Rationing Medical NOW
It is said that we are doomed to repeat history, so here is the present history that we are planning to repeat. “Non-urgent” medical procedures are on the way out. They are not being covered; so if you have cataracts, tonsils, or need knees and hips, it may not happen. How does this affect us now and in the future?
United Kingdom
The Independent is reporting this morning that health trusts are rationing medical procedures in an attempt to reduces costs by about £20bn ($32.65billion) over the next four years. They list several examples of services that shall be limited…
- “Hip and knee replacements only being allowed where patients are in severe pain. Overweight patients will be made to lose weight before being considered for an operation.
- Cataract operations being withheld from patients until their sight problems “substantially” affect their ability to work.
- Patients with varicose veins only being operated on if they are suffering “chronic continuous pain”, ulceration or bleeding.
- Tonsillectomy (removing tonsils) only to be carried out in children if they have had seven bouts of tonsillitis in the previous year.
- Grommets to improve hearing in children only being inserted in “exceptional circumstances” and after monitoring for six months.
- Funding has also been cut in some areas for IVF treatment on the NHS.”
They spoke with Anne Ball, who is 71 years old and has cataracts. They reported that she said she was to have one of her eyes fixed under the plan; however, she has been refused any treatment under this new rule change.
Lesson
The government in the United Kingdom began running healthcare in 1948. Now in the year 2011 they have having to limit and restrict treatments. In sixty-three years they have not been able to develop a system that is self-sustaining. Obama care is just the UK system with some American tweaks to it.
The other issue is that this is not the first time that NHS (National Health Service) or NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) have limited or restricted services. NICE is, well to quote Sarah Palin, a “death panel” as they have to power to grant access to treatments and to restrict access to others.
Future
President Obama promised that his ObamaCare would push down the cost of medical care. The Washington Times is reporting that The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is saying that ObamaCare will cause the cost of medical care to increase at a higher rate than we would see without ObamaCare.
We currently spend, for medical care, about $1 of every $6 in the economy and it is project that will increase to $1 in $5 by 2020. We should be right on track to rationing of medical care by 2020.
Of the legal challenges one has just been put to the Supreme Court and is pending acceptance. The Thomas More Law Center has formally requested, on Tuesday, that the Court consider reviewing and ruling on their case
The Thomas More Law Center pointed out in the filing that if the feds “will have absolute and unfettered power to create complex regulatory schemes to fix every perceived problem imaginable and to do so by ordering private citizens to engage in affirmative acts, under penalty of law…[and continued that the government could mandate]… eating certain foods, taking vitamins, losing weight, joining health clubs, buying a GMC truck, or purchasing an AIG insurance policy.”
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