Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Mad Docs and Englishmen



In order to make Obamacare a perfect copy of England's National Health Service, the president recently appointed Dr. Donald Berwick to preside over Medicare and Medicaid. Berwick, an enthusiastic proponent of wealth distribution, is also quoted as saying "I'm romantic about the NHS. I love it. She is such a seductress."

Which is why it's both ironic and frightening that the U.K. has just announced that it will soon be slashing and rationing even basic medical services - especially for the elderly and dying - because their healthcare system is economically unsustainable. Among the money-saying changes:

• Reduction in hip and knee replacements for the elderly.
• Reduction in cataract surgery, orthopedic surgery, and over 50 other common procedures.
• Slash care for the terminally ill, and offer them no pain management services on evenings or weekends.
• Close nursing homes for the elderly.
• Reduce treatment for the mentally ill, and penalize doctors who refer such patients.
• Reduce medical staff and number of hospital beds.
• Send patients home to die.

One expert is appalled that the revised healthcare plans "attempt to save money by leaving people in pain," and declared that it is “incredibly cruel to draw up savings plans based on denying care to the dying."

What's that, Dr. Berwick? There are Death Panels in your beloved National Health Service?

Apparently the seductress is also an executioner.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Socialism doesn't spread the wealth, it spreads the poverty.

Socialized medicine doesn't spread the health, it spreads the suffering.

Unknown said...

At what age are they going to decide that a person is no longer useful and cut all healthcare and let them die? They will start around 80-85, then 70-75. Then they will realize it is saving social security payments and drop it to 65-70. Don't they realize if they live they will reach that age?

Buzz Bannister said...

I'd say something but it would probably be racist or hate speech or...racist

Emmentaler Limburger said...

Spineless, in BRITAIN healthcare rationing will be age based. Here, I'm afraid, healthcare rationing will be a political tool to ensure the elimination of opposing points of view...

Anon: Eliminate the teleprompter, and I'm sure we can all hear the Big 0 saying "We need to take that death, and spread it around a little..."

Bobo said...

C'mon people, do we really want near dead people walking around on bad knees and hips if they can't see because of their cataracts or other age-related degenerative illness and disease?

Cannot they hear the O'Blah-ma "a buck and change saved" train coming down the track to take them to the promised land ahead of schedule...oh wait...no hearing aids for the deaf either.

If the elederly, sick and lame are able to make it to the polling booth and vote out those liberals and others who think socialized healthcare is the new and improved gas chambers of Nazi Germany, what good are they to a government THAT KNOW WHAT'S BEST FOR THEM? Didn't some madman named Hitler say something like that at one time or another?

SERIOUSLY, why is the O'blah-blah-blah administration putting ANY money into their "Deny-all-care" program? Cannot they see and feel (get your cataracts removed and stock up on pain meds now) the cold winds of the winter witch coming down on them in November?

Will Berwick become the character of the Seinfeld show and be responsible for shouting "No Care for You" as the sick, lame and elderly line up at his office door?

I will shout..."No Vote for You" when I mark my ballot for all incumbents and dumb-mo-crats in the primary and general elections this year.

- Bobo

Front Woodsman said...

To paraphase Charlton Heston's fabulously pertinent one liner from the totally prophetic movie of not so long ago............
"OBAMACARE....It's Soylent Green!!!!!!!!!!"
Goes to show you how liberals brains are miswired; we saw the movie and were appalled at the grim futureview, while obviously little "o" and his fellow travelers went to the same movie and came away saying, "You know, this could work if we could only get control of some government, somewhere! What a great way to get rid of the opposition, feed them to each other"

Front Woodsman said...

Maybe I've got the wrong movie. Name escapes me, but there was onepositing a future where the government required citizens to commit suicide at 30, to control population growth and incidentaly eliminate all the expenses involved in keeping the over-30 "elderly" in good health. Thier death panels were government assassins who killed the "runners" who tried to avoid the suicide party. Who knew these film guys in the 70's were all running in Nostradamus mode?

alan markus said...

Front Woodsman: never saw the movie, but could this be it?
Movie: Logans Run - Population Control Program In A Science Fiction Scenario - 1976 - 119 Minutes

"Babies are born in glass boxes; the palm of their hand is implanted with a "life clock," a penny-sized lamp that looks like a crystal. At age 30, the life clock flashes red, and the bearer must report for a ceremony where he is told he is "renewed" but is in fact incinerated. Those who wish to avoid the 30-year-limit must become what is called a "runner." Runners are considered criminals, and hunted by policemen known as "sandmen."

alan markus said...

Looking at my post, the "renewal" ceremonies jumps out at me. Obama ran on "hope" & "change", maybe when he runs for reelection, he will run on "renewal".

The Dark Knight said...

I was thinking that it was "Logan's Run" .. funny, looking at the synopsis this jumped out at me:

"The Earth has been ruined by something in the distant past-- war, plague, ecological disaster, it is never revealed."

I think we now know that the 'something' is progessivism...

Cookie said...

Inasmuch as this whole things scares me to death, perhaps I will die of fright before my other hip needs to be replaced and before my mentally ill son takes his own life anyway. (My my, sounds like I better visit Johnny Optimism!)

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

Readers- Wow, I've really enjoyed reading all of your comments, and will just have to skip from topic to topic rather than doing individual shout-outs. But darn, you guys are good!

First off, the Obamacare planners aren't idiots: they know that the bulk of healthcare expenses go to the elderly, and especially the ones in the last months of life. So that's where the big savings are. So if they deny (or greatly minimize) care at that critical point, they'll save vast amounts. And of course, they'll still be able to claim that they provided "full coverage" for the 98% of the victim's life that they didn't need extensive, expensive care. It will all sound fine...and people will die, and die, and die.

And will there be political considerations in who dies and who doesn't? Let's ask this another way: has there ever been a major program out of Washington where politics don't play a prominent part?

Shifting gears, we may borrow the idea of the "Soup Nazi" refusing to ladle out medical care for those who displease him. "No Surgery For YOU!"

On the movie front, both Soylent Green (with it's great euthanasia scene) and Logan's Run feel quite a bit closer to reality than they did when originally screened.

And Cookie- we're sincerely sorry to hear about both your hip and your son, and hope that there will be successful recovery on both fronts. But in the meanwhile, by all means go spend some time with Johnny Optimism. If you can learn to laugh in the face of bad news, you'll really make your enemies nervous!

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Emmentaler Limburger said...

Uh, that's a joke, right? That's just sick...

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

Emmentaler- We checked out the website and it doesn't appear to be official. Of course, neither does the real Whitehouse these days, but that's beside the point.

Moreover, the blog takes a distinctly liberal viewpoint. But we appreciate the link they've given us and, while we aren't adding them to the blogroll, we'll leave their contact information above. We're all for freedom of speech.

My Dog Brewski said...

My master's older brother, Phillip, had Down's Syndrome and never walked or talked, was blind and mostly deaf and never progressed mentally past infancy. He lived to be 24. How long would Obama have let him live?