dagblog - Comments for "Who needs a death panel?"

Yeah, the ultimate death

Richard Day — Wed, 04 May 2011 21:21:19 +0000

Yeah, the ultimate death panel.

Good metaphor. A metaphor that becomes the reality.

One of the theoretical

Flavius — Wed, 04 May 2011 20:39:00 +0000

One of the theoretical supports of Congressman Ryan proposal is the ever popular reliance on "market forces" to reduce health care costs. Fresh off their achievement in the housing sector, I suppose.

To provide a patriotic frisson .it's combined with " free choice" that hardy conservative value,except in the case of..well,Choice . Arguably Ryan will set Joe Retiree Free ( here, five seconds of Martin Luther King) and send him forth to threaten Carl Cardiac-surgeon with losing Joe's patronage unless Carl provides a discount by-pass.(I'm entitled to joke since I just had one- a by pass, not a discount)

Question. Does the existing 30% cost sharing motivate Joe? If not , why would 30% that he might actually just be able to pay be less effective than 68% which is no more relevant to him than the cost of a Chalet in Steamboat Springs? Which he also can't afford.

More fundamental question. Is there any point in dignifying Plan Ryan with a rebuttal of its supposed rationale .? Back during the 70's gasoline crisis supposedly a Texas bumper sticker read

Let the Yankees freeze to death in the dark.

Wouldn't one reflecting Ryancare read

Save the Trust Fund, die at home from your heart attack

. . .

The consequence of Paul

Richard Day — Wed, 04 May 2011 19:16:26 +0000

In reply to Who needs a death panel?

The consequence of Paul Ryan's plan is not that seniors will have to pay 68% of their medical bills. It'll be that they'll pay 0% because they won't be treated.

Well this kind of message is scaring the hell out of certain repubs.

I know Pawlenty is walking away from any changes to Medicare right now.

Good slant on Ryan's plan for sure!

It's infuriating. Worse than

Flavius — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:15:36 +0000

In reply to There is another big

It's infuriating. Worse than that. I restrain myself from using the word: evil. But it's hard.

There is another big

CVille Dem — Wed, 04 May 2011 14:51:51 +0000

In reply to Who needs a death panel?

There is another big difference from the insurance that Congress gets:

When a Congressperson chooses his/her insurance they have a list of policies, detailing coverage, and what their premiums would be. These options are pre-negotiated for them, and their premiums are low compared to most other people in the country.

Seniors, however, will fill out multiple pages of information on themselves, listing every health problem and all medications, etc. They will SUBMIT this info to insurance companies, which then evaluate the senior according to what the insurance company thinks it might have to pay. THEN, the senior finds out what premiums and what deductible, and co-pay, etc they have to choose from.

See the difference? And a 75 year old just might not feel up to comparing and contrasting all those 'options" every year.

Every time I hear one of these liars claim that what they propose is giving seniors the same health-care as they get, I want to scream!

Oh, and if it is so wonderful, why are they exempting those of us 55 and over? Because they know it sucks, and they don't want to lose the geezer vote.

Exactly.

Flavius — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:34:23 +0000

In reply to So the GOPer's are opposed to

Exactly.

So the GOPer's are opposed to

Beetlejuice — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:31:24 +0000

In reply to Who needs a death panel?

So the GOPer's are opposed to a government controlled death panel paid for by taxpayers. However, they have no problem with an industry death panel that's using a market model to squeeze as much profit out of employee and public health care systems as Congress will allow.