Death Panels? What Death Panels?

[dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com]

During the heated debate last summer over the proposed health care legislation, Sarah Palin and Barack Obama kept bringing to the media the phrase 'death panels', groups of people that would decide whether or not to "pull the plug on Grandma". While Palin was misguided in her analysis (as she was trying to say that end-of-life care or the living will system was the 'death panel' when it actually wasn't), she may not have been entirely off-base.

Stories have been featured recently through several media outlets of patients in Arizona and Indiana who have been denied life-saving surgeries in the past several weeks and months due to cuts in state Medicaid budgets. In Indiana, a six-month old infant named Seth Petreikis has complete DiGeorge syndrome. A surgery that was deemed "experimental" by Medicaid was denied to him, but the company that manages Indiana's Medicaid program has offered to pay for the surgery themselves. [Source]

In Arizona, 98 people who were already approved for transplants were later told they couldn't receive the surgeries because of recent cuts to Arizona's Medicaid budget. One man was set to receive a new liver, which was donated to him by a friend who'd recently passed away. Because he couldn't pay for the $200,000 surgery, the liver went to another patient. [Source] The reason for this? On October 1, 2010, the state of Arizona removed transplants from a list of medical services that can be funded through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). Keith Olbermann is asking viewers of his show Countdown to donate in the hopes of funding the transplants. Meanwhile, Democrats in Arizona are now using the 'death panel' analogy as an attack against Gov. Jan Brewer and Arizona Republicans, who agreed to Medicaid cuts to balance their budget, despite protests from Democrats. [Source]

The 'death panels' Palin referred to have little to do with federal government action and more to do with state government blunders. There should be some legislation on the table to mandate organ transplant surgeries be paid for through all health care providers, public and private.Transplant boards are still necessary to sort through the amount of transplant candidates but at least someone who's promised a chance at renewed life wouldn't have to worry about that promise being taken away.

Comments

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

I don't know of every insurance company out there. I do know that, if they accepted only people who were never sick, very few people would have health insurance, and most people do have it here.

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Not at all. The cold hard facts are that most people have insurance here. If what you claimed was true, most people would not.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it counts as having insurance for a lot of people if they're going to get dumped after they try to claim its benefits.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

It does, but that situation is rare anyway.

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

No, statistically speaking, even with including illegal immigrants and those who choose not to have it and those who qualify for assistance and don't get it, more than 70% of people are covered for the full calendar year. So no, it's not just "the people around" me, but the nation.

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I don't know of every insurance company out there.

That wasn't riotpredicted's request, it was "show me one who will".

Just one. You don't need to know all the insurance companies, just one which matches your claim.

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

I don't know of every insurance company policy out there, either.

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[moonchylde.livejournal.com]

And can't be bothered to look something up, because you might be proved wrong it appears. You can google stuff, yes?

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Not what he's looking for. The evidence appears to be in my favor for what's available.

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

So a more accurate claim from you would have been "I don't know any, but maybe there is one"?

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Heh, spot-on.

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Clearly not, because the numbers show that plenty of people who, under the assumption being made, shouldn't have insurance do.

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Harvard School of Public Health / Henry Kaiser Family Foundation study demonstrated that one in 10 people with cancer said they could not obtain health coverage, (http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/upload/7591.pdf) and six percent said they lost their coverage, because of being diagnosed with the disease

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[telemann.livejournal.com]

That same foundation had a seminal report about this in 2002, and it really was horrible. Some of this is all moot now, as some elements of the Obama health reform laws have kicked in. Republicans may boast gleefully of undoing the law, but I'd love to see them try to get rid of this component :-D

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[telemann.livejournal.com]

They can't even try really. The House could opt to not fund elements of the program, but I'm sure the Senate and White House would veto any legislation that didn't include funding.

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

That's actually a much better percentage than I would have expected, especially given the hysterics from those who hate our system so much. Kind of puts the concept that pre-existing conditions are the death knell of getting coverage to rest, eh?

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[moonchylde.livejournal.com]

Wait, you like those numbers? One in ten is not great odds for a losing proposition.

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

One in 10 cannot. 90% can. Those are excellent odds.

Re: No such things as a free organ transplant

[light-over-me.livejournal.com]

You see, insurance companies are all the same.

A common mistake, is in thinking that the current American health insurance system is completely privatized the way it is now, and then using that as an argument against private insurance/pro state run. It is not the case. Actually it is already highly government regulated and state controlled already, which is why you often find a small handful of big companies monopolizing a particular state/region. It has gotten so expensive that you pretty much need to purchase it through a group company rate, and it's very difficult to buy on your own as an individual. This isn't conductive to competition or choice, so the benefits thereof are pretty well mitigated. Which is why the privatization argument includes calls for deregulation and ability to purchase policies across state lines.

Also, you don't have to wait until you're severely ill to shop around for the best policy you can. You can look into how your chosen provider handles care for some of the most common diseases ahead of time. If cancer is the number 2 top killer in America, and you have a family history, you might not want a policy that screws you over when it comes to cancer screening.