This is what is coming down the pipleline if this nitwit gets his healtcare reform. April 29 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said his grandmotherâs hip-replacement surgery during the final weeks of her life made him wonder whether expensive procedures for the terminally ill reflect a âsustainable modelâ for health care. The presidentâs grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, had a hip replaced after she was diagnosed with cancer, Obama said in an interview with the New York Times magazine that was published today. Dunham, who lived in Honolulu, died at the age of 86 on Nov. 2, 2008, two days before her grandsonâs election victory. âI donât know how much that hip replacement cost,â Obama said in the interview. âI would have paid out of pocket for that hip replacement just because sheâs my grandmother.â Obama said âyou just get into some very difficult moral issuesâ when considering whether âto give my grandmother, or everybody elseâs aging grandparents or parents, a hip replacement when theyâre terminally ill. âThatâs where I think you just get into some very difficult moral issues,â he said in the April 14 interview. âThe chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health- care bill out here.â eg. death panel. Obama promised during his presidential campaign that a health-care overhaul would be a top priority, and he said at a Missouri town hall meeting today that he hopes Congress will pass health-care legislation this year. The issue has been divisive, and finding an answer that will keep costs down while extending coverage to the estimated 46 million Americans without health insurance has eluded past presidents. âRuthless Pragmatismâ Obama also said his economic advisers arenât constrained by ideology or connections to former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. âWhat Iâve been constantly searching for is a ruthless pragmatism when it comes to economic policy,â he said, in the interview. Obama also pointed to Canada as an example of a country that has effectively regulated commercial and investment banking without requiring legal separation of those activities. âWhen it comes to something like investment banking versus commercial banking, the experience in a country like Canada would indicate that good, strong regulation that focuses less on the legal form of the institution and more on the functions that theyâre carrying out is probably the right approach to take,â he said
Okay. My bad. He was alluding to his grandmother not getting the hip replacement. I'm not sure where I stand on that. Given the size of the total healthcare debt as its projected into the future its like a meteor approaching. And, I don't doubt there are alot of hypochondriac types that are just going to the doctor to visit because they're lonely and they like him. I wouldn't leave grandma to grovel on the floor but a 1-200,000. dollar procedure for the terminally ill? Maybe, how terminally ill? Lets not oversimplify, you've got to access each case on its own peculiarities and merits. Can you conceive of a situation where treatment would be reasonably withheld, if not that one?
Easy. If people had some financial stake in procedures, and they were not pretty much paid by others, then you would find that only necessary things were generally elected. Like relatives that demand continuous life support of someone in a coma, who has been declared practically dead. Some companies that use catastrophic coverage and a HSA (health savings account), where the "patient controls a couple of thousand $$$), find a lot of savings, apparently. People are a lot less demanding when they have to pay a signifcant part of it. Call it self-rationing when people who do not pay for it, yet demand the best.
Hard to argue with that. I do it now. Our deductible is 2500. for each of us and 110. a month premium.
Anyone over the age of 80 should have to pay for major medical expenses out of their own pocket. Insurance should only cover basic needs. You're old, dieing of cancer and want a new hip...pay for it yourself.
Right. People who have paid into the system their entire lives should just be told to fuck off when they finally want something in return. Obama is going to be very angry with you for letting the cat out of the bag, because they are busy pretending that they don't all think exactly the same way you do. Of course, they won;t have to deal with it, since congress and the president are under a lavish fully paid for system that gives them gold-plated care at no cost.
God...What a woman you are! Ultimately any sort of "universal health care," will involve massive rationing. Get used to it girl.
That the president, Congress, and other "federal employees" will get Cadillac care, different from us, the hol polloi, IS AN OUTRAGE. If this discrepancy is not resolved by the passage of a plan bill, all legislators who voted for it should not only be voted out of office, they should be KICKED IN THE BALLS (Pelosi too) BY EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN!!