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Category: Obamacare -- Bad for America

HealthCare Redistribution: Keep the Government from Getting Between You and Your Doctor!
 
Essay by Brian Kelly
 
Finally, a real explanation of the new form of health care rationing coming in the new bill. If you find your tongue hitting your cheek on this don't worry, it is not a medical emergency.
 
Don't let all this talk about health care rationing disturb you. It is already happening.  Whenever there is less available than what is needed, there is rationing. So, if 20,000 new people or even 50,000 people -- those who reportedly do not have healthcare today, are added to an already overextended system, what will be the result? The result is more rationing, of course. 
 
How is it that we have rationing today?

 
There is a notion that I would like to call "natural rationing." If you do not have healthcare today, that would mean that somehow you have been rationed out by the marketplace. You are excluded by the natural occurrence of people making choices and there is no choice left for you -- no government intervention.  Under the government plan, there is rationing also but it is redistributed so that those who may never have qualified before now qualify for insurance and it may be you who is excluded. 

By the way, there are two notions such as EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment Active Labor Act) for illegal aliens, and Medicaid, for Americans and so nobody should be without health care unless they do not qualify for Medicaid or Medicare or they simply have chosen not to get health care. Everybody, not just illegals can use EMTALA.
 
See, there is still rationing in the new plan and it is only fair if government bureaucrats choose to execute the plan fairly.  It may not be you who is excluded, it may be me, the person next door or the guy down the street.  The point is we the people affected by the government plan lose our ability and our freedom to be included if the government chooses otherwise.  There is only so much care to go around. It's that simple. 
 
Before I move on further with this, I would like you to know that I have written two books that go more deeply into this matter of government controlling healthcare, and who is accountable for medical bills, and a number of other healthcare related topics.  I have taught several courses in Health Information Technology in the Healthcare Administration program at King's College over the years so I try to keep up on such issues.  The references are included at the bottom of this essay.
 
Rather than you having a say in how the care gets rationed, the government will take that burden from you and even if you had insurance, when everybody had insurance (now before the Obamacare plan is fully implemented), yours just may not be good enough anymore.  That's what happens when rationing is artificially enforced by a third party agent, such as the government, rather than by market forces.

I think that about explains Obamacare. All Obamacare wants to do is redistribute the rationing to make it more fair.  I call that Healthcare Redistribution and it is destined to be far more intrusive in your life than simple wealth redistribution. In this plan, it may be your friendly government bureaucrat who actually decides whether you live or die.  With the Country so far in debt, which way to you think the bureaucrats will go -- life and more costs, or death, and the government costs are over.  The limit on Mammograms to those over 50 seems to be one of the first regulations that we have seen that purposely permits people to die to save costs.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is healthcare rationing.  When somebody else gets your healthcare, that is healthcare redistribution and it sure shows who is in control of your life -- Uncle Sam.

But, the government says it will be fair.  Who can argue with fair -- fair for society and the Country as a whole.  The country, after all is far more important than the individual.  Well, at least in communism it is! Maybe the system would also be more fair for those long-term visitors who forgot to check in at the border.

To do your part in this new people friendly government you must trust your elected representatives that they will surely do the right thing. Just let it happen. Stop complaining!
 
First the stimulus and other actions handled some income redistribution but because there still are rich people who are not hard left or radical activists or members of Acorn, important elements of society are still not happy.
 
Secondly, The Government controlled healthcare insurance system will be pleased to handle the healthcare redistribution and this is necessary.
 
The reason why there is a 2000+ page bill in the House and a similar one in the Senate is because our lawmakers believe we are worth the paper. Well, sorta. Actually it is so that nobody can read the gotchas in the bill, but it would not be PC to discuss that.  The intent of Obamacare is to give Obama full control of healthcare, one sixth of the economy and all the wonderful patronage jobs that will come from that.  It just would not be popular if that's what Paul Kanjorski, Nancy Pelosi, Arlen Specter, Chris Carney, Bobby Casey, and Barack Hussein Obama gave the real reason. It is all about making all of them more powerful, and making you more dependent. 
 
But, for a moment, let's pretend that it is not as I have described. Let's say it is necessary because the disadvantaged (as shown in letters F to H in chart below) need the healthcare insurance that you already have.  Unfortunately, it is a zero sum game, and if you have your insurance, they cannot get your insurance.  So, if you read it carefully, or you read any of the synopses that are available, or you pay attention to the right news outlets, you'll see that the new bills provide for you to first give up your healthcare insurance in order to be a candidate for the more perfect govt. health insurance version or the modified, more expensive version of your own insurance which carries all the new regulations... if you can get it back.  .
 
The simple fact is that the disadvantaged need your healthcare insurance. Clearly, they need your insurance more than you need it. If you needed it and did not have it, you would be disadvantaged.  The only problem is that you still have it.  They want your insurance and your lawmakers want you to give it to them. They cannot get your healthcare without a full government takeover or enough regulations that it is a de facto takeover that has you giving up your care for them.
 
The euphemistic "Public" option of the bill will eventually handle all that, but even without the dreaded public option, the government will control healthcare if this bill passes. Kiss the good-old-days good by and get ready for a government health rationing plan a little bit different than market rationing.  If you are for redistributing your healthcare to your neighbor, call your congressman and insist that they support the final bill. 
 
Fear not, if 25% more skilled doctors and nurses than exist today out of nowhere to practice in the U.S. immediately, and the number of hospital beds goes up by 25% overnight, and all costs go down substantially immediately,  and China forgives our debt,  and the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter is aligned with Mars, your healthcare insurance may not have to be redistributed. to a more deserving person.
 
Right now, however, all systems are go, and your current Congresspersons and Senators know it.  But, perhaps peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars. And, then again, perhaps your own healthcare, along with Alice Cramdon, will arrive on the moon some time in 2013, right after Obama gets reelected. In other words, unless you are an Astronaut, kiss your Health Insurance good-by. . 
 
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As you can see, I try to use some humor to paint the direness of the times in which we live.  So, that we understand the notion of rationing regarding health are and health insurance, let's discuss how healthcare is already rationed today, though we may not at first see it that way.  In the chart below, we introduce the current rationing system. Following this, with a little hyperbole, I will show you how this will change when rationing is redistributed. 
 
Current Scenarios in which patients have "health insurance."
A. Have lotsa money, no insurance, and use your wealth to pay your own healthcare bills.
B. Have lotsa money and buy health insurance.
C. Have an employer who provides some or all of your health insurance.
D. Are a retiree and your employer provides some or all of your health insurance
E. On Medicare most often with affordable supplementals
F. On Welfare or Disability and get your health insurance from Medicaid.
 
Current Scenarios in which patients do not have "health insurance."
G. Figure you won't get sick and stick the $$ in your pockets for vacations
H. Cannot afford insurance -- go to ERs;  emergencies and routine healthcare (EMTALA)
I. Illegal Alien  -- go to ERs; emergencies and routine healthcare (EMTALA).
 
(EMTALA -- In 1986, Congress enacted the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act to ensure public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay. Thus, nobody is without the ability to get health treatment, regardless of citizen status. )
 
Right now, this is how natural rationing looks. It occurs because there just isn't enough to go around.   If there were enough to go around then both parts of the above list would be served equally.  There is not enough and therefore, in this scenarios somebody does not get the insurance per se, or the healthcare from the doctor's office, or preventive medicine.   When Obamacare comes in, there still won't be enough to go around so there still will be rationing but it will be a CHANGE you can believe in.  The government, instead of the marketplace will re-distribute your old insurance policy to a more deserving fellow or gal.
 
Those who have worked in the current system above (A to F) are still reaping their just rewards, at least for the time being.  This is where the government hopes to get the dollars to fund items G through I above.
 
Some who have worked but have not achieved much in life may not have received their rewards. In some cases this is because they did not prepare for employment or they chose not to work or they could not find work.  Yet, in the marketplace system, there is always the possibility that even without government intervention, somebody who cannot afford health insurance today, one day may get a job and be able to afford it. Then, they would move to the upper area of the marketplace rationing system.  Those who can afford insurance but choose not to buy it, still may not get insurance by choice  -- until they become older and then, they can move to a number of different categories in the upper area or perhaps they may fall into a lower area.
 
Illegals of course can become legitimate citizen by working through the process and then get better jobs with healthcare insurance or of course go back to their home countries and pick up the health insurance they left behind.
 
The point is the rationing scenario is very dynamic. People are not in these categories all their lives. The jobless get jobs and those with jobs lose them every now and then. Sure a system should preserve health insurance and help Americans but the current system does not have to be disassembled to do that.  So, the above rationing is natural and it is dynamic and no bureaucrat gets to decide who goes to the head of the line or who has to die.
 
People's life choices and in some poor circumstances, fate make the decisions today -- much better than a government bureaucrat would.  Some might suggest that individual determination and tenacity and hard work along with luck and help from God have some say in how well one does in life. Would it be better to give up this method and turn your fate over to a government bureaucrat.  Maybe for a few, it would be better -- but for many, especially the elderly it would not. 
 
Please remember there are losers today and there are winners today and this fact will not change with Obamacare. The faces will change.  Many of today's winning faces, who worked hard all their lives -- by government decree will become losers,  and many who fate or poor choices made losers -- by government t. decree will become winners and take the insurance once held by a "winning face -- perhaps your face.  That's how the govt. rationed system will play out.  The underserved will have won the healthcare distribution lottery and someone must pay for their winnings.
 
It really is like a healthcare lottery except the government rules say that all players must participate in the lottery.  As much as Congress and the President deny it, the fact is that those with healthcare insurance will have to give it up to get their healthcare lottery ticket.  They will no longer be in control of their health. All citizens must play and your ticket is your insurance policy or a note that you have none.   For those with insurance the stakes are high. For those without insurance it is a winning scenario. 
 
Even in full communism, it always helps if you "know somebody."  So, perhaps the schmoozers have another option. Perhaps not.
 
Now, let's talk about the pattern of the government rationing if the monster bill passes muster in the House and the Senate and the president signs it into law. At this point, the  government will be fully in control of all health insurance from infants to seniors whether there is the full banana government controlled health care insurance option or not.  In a short while from that point since Obama and company are pressing for the public option, it to will happen and then government will be the only permitted payer. Insurance companies will be phased out.  It doesn't matter if you worked all your life to earn your health insurance. It doesn't matter if you went to graduate school and invested a lot of time and money and debt into your education.  All insurance will be the same -- unless you run for Congress and make it -- just once.
 
The government redistributed rationing will occur this way.  If you need a procedure, depending on where you are in the selection table below, you may or may not receive government permission for the procedure.  Let's look at the probable pecking order for Obamacare
 
A. Filthy Rich who pay their own
B. Senators and Congressman and ex senators and ex congressman -- all of their wives, friends, campaign donors, concubines,  etc.
C. The filthy rich not included in A or B.
D. Young illegal aliens between ages 15 and 45
E. Older illegal aliens and young illegal aliens 2 to 14 who were never on Medicare
F. Medicaid patients who are ages 15 to 45,  followed by
G. New Underprivileged Healthcare Insurance Recipients ages of 15 and 45
H. Formerly Covered by Insurance -- Ages 15 to 45
H. New  Formerly chose not to be  covered -- had used the $$ for fun -- ages 15 and 45
I.  All other groups, including illegal aliens ages 2 to 14 non illegals 46 to 64,
J. Medicare  and other patients not in a prior grouping from ages 65 to 79,  followed by
K. Medicare and other patients not in a prior grouping from ages 80 to 99,  followed by
L. All patients 100 or older -- You get to view the Sarah Palin Death Panel Video.
 
Under the new system, the following will have no health care insurance:
L. One to two year olds -- not yet productive according to govt. -- small societal loss. 
 
The charts and the text  probably needs some work but this is just a rough draft.
 
As you can see, as long as you know your place in line and you are patient, you will eventually be served. Additionally, the new czars in the administration find little value in Senior Citizens.  For example, they like using # of years left to live for the good of society as an important gauge. Thus, it would be far better to prioritize for rationing a 15 year old with 30 more years until they reach 45 than five or ten sixty-five year olds.
 
Rationing is just rationing. The definition of rationing is "To restrict to limited allotments."
 
So, what's the big deal?
 
Some simple equations follow:
 
2 split two ways == 1 + 1 = 2
2 split three ways ==  2/3 + 2/3 + 2/3 = 2
2 split four ways == 1/2 + 1/2 + 1/2 + 1/2
 
You can get to 3 only if you can first find another 1.  The point is since there are no more doctors, and many doctors plan to retire if Obamacare is passed, all we are doing is splitting up how much we can get and that is the definition of rationing. The more to whom we give, the smaller is everybody's allotment. 
 
Rationing is Rationing is Rationing.
 
Do you like the natural system determine who gets health care or should the government bureaucrats?
 
Either way there is only so much to go around.
 
But in the natural system, you are not powerless and you are not at the whim of a government bureaucrat between you and your doctor.
 
If you would like to read more about my perspective on Obamacare, I have written two books that have lots of information on the subject.
 
Obama's Seven Deadly Sins
Healthcare Accountability
 
Both are available at
www.itjungle.com/store.html
 
I am 100% against the Obamacare plan as it is not a reform of healthcare but a means of giving everybody less care than was formerly available and making everybody dependent on the good will of a bureaucrat rather than rugged individualism and survival of the fittest.
 
It is a major loss of freedom for all, forever.
 
I promise to work for its repeal if it is passed and I am elected.