Originally Posted by
Hazard
During our webinar last month, David Galland asked FOX Business reporter John Stossel about his recent book:
"You write that, 'Where governments control health care, but want to limit the costs, everyone has to get in line.' ... and then you go on to say, 'Once you accept the idea that taxpayers should pay, then individual choice dies. Someone else decides what treatment you get, and when.' ...
"It sounds to me like the end result [is] the government basically decides who lives and who dies. Could that really happen?"
Stossel replied:
"Sure. I imagine it already happens under Medicaid; they won't pay for every experimental treatment. And in some cases that means who gets it lives and somebody who doesn't dies. But when somebody else is going to pay, there is going to be a limit on that. And the question is: who's going to set the limit? If you pay, you get to set the limit. ... It should be an individual choice that you weigh based on the cost, but right now with no cost, nobody even thinks about it.
"The people at FOX are fond of saying ... there's going to be this unelected committee of bureaucrats that's going to decide what you get, and they'll decide whether you live or die. ... Would elected bureaucrats deciding for you be any better? No. It's the idea that others will decide for us, and that's what happens when it's a third-party payment."
That exchange jogged my memory back to an article Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet wrote in July: 10 Reasons Why Obamacare Is Going to Ruin Your Medical Care... and Your Life. Dr. Vliet is an acclaimed expert on the enigmatic law, and one of our featured speakers at this week's Casey Summit in Tucson. She wrote (all emphasis in original):
"Higher expenditures to provide medical services lead to rationing of medical care and treatment options to reduce costs. This is the mandated function of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB): to cut costs by deciding which types of medical services to allow... or disallow.
"If you are denied treatment, you have no appeal of IPAB decisions; you are simply out of luck, and possibly out of life. This is a radical departure from the appeals process required for all private health insurance plans. Further, the IPAB is accountable only to President Obama, and cannot be overridden by Congress or the courts. IPAB is designed to have the final word on your health.
"Under current regulations, if medical care is denied by Medicare, then a patient is not allowed to pay cash to a Medicare-contracted physician or hospital or other health professional. Patients who need medical care that is denied under Medicare or Medicaid will find themselves having to either: 1) look for an independent physician or hospital (quite rare these days); or 2) go outside the USA for treatment."
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