Coming Soon to Hospitals Near You: +125,000 Cancer/year

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

MEET "OBAMA'S RATIONING MAN": Sebelius: Rationing Advocate is ‘Absolutely Right Leader At This Time’ to Run Medicare. Let's hear from Donald Berwick himself:

    The decision is not whether or not we will ration care—the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open. And right now, we are doing it blindly.

By “blindly” I can only presume he means that we as physicians dare to make decisions based on our expertise and our patients’ needs without seeking his permission or that of central control government elites.

It gets better:

    ...any health care funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized and humane must, MUST redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate. Excellent health care is, by definition, redistributional."

Forgive me, Dr. Berwick, but I believe excellent health care is, by definition, simply the provision of excellent health care, not a means for your socialistic attempts of economic redistribution.

So what would Berwick have us do?

    I am romantic about the [British] National Health Service; I love it.

He particularly loves how the Brits purposefully under supply their patients' health care needs:

    You cap your health care budget, and you make the political and economic choices you need to make to keep affordability within reach. You plan the supply; you aim a bit low; you prefer slightly too little of a technology or a service to too much; then you search for care bottlenecks and try to relieve them.

...Really? He loves it? Let's take a closer look at Great Britain and the results of their purposeful under supplying of their patients' needs.. Here's what I wrote in The Washington Times:

    Britain's higher cancer mortality rate results in 25,000 more cancer deaths per year compared to a similar population size in the United States. But because the U.S. population is roughly five times larger than the United Kingdom's, that would translate into 125,000 unnecessary American cancer deaths every year. This is more than all the mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, cousins and children in Topeka, Kan. And keep in mind, these numbers are for cancer alone. America also has better survival rates for other major killers, such as heart attacks and strokes.

And Berwick simply loves it. By “it” I presume he means the economic redistribution rather than the unnecessary deaths but that is not entirely clear.

http://wolffiles.blogspot.com/2010/06/obamas-rationing-man-sebelius-rationing.html

[Celtic Rose]

I love my health care.  I found a lump on neck (under my chin) about a month ago, and it hasn't gone away, so last week I called the doctor and scheduled an appointment.  I had an appointment with my Dr. in two days, and they could have had in the next day if the times had worked for me.  She ordered blood tests and an ultrasound of my neck to figure out what it might be.  I called to schedule the ultrasound on Friday, and I have it scheduled for this Wednesday.  All of this for the cost of my co-pay ($20). 

The doctor doesn't think it is cancer and it is most likely just a cyst, but she wants to be cautious, and since my Grandmother has Thyroid cancer that she discovered from a lump on her neck, I want to cautious as well.  I can just imagine the wait if we already had socialized healthcare.

[The Village Idiot]

That might take 6 months to a year in national health systems

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

That might take 6 months to a year in national health systems

Assuming your life is deemed worth saving in the first place.

[Endora]

There is no doubt that the US has a pretty good cancer survival rate.

However comparing the stats to the UK instead of France or Sweden is ridiculous. The UK's system is shit, though cancer aside it still probably saves more lives overall.

I can't stand how many people on this board call Liberals dishonest, but then post inherently dishonest articles like this? I don't get it.

Assuming your life is deemed worth saving in the first place.

Sorry, but as someone who lives in a horrible socialist country that's just not true. The UK & Ireland both have private insurance as well as some extent of universal coverage. If it bothers you that much, then you can take the private option. But I think it concerns you more that poor people can actually afford their healthcare.

The waiting list thing is greatly exaggerated. It's mostly for non-essential things, for example I had to wait a good while to see a neurologist or an ENT. It seems like ages. But this was for a non-essential visit. For life saving treatment, it's obviously not going to be the same.

There are no death panels, that's ludicrous. Are you going to believe what someone like Glenn Beck says, who called for healthcare reform himself not so long ago, or are you going to believe someone who actually lives in europe, has regular contacts with mainland europeans?

The downside to the cancer survival rate in the US is that it doesn't tell you how many people went bankrupt afterwards.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Avastin

[JohnnyReb]

MUST redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate. Excellent health care is, by definition, redistributional."

Can't this redistribution of wealth also be applied to "FINE" foods.....I wants sum ob dem $100 dolla a pound steaks duh prezident be eat'n on.

[bijou]

There is no doubt that the US has a pretty good cancer survival rate.

However comparing the stats to the UK instead of France or Sweden is ridiculous. The UK's system is shit, though cancer aside it still probably saves more lives overall.

I can't stand how many people on this board call Liberals dishonest, but then post inherently dishonest articles like this? I don't get it.

Sorry, but as someone who lives in a horrible socialist country that's just not true. The UK & Ireland both have private insurance as well as some extent of universal coverage. If it bothers you that much, then you can take the private option. But I think it concerns you more that poor people can actually afford their healthcare.

The waiting list thing is greatly exaggerated. It's mostly for non-essential things, for example I had to wait a good while to see a neurologist or an ENT. It seems like ages. But this was for a non-essential visit. For life saving treatment, it's obviously not going to be the same.

There are no death panels, that's ludicrous. Are you going to believe what someone like Glenn Beck says, who called for healthcare reform himself not so long ago, or are you going to believe someone who actually lives in europe, has regular contacts with mainland europeans?

The downside to the cancer survival rate in the US is that it doesn't tell you how many people went bankrupt afterwards.

  Seems to me that it's appropriate to compare the stats to the British system, since that was the system Berwick was specifically admiring. Our death panel is called NICE, that's why I have private health insurance because I'm not taking my chances with the NHS.  With the amount of money poured into the NHS it would be difficult for it not to be competent at some things, that being said the quality of treatment many times depends on the area you live in and just how much of a pushy middle class nuisance you can be, the poor and inarticulate are at a real disadvantage dealing with the system. 

[MrsSmith]

It seems like comparisons from the UK or France are both worthless.  We need to compare ourselves to Macau.

They beat both countries in life expectancy, and do it with fewer doctors.

Since we all "know" that every country counts every statistic in exactly the same way, it's quite clear that the best health care system isn't even in Europe.

And we can quite safely ignore the inconvenient fact that the US has massive numbers of health care tourists and patients actually sent from countries like Canada...obviously, those coming here, and those sending them, have no clue what they're doing.  It's all going to get so much better under the new plan!! 


 

[Lacarnut]

I get tired of these pissants from other countries telling us what we should be doing from health care to fags marrying fags. Americans do not need or want their stupid advice. If you like your EU brand of health care, fine. Just STFU about ours.

[true_blood]

I get tired of these pissants from other countries telling us what we should be doing from health care to fags marrying fags. Americans do not need or want their stupid advice. If you like your EU brand of health care, fine. Just STFU about ours.