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talkpoliticsDuring 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.
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.
Re: No such things as a free organ transplant
Date: 13/12/10 15:40 (UTC)Re: No such things as a free organ transplant
Date: 13/12/10 15:55 (UTC)Re: No such things as a free organ transplant
Date: 13/12/10 17:43 (UTC)Re: No such things as a free organ transplant
Date: 13/12/10 19:23 (UTC)When profit is the primary motive sooner or later it becomes the only motive, all other considerations become secondary (sometimes even the lives of others). And that's usually when the dark side of capitalism comes into play. I just don't think it's a good idea for health care to be about profit, but of course you and I have gone over that before. :P
Just as you believe that government shouldn't be in all aspects of our lives I don't think business should be either. And when we get in a situation where it's a choice between one or the other chances are I'm going to side with government. Not because I'm all gung ho about government or think it can do no wrong, but because the other alternative seems to be far worse.
Government I will at least have a chance of improving because I have a say in it, we all do. Corporations I could in theory have a say if I owned stock, but really the single-minded pursuit of profits is the only real voice. Corporations may say they are beholden to their stock holders but really that's only as far as making sure they are profitable, in any practical sense there's nothing else.
Re: No such things as a free organ transplant
Date: 13/12/10 19:43 (UTC)That's fine, but you're treating the exceptions as the rule to base your argument. I'm not sure that's the most appropriate way to approach an issue.
Government I will at least have a chance of improving because I have a say in it, we all do
I have no say in Medicare or, really, in any HHS activity, since we don't elect the President directly. At least when you deal with a private company, you can take your business elsewhere.