Regarding universal health care, everytime I hear the administration talk about it, they claim the government will not get between you and your doctor. A few minutes ago, on Meet the Press, White House economy adviser Larry Summers was talking about how to save money on Medicare costs and said something like this,
"...taking costs out of Medicare budget. But the really important issue for the long run, David, is changing the way we deliver health care in this country. You know, there's been a whole set of studies done, they look at health care frequency of certain procedures whether it's tonsillectomies or hysterectomies in different parts of the country. And what you see is, in some parts of the country, procedures are done three times as frequently and there's no benefit in terms of the health of the population. And by doing the right kind of cost effectiveness, ... we could take as much as $700billion a year out of our health care system."
He says that will more than pay for our universal health care coverage. Boy, talk about intrusive! A kid can't have his tonsils out because Indiana is limited to the same number of tonsillectomies as other states? A woman's doctor can't decide for himself whether his patient needs a hysterectomy?
When I see balance sheets like, "health of the population" vs "savings" vs. a list of medical procedures it means to me that Washington D.C. is going to start deciding whether it's cost effective to fight any given person's disease.
Rather than letting Washington decide about and pay for our health care... why not let the people make those decisions with their doctors all by themselves.
"...taking costs out of Medicare budget. But the really important issue for the long run, David, is changing the way we deliver health care in this country. You know, there's been a whole set of studies done, they look at health care frequency of certain procedures whether it's tonsillectomies or hysterectomies in different parts of the country. And what you see is, in some parts of the country, procedures are done three times as frequently and there's no benefit in terms of the health of the population. And by doing the right kind of cost effectiveness, ... we could take as much as $700billion a year out of our health care system."
He says that will more than pay for our universal health care coverage. Boy, talk about intrusive! A kid can't have his tonsils out because Indiana is limited to the same number of tonsillectomies as other states? A woman's doctor can't decide for himself whether his patient needs a hysterectomy?
When I see balance sheets like, "health of the population" vs "savings" vs. a list of medical procedures it means to me that Washington D.C. is going to start deciding whether it's cost effective to fight any given person's disease.
Rather than letting Washington decide about and pay for our health care... why not let the people make those decisions with their doctors all by themselves.
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