Sunday, November 08, 2009

What the Wall Stree Journal called: "the worst bill ever."

I must say I agree completely.



Hat tip: Athos

2 comments:

Kevin said...

Gil,
With what do you agree? Rep. Ryan offered no facts, no statistics. All he offered was ideology of his own. Here are a few facts.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/healthcare/2002-05-22-insurance-deaths.htm

http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/docs/final-hc-report092009.pdf

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32882064/ns/health-health_care/

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN0765165020080108?rpc=28

People are suffering and going bankrupt in order to get the treatment they need. Our neighbours, hard working people, were pitched head first into bankruptcy because of knee and prostate surgery. Fairly common ailments of those in their 60s.

If Rep. Ryan and other Republicans have a plan that is a viable plan, where were they? All they have proposed is the status quo or in their latest attempt, something that is no better.

I fully understand the concerns about abortion funding and I do not quibble about that, but to simply dismiss all of this as some nefarious take-over is rather over the top.

Take care Gil.
Ad Astra Per Aspera,
Kevin

Gordon said...

Kevin,

Since you like to site personal anecdotes, how about this: Like your neighbor, I was hardworking and almost financially ruined by knee surgery. It was a work related injury, nothing big, just a miniscus tear, so I thought my New York State workman’s comp insurance would take care of me and I’d get back to work quickly.

But it didn’t turn out that way. I was told that it would take 2 to 3 years to get surgery and that it would never happen unless I agreed to physical therapy. Since I knew very well the physiology of what had happened and that physical therapy would only make things worse, like lifting leg weights to treat a compound fracture, I started an appeal process. Ah, but that would take a year they told me. How would I live? They said I should apply for welfare. Remember, I could have been scoped and back to work in a few days.

Thank God, an acquaintance found about my situation and sought me out. He was a Workman’s Comp lawyer, deep in the system. He said the lawyers and doctors and owners of physical therapy centers (usually the lawyers and doctors) were politically powerful in New York. That as long as my file was open, everybody made money. So the appeal, he said, was pointless. My only option was to move to another state, perhaps one less concerned with the welfare of their citizens, and have the doctors bill New York.

So I moved in with a dear friend in Idaho and told this story to a cranky old right wing doctor he knew -- now a prominent “tea partier.” He howled in anger, agreed to fix my knee, and told me not to worry about the money. Of course, when he sent my x-rays to to doctor in New York they agreed that “immediate surgery” was required.

God help you when health care is federal and there is no Idaho to escape to.