Start of Death Panels?

[Pete]

Start of Death Panels?

I don't think so but hype can be hype.

"US breast cancer drug decision 'marks start of death panels' ..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/he...th-panels.html

Does cost have an impact on health decisions? Should it? Is $8,000 per month for one drug too much? Worth it if it works 75% of the time? Not worth it if it works 1% of the time? Where to you draw the line between the two?

Are some worth it and some not?

An ER Nurse in her 30's worth it? An unemployed crack addict in her 40's not worth it?

[PedOncoDoc]

Originally Posted by Pete

An ER Nurse in her 30's worth it? An unemployed crack addict in her 40's not worth it?

We are truly heading into scary times and slippery slopes.

Should someone who has worked hard to acquire/maintain a job with good health insurance have to choose whether or not to shell out $7500/month for a drug that was considered standard of care until ObamaCare started watching the bottom-line and deemed it too expensive to pick up the bill for the masses and thus coerced an agency to withdraw an indication (as was implied by the article)???

This really fires me up right now, as a close family friend just had recurrence of ther breast cancer and is coming to my hospital to explore options.

[nmap]

Yes, IMO, it is the beginning of death panels.

Also IMO, it is the beginning of a major shift, and one which will continue. It will get a great deal worse in many ways.

We as a nation are heavily in debt. The economy is weak. Responsible people speak of a double-dip recession. Some whisper that we are not in a recession, but rather in a depression that will last for many years - and perhaps decades. Decades in plural. Decades meaning twenty years or more.

We have a demographic bulge - those being the baby boomers. That's me, among tens of millions of others. We are getting older. As we get older, we will get sicker, and we will get quite a lot more expensive.

So....who pays for all that medical care? Not the boomers. Many boomers bought big houses with big mortgages under the theory that houses will always appreciate. Others invested in the stock market via their 401k. That wealth has evaporated. Or, if you prefer, has been destroyed. It is not going to come back anytime soon.

Governments at every level cannot pay for current levels of services. In many instances, government and private pensions are severely underfunded. They promised far more than they can pay - ever.

We see China gaining power economically. The Islamic world is expanding in population and growing in significance on the world stage. Does anyone suppose that the funding needed for our defense can be cut?

Expect to see those death panels. Expect rationing. Expect lifestyle exceptions - those who smoke, are fat, or have various bad habits will be excluded from treatment. Expect limitations in procedures based on age and life expectancy. Those who doubt my veracity might wish to contemplate the U.K.'s National Health Service. (Yes, that means the unemployed crack addict in his 40's will be well taken care of.)

Not to worry - our caring health care system will make a point of educating us about all our options, including hospice care and euthanasia.

The reader will note the absence of smilies. I'm dead serious - pun intended.

[Paslode]

Yep. Last week my Mom's Doctor gave her a script for a blood thinning drug that works much better for her than the generic.....Not covered by Medicare or Insurance. So she can pay $300 a month out of pocket or live with the side effects of the generic.


Yet they have no issue providing 'Free' medical care for illegals. You smoke or chew your screwed, but if your crack addict you have many free options available to you.


It is only a matter of time before we'll have franchise opportunities in Jack Kevorkian Clinics.

[GratefulCitizen]

Medicine will either have to be massively deregulated or we will have to accept a massive black market for medical care.

[Paslode]

What bothers me most is that some person (an accountant of sorts) with graduating scale is or will be determining our worth and needs instead of the doctor. And the doctor will have the shadow of BiG Brother looming over their shoulder 24/7/365 directing in similar fashion as getting off the Auschwitz cattle car and being directed to the left or the right.

Life is becoming quite a commodity.