The Big Cheese

On Tuesday, I went to a doctor visit with my Dad. He had a heart attack several years ago and is seen regularly by a cardiologist to stay on top of things. Before being seen by his doctor, we spent some time in the waiting room. Instead of reading a magazine or newspaper, I did a little people watching. All around me sat older individuals. Most of them were well into their sixties and seventies and, I presume, part of the current universal healthcare system we currently have.....Medicare. Then I got to thinking, what if these people lived in Canada or England? Would they even be in the position of eligibility to receive the kind of treatment and care they are receiving now in this country?

For example, in England, there is a health board that decides if you are worthy of the treatment you seek. They consider your age and disease verses your presumed life expectancy and cost of treatment to determine if you're worth the expense. If you are too old and the treatment is deemed to costly......you are SOL.....simply out of luck! Then where do you go and what do you do? If the government controls all the healthcare, there are no other choices....no other options. Even if your course of treatment is approved, how long do you have to wait for it? Ask the citizens in Canada that have crossed our borders for heart surgery. Many claim that would have died on the waiting list and chose to come to the United States and pay out of pocket for care.

Let's not forget the cost of research and development. This is a big one to consider. New medical breakthroughs take money and LOTS of it. Is the government ready to take on that expense too? Since I've just visited a cardiologist this week with my Dad, let's talk about bypass surgery for example. When the medical community first started performing bypass surgery, it was a very risky procedure and very costly because it was experimental. Many times the surgery resulted in death. But, as the years went by, the surgeons got better and better at it and improved upon the procedure. Fast forward decades later to present day and bypass surgery is almost done like an outpatient procedure. The patient is out of the hospital in days time with significantly less cost and risk than earlier years....but it has taken time and money to get to this point. What will happen with drug research? New breakthrough procedures? Cancer treatments? Talk to anyone in the medical or drug field and they can enlighten you on the costs associated with research, development, and clinical trials. For every win, there are dozens of failures left on the killing floor.....and even the failures cost money.

Who recommended the government for this job anyway? They have already butchered Medicare and Social Security to the point where it's going to implode. Do we really think we can trust them to be the Big Cheese on Healthcare? We teabaggers will have to fight this one tooth and nail because if they can pull this off and pass the legislature....GOD HELP US ALL.