Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Can you swallow this?

I'm not a fan of the so-called stimulus plan being hatched in D.C. this week. It's bad enough that we are going to be on the hook for trillions of dollars of pork spending and double the national debt, but there is a more sinister provision hidden therein. There are rules in the bill that are potentially hazardous to your health.

I learned about the health provisions slipped into the bill from an article by Betsy McCaughey at bloomberg.com. I STRONGLY URGE you to read it in it's entirety HERE. In a nutshell, the stimulus bill creates a new bureaucratic department designed to monitor the treatments your doctor is providing you in an effort to control costs and "guide" their decisions. This would seem to be the brain-child of one Tom Daschle who, in his writings, praises Europeans for being more willing to accept “hopeless diagnoses” and “forgo experimental treatments,” and he chastises Americans for expecting too much from the health-care system.

Does anyone else have a serious problem with this? I've had a busy day today and I've been thinking about this the whole time, trying to process it in my mind. I want to share this with you because I believe we are entering a frightening new era of government control over our everyday lives. Or is it new?

Solomon relates in Ecclesiastes 1:9 that "...there is nothing new under the sun." I want to thank Michelle for reminding me of this. Thank you, Michelle, for reminding me of the propaganda and scholarly thinking of the 1920's and 1930's that led to the involuntary euthanasia (i.e. murder) of those whose lives were not cost-effective.

Please read Michelle's well researched and written post and then try to put yourself in the shoes of a mother of a child who has already been written off by society as "less-than." Put your self in the shoes of a retired/elderly person (i.e. no longer contributing economically to society) who desires to pursue experimental cancer treatments in order to see their grandchildren grow up and be a part of their lives. Put yourself in someone else's shoes and see if you can swallow the fact that the government will be deciding what treatments are cost-effective and whose lives are worthy to receive them.

Those of you who are fantasizing of free nationalized/socialized health care beware..."free" may come at a very high price.




6 comments:

Michelle said...

thank you. It passed. Our fight is only just beginning. :(

Anonymous said...

Very sick, very sad and very disturbing. :(

Anonymous said...

Giving the goverment the privilege of making medical decisions is indeed scary. However, the path is laid with private insurance and the belief that medical care is a right. Individual control and the learned mind of the physician is discarded with a legal sleight-of-hand.

Paying attention is the first defense. Thank you, Stephanie.
Barbara

Stephanie @ Ralphcrew said...

Barbara, of course, you are right. We are pre-conditioned to allowing others to chose which doctors we will get to see and which treatments will be covered. A necessary first step, I suppose. I, for one, have never bought into the idea that I couldn't have something if the insurance company isn't willing to pay for it. I desire to give birth outside of the "system" therefore, I make my own payment arrangements. I wonder if this will someday be outlawed?

Stephanie @ Ralphcrew said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

You and I think alike, Stephanie. In our lives, I came home from work one day to tell my husband - we will buy what we think our children need whether insurance covers it or not. (Thankfully he was in agreement.)

The prospect of mandatory medical care is indeed worrisome. With true horror, I can just imagine women being told where to deliver their babies - risking lives if the care is not optimal.