Sunday, July 18, 2010

You should be scared. Very scared.

It is understandable that you may have missed the important news earlier in the month that affects your healthcare and the healthcare of the ones that you love. I mean, Lindsay Lohan and LeBron James were the focus on most of the major networks, instead of this little-broadcast-but-very-important update to Obama's healthcare agenda. What is this change, you ask? Dr. Donald Beswick was appointed by Obama as the head of Medicare & Medicaid without going through the normal process of appointment. Hmmm... sounds very similar to the way that the Healthcare Deform Bill was passed. Just forced upon us.
When Linda O’Boyle was diagnosed with bowel cancer, her doctors told her she could boost her chances of survival by adding the drug cetuximab to her regimen. But the rationing body for Britain’s National Health Service, the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), had previously ruled that the drug was not cost-effective and therefore would not be paid for by the government. So O’Boyle liquidated her savings and paid for the drug herself. But this is not allowed under NHS rules. When government bureaucrats found out that O’Boyle had purchased the drug with her own money, she was denied NHS treatment and died within months.
As Americans, we have overlooked and dismissed the notion that such an atrocity could take place on our soil. After all, we have the best healthcare in the world. People pay out of pocket to travel here and receive services that they cannot get in their own country. It is not without flaws, but it is far superior to any other option that is available out there. And, lucky for us, Donald Beswick is out to change that for us.

Again, we see evidence of the promised "change" we heard so much about during Obama's campaign. Hopefully people are starting to realize that "change" isn't always for the better; the "change" we will see in our healthcare is far from being beneficial. It's down-right dangerous.

OK, so why is Beswick so bad for our health? He has - on numerous occasions - talked about his love for the British healthcare system. He said, “NICE is extremely effective and a conscientious and valuable knowledge-building system. … The decision is not whether or not we will ration care – the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.”

You are probably thinking, well, that sucks. But it won't affect me because I have insurance through my employer and I won't need to be on the government plan. I'm young and won't be on Medicare for a long time, either. Plus, Obama said OVER AND OVER that if I like my current insurance, I can keep it. Unfortunately, you are wrong. Dead wrong (pun intended).

Without getting lost in the murky details, up to 69% of employers - up to 80% of small businesses - will lose their "grandfathered status" by 2013 and therefore be forced to drop the insurance they once provided for their employees. If you had to take a wild guess on what percentage of American work for a "small business", what number would that be? 20%? 50%? No, try 80%. So, 8 out of 10 of us work for what is referred to as a "small company" and 8 out of 10 of those companies are going to be forced to drop insurance for their employees because of Obamacare. Looks like a lot of us will not, in fact, be able to keep the health care that we currently have - - even if we like it. Looks like another broken promise. But, he has kept his promise that we will see "change"...

Yes, my point is to scare you. And to make you aware of the changes that you are going to see - or your family members on Medicare or Medicaid will be realizing - in the very near future. Sitting around and thinking about it or hoping that others will do something is not enough. You need to be involved and know who you are voting for. We need to elect strong conservative candidates to replace the Democrats (or Republicans, in some cases) that ignored the American people's cry to stop Obamacare. Email your representatives and do you research, which includes more than listening to the main media news outlets. Unless, of course, you'd rather focus your attention on what Lindsay Lohan did in court or what is going to happen now that LeBron James went to Miami. And if that's your focus, then I guess you deserve what you'll get healthcare-wise. Please pay attention and let's get politics out of healthcare.

1 comment:

SPN Headlines said...

Sick people will be even sicker when they discover that ObamaCare calls for them to be "Tweeted" by their doctors - no more office visits - SHOCKING details are at:

http://spnheadlines.blogspot.com/2010/03/obama-health-care-doctors-will-patients_17.html

Peace! :-)