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Originally posted by FlyersFan
Health care is a commodity.
It is a service that must be paid for.
It is not a right. How could it be?
No one has a 'right' to any commodity.
North Carolina's delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives recently split along party lines over President Bush's veto of the expanded State Children's Health Insurance Program called SCHIP, and the veto was upheld.
NORTH CAROLINA'S 13 U.S. REPRESENTATIVES AND TWO U.S. SENATORS have access to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, containing some of the best and most comprehensive health-care plans in the nation. They pay premiums, but the federal government (read taxpayers) subsidizes 72 percent to 75 percent of the cost of their health plans.
An example of an older senator's premium for both him and his wife: $290 a month.
And government-provided and government-subsidized health coverage for members of Congress doesn't stop there. In the Capitol, there is a physician's office with 13 top doctors and other health professionals ready to serve the needs of any member. This is a luxury not available to most North Carolinians -- even those lucky enough to have affordable health insurance at work.
Originally posted by David9176
Proper health care is a right. It's easy to say it's not if you have good insurance.
Originally posted by David9176
It's easy to say it's not if you DON'T have a father like me who is undergoing treatment for cancer which he could not do otherwise without medicare.
Does he NOT have the right to live?
Originally posted by ElectricUniverse
Already the Obama administration has voted that the GOVERNMENT, and not the doctors should be the one to say what sort of treatment older people should have....
Originally posted by grapesofraft
reply to post by JaxonRoberts
Great point. You should not have to pay for anybody elses kids education.
Originally posted by JaxonRoberts
Really??? You have a source for this??? It is not what I've read and heard from the current Administration. And when did the Executive Branch get a vote? I was under the impression that only the Legislative Branch voted! When did we change the Constitution???
The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.
But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”
Keeping doctors informed of the newest medical findings is important, but enforcing uniformity goes too far.
New Penalties
Hospitals and doctors that are not meaningful users of the new system will face penalties. “Meaningful user” isn’t defined in the bill. That will be left to the HHS secretary, who will be empowered to impose “more stringent measures of meaningful use over time” (511, 518, 540-541)
Elderly Hardest Hit
Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.
Medicare now pays for treatments deemed safe and effective. The stimulus bill would change that and apply a cost- effectiveness standard set by the Federal Council (464).
Originally posted by FlyersFan
Health care is a commodity.
It is a service that must be paid for.
It is not a right. How could it be?
No one has a 'right' to any commodity.
So, if you are poor, and you get sick... you don't get treatment? Or you do and end up with massive debt? Is that the case?
Excuse my ignorance, but I assumed that the US would have a decent system.