Obamacare

Obamacare
Why in the world would you and I want to ditch the best health care system in the world for one that is surely destined to be a disaster?  No, it’s not a perfect system.  It could be improved by curbing lawsuit abuse which continues to escalate medical services.  But implementing Socialized Medicine like in England and Canada?

People in England die waiting for a diagnosis.  If you are elderly, you don’t qualify for dialysis if you have kidney disease.  There is a shortage of doctors and of nurses because no one wants to become a bureaucrat in the English health system.

Canada is no better.  Clinics in Seattle, Detroit, and Buffalo are filled with Canadians because they can’t get an MRI when they need one due to a great shortage.  There are no new drugs from Canada because the government won’t spend the money for R&D.  At one time (I don’t know if it is still true), there were more MRI machines in Fairfax County, Virginia than there were in the entire nation of Canada!

Socialized Medicine (and that’s exactly what we are headed for) is a disaster everywhere in the world.  There is not one exception.  Not one!

     Socialized medicine means:

1. A shortage of doctors
2. A shortage of nurses
3. A shortage of hospital beds
4. Waiting for a diagnosis
5. Waiting longer for a treatment
6. Limitations on medical care for the elderly because their usefulness to society is limited
7. Mediocre medical care, at best
8. Few, if any, new drugs
9. More government control over your life:     

• Choice of physician
   
• Limitations on care
   
• New regulations governing what you can eat. (Yes, if government’s goal is to save money, then they will impose wellness goals on you and me.)  They will want to control your diet, what you can purchase at the store and in restaurants.  Not at first, of course, but when politicians become doctors, your freedom will shrink.

One of the first actions of the new Obama Administration was to issue an order to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) instructing them to disallow approval of any new drug that is not a clear improvement on an existing drug.

The result was Merck stopping research on a drug for which they had already spent over $1 million.  Why?  Because this government interference in the marketplace had now raised the risk factor for drug companies exponentially.  How does a drug company know in advance if the drug they are endeavoring to create will be clearly better than an existing drug?  Besides, as my wife who has MS will tell you, while some drugs work for some people, they don’t work for others, and vice versa.

But what about the “crisis” in medical care?  The truth is that there is no medical crisis in America.  As my doctor said to me, “If you were on welfare, I’d send you to have an MRI, but your insurance won’t allow it.”  Everyone gets quality medical care in the US today—even illegal aliens.  If you don’t believe me, just go to the Emergency waiting room of your local hospital.  By law, hospitals cannot refuse medical care.  That’s why the Emergency rooms are so crowded.  Every American receives quality medical care.  That does not happen and never will happen under Socialized Medicine.

When I was in the UK recently, the television news was filled with horror stories of people who were left to die in the hallways, received shoddy treatment, or weren’t treated at all.  That’s the essence of Socialized Medicine—shortages and rationing.  Just ask an Englishman or a Canadian.

In effect, Socialize Medicine is the equivalent of asking the Post Office to handle your medical care.  Is that what you really want?

Everything I have predicted above won’t happen overnight.  But it will surely happen, as it has happened under every socialist system.  Socialized Medicine is not about medicine or medical care.  It’s about government expanding its tentacles around your life and limiting your freedom.  It’s about making you a ward of the state so that the politicians in power can get your vote.  They want you and me and all citizens to be dependent upon them.

Socialized Medicine in any form means rationing medical services to cut costs.  But the irony is that the costs will skyrocket.  If you doubt that, look at Social Security, or Medicare and Medicaid.  Social Security benefits are already being taxed, and all three are on the verge of bankruptcy.

This is a contrived crisis to gain more power over your life by the government.  You and I (and our children and grandchildren) have much to lose.  Don’t sit on the sidelines!  Get into the battle.  Write to your Congressman and say no to Socialized Medicine.  Once Obamacare is passed, there will be no turning back.