There is a saying out on the reservations: don’t get sick after June. That’s because the federal dollars generally run out after that month. And remember Obama’s comment about the hypothetical old person with heart disease? “Maybe you just opt for the painkiller.” That example isn’t so hypothetical, it turns out. From this article at Reznet:
The same clinic failed to diagnose Victor Brave Thunder with congestive heart failure, giving him Tylenol and cough syrup when he told a doctor he was uncomfortable and had not slept for several days. He eventually went to a hospital in Bismarck, which immediately admitted him. But he had permanent damage to his heart, which he attributed to delays in treatment. Brave Thunder, 54, died in April while waiting for a heart transplant.
While it is true that the underlying factors associated with health care for Native-Americans are complex, and are not by any means entirely the fault of the U.S. Government, the medical treatment that the government has undertaken to provide is still shockingly bad (see also here, here and here, for additional examples). The quality of care for Native-Americans is bad enough in its own right, but is also an object lesson for a President and Congress that would arrogate to themselves the authority to devise a health care system for everybody, particularly a system that many anticipate will sharply reduce or eliminate private-sector options. If the government is so completely incompetent at managing health care for a couple of million people, why on earth should we believe that it possesses the knowledge and wisdom to create a system for 300 million? Why not prioritize the overhaul of those components of health care that are already within the federal government’s purview – starting with Native-Americans – before attempting to completely revamp the entire system?
In short, Mr. President, let’s see if you can change a tire before we entrust you with the task of designing and building an entire car.
I've read and heard of this matter before. It is anything but new. And it's telling that Obama and his flying monkeys are ignoring this long standing example, in this country, of the various problems with government provided health care.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention ignoring massive problems in the systems that he holds up as an example.
Note to trolls: Yes, I *do* consider shutting 4,000 birthing women out of a hospital as a massive problem. As I would shutting out ONE birthing woman (which I know happens in many places). What's YOUR limit?
The scary reason The Won is trying to foist national health care on us is because he's interested in power and control.
ReplyDeleteIf he really cared about the quality of health care in this country he'd already be doing what you suggest.
Just as involving ACORN in the census is a power grab. Not to mention all the czars.
Retread
I liked the comment on Ace of Spades that called the socialized medicine plan "ChappaquiddiCare."
ReplyDeleteIsophorone: Ace also quoted somebody (couldn't tell who it was) as saying, "If they're going to talk about Camelot, we can talk about the Lady in the Lake."
ReplyDeleteAdded to the "Lady in the Lake"
ReplyDeleteThe probably countless "waitress sandwiches"
Dead Marines who were forced to guard the barracks in Beirut with unloaded weapons because one Ted Kennedy was afraid that Lebanon would turn into another Vietnam if we started shooting at people.
The letter to the KGB offering to undercut the Reagan initiative to bring down the "Evil Empire".
Generations of kids brought up in a welfare system designed by the likes of Ted Kennedy.
Millions of innercity kids sentenced to failing schools by the likes of Ted Kennedy.