The Colorado Springs Gazette published my article, “Rationing inherent in Obamacare,” on Sunday (despite its August 14 posting date). Please read the entire article there. Here my purpose is to provide related links and context.
Barack Obama’s line about “not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller,” may be seen on YouTube. Unfortunately, the clip omits some of the context. Thankfully, ABC has published the complete transcript of the June 24 broadcast.
Turning to the second page, we find the following lines:
But what we can do is make sure that at least some of the waste that exists in the system that’s not making anybody’s mom better, that is loading up on additional tests or additional drugs that the evidence shows is not necessarily going to improve care, that at least we can let doctors know and your mom know that, you know what? Maybe this isn’t going to help. Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller.
And those kinds of decisions between doctors and patients, and making sure that our incentives are not preventing those good decision, and that — that doctors and hospitals all are aligned for patient care, that’s something we can achieve.
My short answer is, “Who is this ‘we,’ compadre?”
John Lewis’s evaluation of HR 3200 is available online. You can also read the entire text of the bill for yourself.
The sign from the July 29 Colorado Springs rally is shown in the second photo from a review by Americans for Prosperity. I covered the August 6 Longmont rally on my web page. The information about Mike Sola is available via YouTube and the Detroit Free Press.
As a couple of examples of British headlines, here’s one about a heart surgery that was initially denied; here’s another about painkilling injections” (via Patient Power). John Stossel’s report, which includes information about England and Canada, is at ABC.
Watch the Independence Institute video on Oregon rationing:
I got the transcript of Obama’s appearance in New Hampshire from the LA Times.
But, again, for my core arguments as to why rationing is inevitable under Obamacare, read the Gazette article!