time meeting payroll. And at the same time, we're asking them to pay payroll taxes.

I wonder whether the taxpaying residents of California's sanctuary cities appreciate the genius of the Democrat Party's brand of economic leadership.


Saturday, August 14, 2010

Berwick's First Strike: Susan G. Komen Foundation and Ovarian Cancer Alliance Decry First-Ever Medicare Denials of FDA-Approved Cancer Drugs

Just days after the recess appointment of Donald Berwick, the controversial new head of Medicare and Medicaid, the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance posted the following grim news: for the first time in history, an FDA-approved anti-cancer therapy may not be covered by Medicare.

Provenge, a vaccine to treat the recurrence of prostate cancer, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)... Medicare usually covers the cost of FDA-approved anti-cancer therapies. However, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is still reviewing whether it will cover Provenge, and at what rate.

The CMS statute states that Medicare must cover therapies that are reasonable and necessary, while the FDA is instructed to approve drugs that are safe and effective. Because of the conflicting Federal coverage and approval requirements, there are some non-FDA approved drugs (called off-label drugs) that are paid for by CMS. However, with respect to Provenge, it appears that CMS is arguing that while the treatment is safe and effective, it may not be reasonable and necessary. For the first time, an FDA approved anti-cancer therapy may not be covered by Medicare.

A life-saving cancer treatment "may not be reasonable and necessary"? Gee, that kind of decision-making by an unelected federal bureaucracy certainly sounds like a death panel to me.

Say, I thought the President said that pre-existing conditions would always be covered. Isn't cancer a pre-existing condition?

Oh. What's this?

Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Ovarian Cancer National Alliance Appeal to FDA and Key Lawmakers on Avastin Issue

Patient Access and the Impact on Development of New Treatments at the Heart of Komen for the Cure's Concerns


Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance (OCNA) today urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to continue to allow the use of the drug bevacizumab, commonly known as Avastin, for metastatic breast cancer patients, noting that it is effective for some patients and warning of a chilling effect on new drug development if approval is withdrawn...

...In a joint letter sent to the FDA and key Congressional lawmakers Thursday, Komen for the Cure and the OCNA wrote, "We are particularly concerned about patients who are presently receiving bevacizumab and the message that this decision sends about drug development for women with advanced breast cancer."

...According to Komen, the decision to use Avastin should be made between a woman and her doctor after a thoughtful conversation that carefully considers the drug's benefits and risks. Komen does not want to see access limited by Medicare and Medicaid.

Gee, and I thought no one would be denied coverage by ObamaCare.

Didn't the President himself say, "I want seniors to know, despite what some have said, these reforms will not cut your guaranteed benefits."

That's what President Obama told us, endlessly and repeatedly, for months on end.

Do you mean to say he was lying?

Folks, this is precisely why the cancer survival rate for the U.K. is so much lower than that of the U.S. -- and, in some cases, lower than Eastern Europe's. And why Donald Berwick's nickname is Dr. Death.

America's seniors are about to find out that having coverage is not the same thing as receiving care. And our seniors are about to pay the piper.


Update: Under Dr. Berwick, Death Panels Coming to Life. Hat tips: Valerie Ward and Mark Levin.

Monday, August 02, 2010

Judge rules Virgina's challenge of DemCare can proceed; measured response of White House includes toddler-style temper tantrum

Federal District Judge Henry Hudson ruled earlier today that Virginia's challenge of DemCare's 'individual mandate' can proceed, rejecting the Obama administration's claims that the states' lawsuits are 'frivolous'.

...the district court ruled that Virginia has standing to challenge the federal individual mandate provision, not primarily because it was acting its “parens patriae” capacity to prevent general harm to its citizens, but because it was acting to protect its own sovereign interest in enacting a state provision that conflicts with the federal statutory scheme...

...On the merits, we are surprised the judge took as much space to conclude that Virginia stated a valid cause of action, namely, that Congress had exceeded its constitutional authority with the individual mandate... The only question is whether Virginia stated a legal cause of action (or legal theory) that is cognizable in law.  Virginia certainly has at least a valid substantive theory to challenge the law, because someone with standing is always able to challenge the constitutionality of a statute on the ground that Congress has no constitutional authority to enact it, QED.  Indeed, we think Virginia ultimately should win on the merits, but it is even easier to show that the correct form of the argument was set forth in the complaint.  Nevertheless, unless the district court’s jurisdictional rulings are overturned, Judge Hudson’s discussion of the constitutional issues is somewhat instructive.  It shows he is not hostile or dismissive of Virginia’s claims, which is surely good for liberty.

The Obama administration responded with the kind of maturity that we've come to expect from the likes of David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs (or, as they're referred to in the White House, The Puppetmasters™).

Since the enactment of health reform legislation in March, several state Attorneys General have filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Having failed in the legislative arena, opponents of reform are now turning to the courts in an attempt to overturn the work of the democratically elected branches of government. [Ed: Does the phrase 'budget reconciliation' ring a bell?]

...The Affordable Care Act falls well within Congress’s power to regulate under the Commerce Clause, the Necessary and Proper Clause, and the General Welfare Clause... [As does Congress' power to regulate your shower-head flow, toilet tank size, light bulbs, automobile engine type, and other personal aspects of your life -- like the Founders intended!]

...That’s why a number of groups representing breast cancer patients, children’s health advocates, people with disabilities, small businesses and others filed an amicus brief in support of the Affordable Care Act, citing evidence in seven states that “preexisting conditions provisions, absent a minimum coverage provision, are a failed experiment. At best, they result in premium increases. At worst, they can cause the total collapse of a state’s individual insurance market.” [Glad the Democrats never resort to the politics of fear!]

This administration is flat-out dishonest.

Cancer survival rates are higher in the U.S. than in any other country in the world. By far. And 75% of all medical and pharmaceutical innovation on the planet comes from our "broken" system.

At some point, the judiciary in this country -- even some of the more left-leaning judges -- are going to have had enough of Democrat whining, attempted intimidation and -- well, I'm too polite to say what I really think.

Suffice it to say that somewhere Hugo Chavez is beaming.


Saturday, July 31, 2010

Nikki Phelps, R.I.P.

This is Nikki Phelps.

This is Nikki's family.

Bill Phelps, Nikki's husband, and her two boys -- Harry and Jack -- watched Nikki waste away and die from kidney cancer.

Tragically, Nikki's form of cancer was treatable with a drug called Sutent. But Nikki's health insurer repeatedly denied her the drug, claiming it was too expensive.

Who was this despicable health insurer? Was it Anthem, Blue Cross, Humana? No, it was none of those companies.

Nikki Phelp's insurer was was Britain's National Health Service (NHS), the model for Barack Obama and his hand-picked appointment for the head of Medicare, Donald Berwick.

Donald Berwick loves the NHS and has said as much. He thinks it is doing a bang-up job and has praised its practices endlessly.

Berwick was a recess appointment for his powerful post as President Obama knew that he would never have survived Senatorial confirmation because of his infamous, bizarre and blatantly socialist statements.

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country... [it is] such a seductress... a global treasure."

"[Among] the primary functions [of health regulation is] to constrain decentralized, individual decision making [and] to weigh public welfare against the choices of private consumers."

"Please don’t put your faith in market forces... In the United States... competition is a major reason for our duplicative, supply-driven, fragmented care system."

Berwick has routinely mocked the very free market and private enterprise systems that produce 75% of all medical and pharmaceutical innovations on the planet. The breakthrough devices and drugs aren't coming from the U.K., a simple fact Berwick appears to have conveniently ignored.

Sutent, the very drug that could have saved Nikki Phelps, was manufactured by an American company. As are three-quarters of all pharmaceuticals.

Worse, the UK's cancer survival rates are horrific compared to those of the United States.

British cancer outcomes don't just trail U.S. results; "they rival those of Eastern European nations." A 2008 study showed that cancer survival rates in the U.K. trail far behind those of the United States. American men, for example, "have an 80 percent better chance of surviving prostate cancer than do their English counterparts... [and there are] similar disparities in comparative survival rates for victims of breast, colon and rectal cancers."

• Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom.

• Some "56 percent of Americans who could benefit from statin drugs, which reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease, are taking them. By comparison, of those patients who could benefit from these drugs, only 36 percent of the Dutch, 29 percent of the Swiss, 26 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Britons, and 17 percent of Italians receive them."

• "British cancer patients are substantially more likely to die of the disease than those in other western European countries because of poor access to the latest drugs, according to an authoritative report to be published today." (Cancer survival rates worst in western Europe: Telegraph (UK) 2007)

This is the health care system that Barack Obama, Donald Berwick and the Democrat Party intend to emulate. No free market innovation. No competition. No initiative. Only government rationing with a monopolistic, single-payer in charge of all health care delivery.

Like East Germany in the Sixties.

November is our last chance to stop the kind of madness that killed Nikki Phelps.


Related: Nikki Phelps vs. Hymen Replacement Surgery. Hat tip: Tiger. Linked by: Don Surber. Thanks!

Friday, July 30, 2010

Darrell Issa's ObamaCare Caption Contest!

One of the few patriots in Congress, Rep. @DarrellIssa, named his top four caption contest winners. The challenge: come up with an appropriate description for the vast, new bureaucracies called ObamaCare.

Tied for second runner-up:

Joyce Ciotti, for Twister, Obama Edition

Also tied for second runner-up: Michelle Ray, for ObamaCare: Any Questions?

Our first runner-up: Mitchell Rosen for If you can read this, you're too close to the Obama administration!

And our winner is... ... ...Steven G. O'Dell for Do I cut the red wire -- or the green wire?

Congratulations to all of our contestants: in your own way, you're all winners. Except for those of you who are losers.


Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Democrat Message Discipline Matches Their Fiscal Discipline: Reid, Harkin and Union Hacks Spill the Beans on Lame-Duck Cram-down

Even if Democrats suffer huge losses in November's midterm elections, it appears they will try to ram through more items from the radical progressive wish-list. Immigration reform, card-check and climate legislation could all be in play before January.

To combat public outrage prior to the midterms, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Vice President Joe Biden are trying to tamp down the gossip wildfire, to little effect. That's because Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) are simultaneously anyone within earshot what they intend to do. Apparently they didn't get the memo, or they can't shut up, or they're just flat dimwitted ("all of the above" is also an acceptable answer).

“We’re going to have to have a lame-duck session, so we’re not giving up,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said at the weekend Netroots Nation conference of liberal bloggers, in reference to Democrats’ unfinished priorities. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said the need for such a session depends on how much work lawmakers get done before the elections.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has suggested the card-check bill, or Employee Free Choice Act, might be prime to move in a lame-duck session.

Bill Samuel, the legislative director for the AFL-CIO, said that the union had no specific agenda — from card-check to jobs bills — in mind for lawmakers for any such session, but that it would press lawmakers to work actively through the period...

Samuel went on to pooh-pooh Van Hollen's suggestion that the 111th Congress' heavy lifting is done: "My assumption is that he’s sort of responding to fear-mongering by Republicans."

Thus, at least three powerful insiders have confirmd that Democrats intend to shove their radical left-wing agenda down the throats of the American people -- even if they lose in a midterm landslide.

But they do so at their own peril. The American people are slow to anger, but socialized medicine, a quadrupling of the deficit, a takeover of two auto companies, and a faux financial reform bill have awakened the sleeping giant.

Democrats, meet the Whigs. Whigs, meet the Democrats.


Saturday, July 24, 2010

O, Joy! British Health System, the Model for DemCare, Begins Rationing Routine Procedures Including Breast Cancer Treatments; Donald Berwick Applauds

The United Kingdom's National Health Service is now -- officially -- collapsing under its own weight.

NHS bosses have drawn up secret plans for sweeping cuts to services, with restrictions on the most basic treatments for the sick and injured.

Some of the most common operations — including hip replacements and cataract surgery — will be rationed as part of attempts to save billions of pounds, despite government promises that front-line services would be protected...

* Restrictions on some of the most basic and common operations, including hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery and orthodontic procedures.

* Plans to cut hundreds of thousands of pounds from budgets for the terminally ill, with dying cancer patients to be told to manage their own symptoms if their condition worsens at evenings or weekends.

* The closure of nursing homes for the elderly.

* A reduction in acute hospital beds, including those for the mentally ill, with targets to discourage GPs from sending patients to hospitals and reduce the number of people using accident and emergency departments.

* Tighter rationing of NHS funding for IVF treatment, and for surgery for obesity.

* Thousands of job losses at NHS hospitals, including 500 staff to go at a trust where cancer patients recently suffered delays in diagnosis and treatment because of staff shortages.

* Cost-cutting programmes in paediatric and maternity services, care of the elderly and services that provide respite breaks to long-term carers.

...Katherine Murphy, of the Patients Association, said the cuts were “astonishingly brutal” and expressed particular concern at moves to ration operations such as hip and knee operations... “These are not unusual procedures, this is a really blatant attempt to save money by leaving people in pain,” she said.

...‘‘We cannot return to the days of people waiting in pain for years for a hip operation or having to pay for operations privately..." She added that it was “incredibly cruel” to draw up savings plans based on denying care to the dying.

...This week, Hertfordshire PCT plans to discuss attempts to reduce spending by rationing more than 50 common procedures, including hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery and orthodontic treatment.

Doctors across the county have already been told that their patients can have the operations only if they are given “prior approval” by the PCT, with each authorisation made on a “case by case” basis... staff shortages [are] already causing delays for patients being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer.

Every Republican who voted against the takeover of the health care industry should be thanked. This government-run catastrophe can't work -- won't work -- has never worked -- and it will fail as surely as night follows day.

Could someone call that punk Donald Berwick and get his reaction?

Maybe one of our beloved pro journolists, perhaps?

Oh, sorry. I forgot -- they have to caucus before they actually write stuff up.

The only solution to this garbage is: the free market. The system that Obama and his Congressional sycophants reject. Remember November, baby.


Thursday, July 15, 2010

Well done, Mitch McConnell. GOP slams the door shut on Obama nominees in retaliation for Berwick recess appointment.

I haven't exactly been impressed with the leadership and charisma of Mitch McConnell over the years. But he definitely deserves credit for pimp-slapping Rahm Emanuel and the White House earlier today.

Senate Republicans are still fuming over the recess appointment of Donald Berwick to head the federal agency in charge of Medicare and Medicaid.

Top 10 Rejected DemCare Slogans

10. Why choose an expensive treatment when pain-pills will do?
9. Assisted Suicide: Do it for the Children
8. We Put the Rash in Rationing
7. Ask Us About Our Discount Placebo Program!
6. Only Selfish People Beg for CAT Scans.
5. Take a Number! The Bureau of Health Waiting Rooms reports the average wait time is now down to 123 minutes (in some locations)
4. Quack isn't just the sound a duck makes: we're importing medical experts from Mexico as part of our new Health Amnesty Program!
3. Shut up, take a seat and wait for your number to be called, Mr. GB21708-4.
2. Rahm Emanuel perusing your medical records: what could go wrong?
1. Sound mind, sound body -- take your pick.
In retaliation, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) blocked a Democratic request Wednesday evening to advance two of President Obama’s nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Also Wednesday evening, Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee demanded a public hearing on Berwick.

Obama used his constitutional prerogative to circumvent Senate confirmation of Berwick by appointing him the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service during the July 4th recess.

Republicans struck back by blocking an effort to schedule a vote on two of Obama’s judicial picks: North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Jim Wynn and North Carolina Superior Court Judge Albert Diaz. Obama tapped both for the Fourth Circuit.

Berwick's recess appointment magically transformed him into the most influential man in the health care industry, wielding the power to set prices and regulate every aspect of health care delivery.

Berwick's appointment was historic for a couple of reasons. For the first time in memory, a President bypassed the Senate confirmation process without so much as a hearing. And Berwick is the only Medicare head to praise England's National Health Service, which provides measurably inferior care compared to the U.S. and, as a bonus, is bankrupting the Exchequer.

Berwick has written lovingly of Britain's bankrupt NHS: "I am romantic about the National Health Service; I love it... All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at healthcare in my own country [which is governed by] the darkness of private enterprise."

Berwick has repeatedly claimed that the NHS delivers superior care when compared to the U.S. He is a liar. And he is dangerous.

Not only does Britain rely upon America's pharmaceutical innovations, not only does it rely upon America's medical devices, and not only does it piggy-back upon our cutting-edge procedures and treatments -- but it does so far less effectively and with far more waste than nearly any modern health care system.

The infinite series of statistics don't lie. Berwick does, but not the statistics.


Related:
Good News for Seniors: the Most Powerful Man in the Medical Industry Has a Love Affair with Urine- and Feces-Soaked Beds
Some people never learn. Unfortunately for us, it's the Democrats, who think more marketing will help people swallow ObamaCare


Hat tip: @EdMorrissey.

Friday, July 09, 2010

Beware the Democrat who claims he has discovered the free market

By Victor the Contractor

Much has been written about the Obama Presidency -- and the impact it has on politics in the United States and abroad. Nine or ten figures of capital was spent winning his election, from selling the idea of a return to ethics or his plain promise that his would be the most open governance in history.

President Obama was going to throw open the doors to the legislative process and even bring cameras into the negotiations for health care reform. A huge gamble was taken by the Democrat Party, in that setting such open and lofty goals would be enough to win the election and that there would be enough momentum to govern and reshape the political landscape in their desired image.

Well, I have some bad news.

The White House has failed in its bid to keep the hearts and minds it so enthusiastically courted during the last election. Pledging to govern with an open mind and a televised process is all well and good until the swearing in ceremony, and then the rubber meets the road. Or in GM and Chrysler's case, the (unwanted) rubber sits in the showroom while the American people pay for a hundred thousand union members to pretend to manufacture automobiles of questionable quality.

In fact, this Presidency has been the antithesis of open. Nobody knows what is going on in the White House, least of all its principal occupant and his cabinet. From day one there has been an 'invisibility cloak' thrown over the Congress and the White House, both in terms of access to the process of governance and the legislation.

President Obama has established a Kremlin-like leadership style. He dictates from on high and has a complete disdain for criticism -- or even questions concerning his rationale. His is the affectation of the royal, who decrees and answers to no one.

His Executive Orders are now being challenged in court. And with each loss in court, he is inexorably losing fungible political power. No matter what political bent to which you aspire, a loss in court over an Executive Order is a loss in the public court of opinion.

And the first loss is the most shocking because most expected the courts to side with his vision of the world. A rebuke by the courts shows him to be human, fallible and perhaps even an outsider. Perhaps he is a man who won election but as of yet is untested in the role of leader. And the courts will be no pushover when the President chooses to enact extra-constitutional authority.

This man-child has used his 'Audacity of Hope' spiel to set up a Kangaroo Kingdom of sorts, where he decrees -- and the press trumpets -- his success. No matter that his policies are dooming the economy or that his lack of savvy exposes a Marxist agenda at every turn.

As a President he looks like a monumental failure already, allusions to the inglorious Carter presidency not withstanding. Mr. Obama has no plan to govern; he possesses only an agenda of nationalization and socialization, the likes of which America has never before seen. What a pity for those who actually believed in his flowery prose and evocative dream weaving! So desperate were the Democrats to have a modern JFK that they settled for a well spoken but incompetent SOB.

Leadership guffaws:

• President Obama said that the police "acted stupidly" in arresting Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., who was obviously picking a fight with a police officer. No matter that the officer was investigating a possible home invasion 911 call. Ignorance of the details did not stop the President from offering illumination into his skewed worldview. As CINC, he should have known better.

• "The American people should know that from the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort." Was that an effort to improve his golf game? He later claimed to have convened a special group to oversee the disaster. Why no one had heard of this group for 60 days... and why they waited to months act was anyone's guess. And are we talking about oil or the economy here? Does it really matter?

• The White House's tax-and-spend programs are bankrupting the country even as their economists decry capitalism and proclaim the failure of a market-based economy. Curiously, they ignore a 14 trillion dollar debt and a two trillion dollar budget deficit for fiscal 2010. But we have to spend our way out of the recession with China's money, don't we? The Democrats' strategy? Buying the unions and hapless Progressives: $50 million. Buying the unemployed and the illegal vote: $2 billion. A four trillion dollar budget while taking $2.3 trillion: priceless.

• The agonizingly moronic lawsuit against Arizona for trying to help ICE do its job is a blatant effort to legalize illegal aliens. Or, as a caller to Rush Limbaugh's program called them: "Undocumented Democrats". Their transparent project to add to Democratic voter rolls adds a particularly distasteful aspect to this proceeding. That the President's 'Justice' Department is suing to sideline a law they are charged with enforcing is beyond hypocritical. It leads one to believe that his ends justify any means. This is a new low for even Obama.

• The now-forgotten Health Care Reform Act saps a trifling $650 an employee in its first year from businesses with more than 50 workers. That "fine" balloons as the years pass to $2000-per-worker. I've been reading the numbers -- and there are too many new taxes to mention here. Suffice it to say that this bill is a candy store for the Government... and the spending will be legendary! That 85% of our citizens don't want this pig-in-a-poke is of no consequence to the rabidly socialist White House and compliant Congress. This bill alone could cause an economic depression!

• The Cap and Tax bill reminds many of the tortuous Carter Presidency, where a man in over his head tried to govern with the advice of fools and the enthusiasm of a funeral procession. Nobody could depress consumption like President Carter. And his speeches were greeted with immediate stock market losses (look it up!). Much like our present 'Pretender-in-Chief', Carter tried to cap our production, our consumption and every other aspect of our commerce. These steps will stunt any recovery and lock in our effective double-digit unemployment rate.

• The Spendthrift ethos of the White House may cause a Depression. In 1933 our Government defaulted on our bonds. We hit a reset button for debt. I understand that action caused a worldwide debt default and a deeper depression. I read that only the Netherlands repaid its notes -- and only as a point of honor. With a $14 trillion dollar debt, and a deficit that is swelling monthly, we can not afford to authorize unlimited stimulus bills that just put off the inevitable collapse of the economy. Do not be fooled, the residential and commercial real estate markets are still in critical condition. With a third of new mortgages taken out as refinancing and something like a third of housing sales being sold by the banks we are not out of the woods yet. And commercial real estate has not felt the brunt of the foreclosures yet as banks are putting off those proceedings indefinitely to forestall a collapse in that industry as well. Add to that a 9.7% level of (official) unemployment and you have the makings for stagflation and a repeat of the backing and filling of the economy like we experienced in the 1970's. Economies grow through consumption, not Government spending, welfare checks or unemployment extensions. Spending programs, especially on 'shovel ready programs' which are in reality just addendums to existing bloated budgets just drive up our debt. What you sew, you reap. And we are sewing a deep Depression in this country. We shall reap the whirlwind.

I truly hope that this article is instructive. We can't keep legislating our rights away and expect to prosper. If we allow this growth of government to continue unchecked we will have a welfare state -- and all of the blight and rationing that accompany it. Even the planners of the Health Care Reform Act admit that rationing will be the order of the day. They rationalize their plans: they say it will be more fair than an insurance company. But when has any government run any business efficiently? Name me one, if you can! Even the Post Office is going for another two-cent increase per letter. So much for streamlining.

Beware the Democrat who claims he has found the religion of the free market!

We must sweep Congress clean of the spendthrifts this November! Anyone who voted for Health Care Reform or "Stimulus" should be afraid. Very afraid.

--Victor The Contractor

 
 

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Good News for Seniors: the Most Powerful Man in the Medical Industry Has a Love Affair with Urine- and Feces-Soaked Beds

For the first time in memory, a President has bypassed the Senate confirmation process without so much as a hearing. Obama used a recess appointment to name Donald Berwick, an extremely controversial pick, to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He thus becomes the single most important man in the health care industry, wielding incredible power to set prices and regulate every aspect of health care delivery.

Berwick would never have survived Senatorial confirmation because of his infamous, bizarre and blatantly socialist statements.

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country... [it is] such a seductress... a global treasure."

"[Among] the primary functions [of health regulation is] to constrain decentralized, individual decision making [and] to weigh public welfare against the choices of private consumers."

"Please don’t put your faith in market forces... In the United States... competition is a major reason for our duplicative, supply-driven, fragmented care system."

Berwick has routinely mocked the very free market and private enterprise systems that produce 75% of all medical and pharmaceutical innovations on the planet. The breakthrough devices and drugs aren't coming from the U.K., a simple fact Berwick appears to have conveniently ignored.

Furthermore, the NHS is crumbling as we speak.

The families of 1,200 patients who died prematurely in recent years while in the care of NHS doctors and nurses might beg to differ.A shocking 2010 report by Queen's Counsel Robert Francis found that NHS patients were left unattended "for unacceptable amounts of time" in urine- and feces-soaked beds. At one NHS hospital, four members of the same family -- including a newborn girl -- died within 18 months of each other because of medical blunders.

And the numbers for UK health delivery are dismal compared to those of the U.S.

British cancer outcomes don't just trail U.S. results; "they rival those of Eastern European nations." A 2008 study showed that cancer survival rates in the U.K. trail far behind those of the United States. American men, for example, "have an 80 percent better chance of surviving prostate cancer than do their English counterparts... [and there are] similar disparities in comparative survival rates for victims of breast, colon and rectal cancers."

• Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom.

• Some "56 percent of Americans who could benefit from statin drugs, which reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease, are taking them. By comparison, of those patients who could benefit from these drugs, only 36 percent of the Dutch, 29 percent of the Swiss, 26 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Britons, and 17 percent of Italians receive them."

• "British cancer patients are substantially more likely to die of the disease than those in other western European countries because of poor access to the latest drugs, according to an authoritative report to be published today." (Cancer survival rates worst in western Europe: Telegraph (UK) 2007)

England's health care is primitive compared to that of the U.S. And they don't pay as high a price for their care because they freeload on American innovation. If we utilized their systems, Americans might worry less about paying for health care, but we'd get 1996-level care and long lines. Those are the immutable laws of supply and demand. Government monopolies don't innovate. Only the free market innovates.

In an interview last year in the journal Biotechnology Healthcare, [Berwick] said, "The decision is not whether or not we will ration care — the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open."

Even the New York Times has taken notice of Berwick’s controversial nomination. Robert Pear reported last month: “Long before the uproar over ‘death panels’ last year, Dr. Berwick was urging health care providers to ‘reduce the use of unwanted and ineffective medical procedures at the end of life.’"

Why would Berwick -- against all evidence -- prefer Britain's NHS over America's system?

Because for Berwick, care is secondary to wealth redistribution. His well-publicized statement, "Any healthcare funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized and humane, must redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate."

Berwick prefers the misery, desperation and death endemic to the bankrupt NHS. The Marxist underpinnings, for him, are all that count. Wealth redistribution is paramount and health care is a distant second in importance.

Berwick is a menace to seniors and an utter disgrace as a bureaucrat.

So it's another first for Barack Obama. They were right when they said his Presidency was "historic". Just not in the way they anticipated.


Related:
Democrat Health Care By the Numbers
Gee, I can't wait for ObamaCare, NHS-style

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Federal government: yes, we know Obama promised you wouldn't lose your health care plan if you liked it, but he was playing you like a fiddle

When you lose you employer-sponsored health care plan -- you know, the one that you were promised you could keep -- remember to thank a Democrat.

Internal administration documents reveal that up to 51% of employers may have to relinquish their current health care coverage because of ObamaCare.

Small firms will be even likelier to lose existing plans.

The "midrange estimate is that 66% of small employer plans and 45% of large employer plans will relinquish their grandfathered status by the end of 2013," according to the document... In the worst-case scenario, 69% of employers — 80% of smaller firms — would lose that status, exposing them to far more provisions under the new health law.

The 83-page document, a joint project of the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the IRS, examines the effects that ObamaCare's regulations would have on existing, or "grandfathered," employer-based health care plans.

Yes, it's true that the president repeatedly promised Americans that those who like their plans could keep them.

Yes, it's also true that he lied.

In fact, most Americans will lose their current health care plans, just like conservatives predicted, over and over again during this debate.

Which is why every Democrat must be voted out of office in November. Every one must go. There are no "conservative" or "moderate" Democrats left. Not when they urinate on the Constitution and spit on the American people, in deference to the orders of Obama, Pelosi and Reid.


Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Some people never learn. Unfortunately for us, it's the Democrats, who think more marketing will help people swallow ObamaCare

Top 10 Rejected DemCare Slogans

10. Why choose an expensive treatment when pain-pills will do?
9. Assisted Suicide: Do it for the Children
8. We Put the Rash in Rationing
7. Ask Us About Our Discount Placebo Program!
6. Only Selfish People Beg for CAT Scans.
5. Take a Number! The Bureau of Health Waiting Rooms reports the average wait time is now down to 123 minutes (in some locations)
4. Quack isn't just the sound a duck makes: we're importing medical experts from Mexico as part of our new Health Amnesty Program!
3. Shut up, take a seat and wait for your number to be called, Mr. GB21708-4.
2. Rahm Emanuel perusing your medical records: what could go wrong?
1. Sound mind, sound body -- take your pick.
Public disapproval of Congress is at record levels and the President has chosen to sell DemCare for the umpteenth time -- thinking, perhaps, that the umpteenth time is a charm. It's too late. Everyone knows that DemCare is a deficit-exploding disaster. As The Los Angeles Times reiterated last week, "Democrats in Congress fail[ed] the sales pitch."

Consider the ramifications of DemCare:

26% of companies surveyed in May said they may cut hours for employees who currently work 30 or more so they can afford to stay in business after the ObamaCare forces them to pay for coverage.

• The President’s own Medicare actuary states that DemCare slashes Medicare by $575 billion to help pay for the massive new and unaffordable entitlement program.

• The medical device manufacturer Medtronic is contemplating laying off 1,000 workers to pay for DemCare's new medical device tax.

• Large employers like AT&T -- which would save $4.1 billion a year -- are strongly considering dropping health coverage for employees and dumping them into DemCare.

• Senior enrollment in popular Medicare Advantage programs will be slashed in half.

• To top it all off, $250 Medicare checks -- money we don't have -- will be sent to seniors to help get them addicted to the new normal. Unfortunately, their grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be paying off those $250 checks -- with interest -- to foreigners. Unless the whole system collapses before then.

America's leading organization of small businesses -- the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) -- has joined with the Attorneys General of 20 states to sue the Obama Administration over its unconstitutional DemCare program.

Here's a news flash for Obama, Pelosi, Reid and the rest of the National Socialist Democrat Party: no amount of speeches, no amount of SEIU-funded television ads, no amount of threats, no amount of bribes earmarks, no amount of payoffs to slip-and-fall lawyers, no amount of your s*** will convince us to burn the Constitution.

We've got your pinko slips ready for November. And don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.


Thursday, June 03, 2010

David Axelrod gains the upper hand in his war with Rahm Emanuel: the 'creepy ballerina' under fire for Sestak and Blago job offer allegations

The worst-kept secret in the White House is the ongoing power struggle between Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Senior Adviser David Axelrod.

With the onset of the Sestak affair, the war appears to have escalated. The illegal job offer relayed by Bill Clinton to Joe Sestak -- to convince him to drop out of the Pennsylvania Senate Primary against Arlen Specter -- was reportedly conveyed through Emanuel.

But that's not all.

The White House also appears to have created or saved many jobs for its cronies, according to "anonymous sources" within the White House.

The Obama administration dangled the possibility of a government job for former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff last year in hopes he would forgo a challenge to Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, officials said Wednesday, just days after the White House admitted orchestrating a job offer in the Pennsylvania Senate race.

These officials declined to specify the job that was floated or the name of the administration official who approached Romanoff, and said no formal offer was ever made. They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not cleared to discuss private conversations.

Coincidentally the longrunning Rod Blagojevich saga began its trial phase this week with word that Emanuel and Obama's long-time pal Valerie Jarrett had been subpoenaed to testify about their roles in helping to select Obama's Senate replacement.

It appears likely that Emanuel, Jarrett and SEIU president Andy Stern helped orchestrate the selection process, which also could have crossed the line into illegalities at the federal level.

But, wait -- there's more!

What hasn't yet come to light are the machinations behind the administration's months-long push to take over the health care sector. The White House succeeded in jamming DemCare down the throats of an unwilling public only by the narrowest of partisan margins. With so many Democrat seats at risk this November, one wonders what favors, jobs and payoffs were offered up in exchange for suicidal votes.

What is far more clear is that David Axelrod is on the ascendancy in the White House -- and the Creepy Ballerina will do well to simply avoid prison time.


Related: The Illustrated Valerie Jarrett Primer

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

CBO Director: Hate to break this to you, but the Democrats lied about pretty much every single aspect of "health care reform"

From the "Now You Tell Us Department" comes word that the ObamaCare books were cooked. The surprising part: the Director of the Congressional Budget Office is calling the President and Congressional Democrats liars.

A common refrain from the President and his Budget Director was “health care reform is entitlement reform.” And through two budget cycles, when senior Administration officials were pressed on their plans for deficit reduction, they always returned to the argument that health care reform would substantially improve the federal budget outlook.

CBO Director Dr. Douglas Elmendorf has shown this argument to be incorrect.




This is the best and most direct presentation I have seen on the subject. I commend Dr. Elmendorf for his honesty, clarity and bluntness. I wish he had been this blunt and this clear in February and March before these bills became law.

Exquisite timing, Doug.

The country's headed into a complete financial meltdown and you run the exposé precisely 11 weeks too late.


Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Donald Berwick: the $1 trillion health care disaster in waiting

A very dangerous man named Donald Berwick was recently nominated by President Obama to serve as the the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

If confirmed, Berwick would become one of the most powerful individuals in government. He would control nearly $1 trillion in redistributed wealth that flows from taxpayers to recipients of government-run health care. And his power would grow even further under the auspices of ObamaCare.

Why is Berwick so dangerous? Because he believes the British National Health Care Service (NHS) is superior to the U.S. health care system. Yet even a cursory examination would demonstrate that this isn't true. In fact, it's a malicious lie.

Berwick has written lovingly of Britain's bankrupt NHS: "I am romantic about the National Health Service; I love it... All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at healthcare in my own country [which is governed by] the darkness of private enterprise."

Berwick has repeatedly claimed that the NHS delivers superior care when compared to the U.S. He is a liar. And he is dangerous.

Not only does Britain rely upon America's pharmaceutical innovations, not only does it rely upon America's medical devices, and not only does it piggy-back upon our cutting-edge procedures and treatments -- but it does so far less effectively and with far more waste than nearly any modern health care system.

Consider the quantitative facts:

British cancer outcomes don't just trail U.S. results; they rival those of Eastern European nations." A 2008 study showed that cancer survival rates in the U.K. trail far behind those of the United States. American men, for example, "have an 80 percent better chance of surviving prostate cancer than do their English counterparts... [and there are] similar disparities in comparative survival rates for victims of breast, colon and rectal cancers."

• Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom.

• Some "56 percent of Americans who could benefit from statin drugs, which reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease, are taking them. By comparison, of those patients who could benefit from these drugs, only 36 percent of the Dutch, 29 percent of the Swiss, 26 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Britons, and 17 percent of Italians receive them."

• "British cancer patients are substantially more likely to die of the disease than those in other western European countries because of poor access to the latest drugs, according to an authoritative report to be published today." (Cancer survival rates worst in western Europe: Telegraph (UK) 2007)

And no one's cherry-picking the data:

Consider a small sample of some recent headlines from the U.K. and its "National Health Service" or NHS, which were collected in little over a month in 2009 (click here for a more complete list). This is the type of system that the Statist Berwick prefers to ours. Feel better yet?

NHS 'failings' over elderly falls: 3/25/2009 [BBC]
Learning disabled 'failed by NHS': 3/24/2009 [BBC]
Cancer survivor confronts the health secretary on 62-day wait: 3/21/2009 [The Scotsman]

Culture of targets prevents nurses from tending to patients: Patients Association, 3/21/2009 [Telegraph UK]
Children being failed by health system, says head of watchdog: Sarah Boseley, 3/21/2009 [Guardian Unlimited]
Our cancer shame: Survival rates still lag behind EU despite spending billions: 3/20/2009 [Daily Mail(UK)]

Failing hospital 'caused deaths': 3/17/2009 [BBC]
Health gap drive 'wasted money': 3/14/2009 [BBC]
Longer GP opening hours branded wasteful 'PR exercise' by doctors: 3/13/2009 [The Scotsman]

"Political meddling" threatens general practice, warns GP leader: 3/13/2009 [Management in Practice (UK)]
Children at risk through lack of training for doctors and nurses, report warns: 3/13/2009 [Telegraph UK]
Chocolate should be taxed to control obesity epidemic, doctors are told: 3/13/2009 [Telegraph UK]

1,000 wait for a dentist after just one NHS practice opens: 3/10/2009 [Daily Mail(UK)]
Study proves the folly of NHS Alzheimer's drug ban: 3/7/2009 [Daily Mail(UK)]
NHS charges to rise in England: 3/5/2009 [BBC]

Disabled children wait up to two years for wheelchairs: 3/4/2009 [Guardian Unlimited]
NHS under fire over waiting times: 2/25/2009 [The Scotsman]
Specialist nurses 'vastly overworked': 2/20/2009 [Harwich & Manningtree Standard]

Hundreds of operations cancelled at Lothian hospitals: 2/19/2009 [The Scotsman]
Stop asking for antibiotics to cure coughs and colds: Government: 2/17/2009 [Daily Mail(UK)]
Stroke services are 'UK's worst' : 2/17/2009 [BBC]

Why would Berwick -- against all evidence -- prefer Britain's NHS over America's system?

Because for Berwick, care is secondary to wealth redistribution. His well-publicized statement, "Any healthcare funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized and humane, must redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate."

Berwick prefers the misery, desperation and death endemic to the bankrupt NHS. The Marxist underpinnings, for him, are all that count. Wealth redistribution is paramount and health care is secondary.

Berwick is a liar, a menace and a disgrace. He must not be confirmed.


Related: An Incurable Romantic (The American Spectator) and How Donald Berwick Will Run Your Health Care (Big Government).