Preserving Patient and Doctor Choice
by Capitol ConfidentialSenator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has introduced critical legislation that aims to stem the coming tide of rationing of America’s health care services. The PATIENT’s Act will ensure doctors and patients have the final say about medical treatment and new ObamaCare created “comparative effectiveness research” will not put a government created barrier to better treatment.
On the surface, there is nothing inherently wrong with “comparative effectiveness research.” Advocates believe it will save the taxpayers money by studying whether alternative and cheaper treatments are just as effective as currently prescribed methods of treatment. ObamaCare appropriated nearly $1 billion for such studies.
The problem, however, is when government takes that research and mandates a “one-size-fits-all” health care regimen that does not fit every patient . And with government mandated to reduce the cost of health care, these studies will assuredly become the intellectual justification of rationing. Here’s why.
Doctors have a unique relationship with their patients. They know how they respond to treatments. Government bureaucrats do not know, and frankly do not care, how an individual responds. They care about the big picture – the bottom line. If they can show cost savings by swapping a drug, they will do it. That appears to be happening with the drugs Lucentis and Avastin.
Avastin is a late-stage anti-cancer drug that is similar to a drug called Lucentis. Some argue it’s identical. Lucentis has been approved by the FDA to stop macular degeneration. Avastin has not been. But the National Institute for Health (NIH) has been studying whether non-approved Avastin can be injected into the eye instead of Lucentis. The driving force is price. Avastin is much cheaper than Lucentis.
But some doctors report that their patients with AMD do not respond to Avastin but respond greatly to Lucentis. They do not know why. If the government issues a policy that denies coverage for Lucentis – a likely outcome should the research shows they are comparative – some patients will lose their eyesight.
That’s why Kyl’s bill is so critical. Doctors and patients need the final say. Decisions should never be dictated by cost. Doctors are driven by results. Bureaucrats are not.
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22 Comments
This health care debacle was established to lead towards single payer program. What we got was just the first phase. The complaints about cost and rationing and choices will grow and demands will be made and the end result suggested by 'government' will be single payer and that's the nail in the coffin of our traditional health care plans in America.
May she rest in peace……
Dialogue for above photo . . .
Nurse: "Ma'am . . . I'm sorry we are going to need that chair"
Patient: "But I need it to get around . . . "
Nurse: "I'm very sorry ma'am but your wheel chair allotment from health and human services has run out . . "
Patient: "But . . . but . . . what am I supposed to do?"
Nurse: "Have you seen the view from this cliff? Here let me help you . . ."
Obama said that if we liked our insurance, we could keep it.
My wife's employer, in reaction Obamacare, dropped the carrier in place for at least 8 years – because of premium increases resulting directly from Obamacare – and replaced it with another carrier. We now have drama with scripts never experienced before and more out of pocket expenses. The worst part – nobody was even notified that this change was going to happen until after it was already done.
That means Health Insurance Contracts were changed, a party to the contract changed, and the other party had no say, no input and no authority. We The People are pawns for government to more around on the chess boards as it sees fit. While not single payer, there is single authority and that is not in the hands of the individual.
For cripes sakes, a contract we had was broken, without notice, and a new one engaged in, again without even notice.
Health insurance must be BROKEN from employment. And all of it must be broken from government control.
"Doctors are driven by results. Bureaucrats are not."
This one line was worth the price of admission. How many other words could we fill in here?
Business is driven by results. Government is not.
Capitalism is driven by results. Socialism is not.
Conservatives are driven by results. Liberals are not.
………………………….
". Decisions should never be dictated by cost. Doctors are driven by results." This is absolutely a pipe dream. If you need a drug that costs $500,000 over it's use and you are on Medicare you have a 20% deductible. So the person with the need has to raise $100,000 dollars and that does not even cover medical care or hospital costs. What these republicans are proposing is out of touch with reality. We already ration care in this country, if you don't have the means to pay for medical treatment you will die and/or suffer.
No one is trying to set the ability for those with the means to pay to not get the treatment they want or need. The problem we have is allowing everyone some access to medical care and to stop driving people into bankruptcy if they end in a hospital for a week.
One of the reasons a patient sees a doctor is not just for in person physical evaluation of a health issue, but also to HEAR from the patient specific information such as treatments that have been tried and were ineffective, medications that are ineffective, etc.
Case in point – I went to a clinic for a sinus infection, needing antibiotics. I told the clinic that amoxicillin was no longer effective against these infections, but they insisted it would work. $180 later, and I was proven right. I had to go to another doctor who actually listened, and prescribed omnicef. Another $180, but at least this time it worked.
What Washington bureaucrat am I going to go to to get the same result?
(and yes, I PAY for my health care – in cash. I don't NEED government run socialized health care, nor want it)
Health insurance must be BROKEN from employment
That's a good place to start. I've spent half my life at the mercy of corp. health care plans. I have no doubt that government healthcare will be even worse, as if that were possible.
This is great, but I have to wonder where Senator Kyl really stands on doctor patient choice. Is he also ready to craft legislation that would respect the rights of patients, doctors and the states by tying the hands of the DEA and legally prohibiting the DEA from medical marijuana dispensaries in states where it has been made legal? If he is not willing to take that step he is just another hypocrite in government.
Of course healthcare is already rationed. Everything in life is. You have $10 in your pocket, do you order the $50 steak or the $5 buffalo wings? You are rationing your money.
I don't know anyone who's calling for denying healthcare to anyone. In New York state where I live, it's against the law for a hospital, clinic or doctor to turn away someone in need of emergency healthcare. I'd be surprised if it's not a national law.
The real reason for ObamaCare has nothing to do with providing healthcare to the poor. It has to do with hiding the fact that Medicare and Medicaid are going broke. When they finally go belly up – and they will – those of us outside the government system will have coverage while those on the inside will get minimal service.
When that happens the illusion of government provided womb to tomb services will be shown for the lie it is. And government can't have that now, can it?
Notice how people fight over social security, but its basically an accepted fact that we're all in the program together. That's the idea. ObamaCare is about forcing the entire country onto the sinking Titanic of Medicare and Medicaid. Then we'll fight amongst ourselves on how to rearrange the deck chairs and the politicians get to avoid once again, making the hard decisions.
We've Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers More Americans work for the government than in manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities combined.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704...
"It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible." George Washington
Capitalism and health care don't mix well. Never did.
Hmmm. I guess that would explain why America is the only major produce of new life saving drugs, devices and procedures in the world. That would also explain why people come to America from all over the world for treatment while shunning their own government run systems.
You are naive if you think hospitals turning folks away is ever going to be a viable political goal.
This one is just a hoot! Thanks for the laugh. In the UK the National Healthcare Trust passed a rule that said no patient could be left unintended in an emergency room for more than four hours.
So the hospitals complied by leaving patients in ambulances in the parking lot.
Yo Killawatt— Tape your mike "keyed" and go outside and grab the antenna. In your case a pretty sure there will be an improvement.
Barack Obama, President-in-Thief is now in full campaign mode and here is his first video.
http://dancingczars.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/obam...
If you really care about replacing Obamacare then read the one-page talking points memo on the Universal Health Care Benefit Program: http://www.capitalismbookstore.com/HealthPlusTalk....
For those of you who are policy wonks read the white paper on the Universal Health Care Benefit Program at: http://www.capitalismbookstore.com/Affordable-Uni....
I often ask Obamacare supporting Democrats why health insurance is tied to employment but auto and home insurance is not. When they have no answer, I ask them if they should be. Most say no, but then hedge when asked about health care insurance.
Tied to employment makes competition lessen, it makes free access lessen, if not eliminating both entirely. Gee, why are insurance rates skyrocketing?
Sales across state lines is a good thing too. BUT, and this is a big but, as it stands today with (unconstitutional) "case law" regarding commerce the instant we buy across state lines the federal government grabs control anyway.
The problems noticed in health care, in insurance for it, really go way deeper than most people realize. We will not solve our troubles until we identify and address the actual problem. And that problem is the de facto United States of America Inc. operating as it does today, as opposed to the Constitutional du jur government of these united States operating within its enumerated powers.
Hopefully we have already begun to right this ship, but I am left to wonder whether we even have.
rights and privileges are the same thing.
You have a right to health care, or insurance (risk mitigation) regarding it.
This right is found in your right to contract privately.
You do not have right to a service and force another to pay for it. That only happens via enumeration of powers and that would take a Constitutional Amendment. Now, even Jesse Jackson Junior ADMITTED THAT years ago when he introduced that very thing, an amendment.
Capitalism and health care go together just fine, when the market is free and open. The reason things aren't working today is because of government overreach into a market where it has no authority. More extensive reach will only make it worse.
** Insurance is not flexible.
Health insurance is regulated, manipulated, and distorted in every state. Lobbyists at the state level arrange for their treatments to be covered by insurance, such as accupuncture, chiropracty, and health clubs. Insurance plans differ in total financial coverage, but don't offer ways for the consumer to benefit from choosing an older, cheaper drug. So, everyone picks the new, expensive drug, and the state-standardized insurance plans evolve to universally cover those and to cost more.
** Insurance is not personal.
Most health insurance is bought by employers for their employees. This is due to tax benefits originally granted to get around wage and price controls during World War II, 65 years ago. Untangle the tax mess, and make all health insurance and useful medical care tax deductible. Then individuals could buy insurance for their long-term benefit, and insurance companies would create a variety of plans to meet individual preferences.
** Medicines are too safe and too expensive.
Drug development is burdened by amazingly bureaucratic rules and huge expenses. The FDA is applying a ridiculous standard of testing and safety. Delays in introducing new drugs have arguably caused more death than the occasional cases where a bad drug side effect has appeared. And, this is in a market where almost any uncontrolled herbal remedy is available to poison the public.
Drug companies, competition, and doctors would quickly decide what level of safety and testing is required in each case. Tell people that the government is not magically protecting them, and they would question all drugs and demand the safety they deem appropriate.
Ironically, without the FDA, snake oil drugs could not claim that they have been suppressed by an establishment that wants expensive drugs and is suppressing inexpensive, "natural" remedies.
** Cost Shifting is Raising Sticker Prices.
The government is saving money on its lavish medical promises by underpaying for services delivered to Medicare and Medicaid patients. Doctors and hospitals react by raising prices in general, and collecting most of their reimbursement from private insurance patients. Private patients look at the prices and conclude that their doctor and hospital are thieves taking advantage of their misery.
The government should be giving vouchers, not specifying reimbursements. The overpromising by politicians will not end well under any plan.
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These are the problems in our current health care. They are all the result of government control and intervention. Removing that intervention is the way to fix the system. I am not holding my breath.
The free market in healthcare is breaking, and the government is breaking it. Our policy makers have already designed a system of price controls that doesn't work. Their solution is to cover up this failure by blaming "the market". The "market" is short for the freedom of people to produce and cooperate among themselves.
That freedom is what the government wants to take away, in favor of higher hidden taxes and directed rationing. Our leaders have been buying votes with lavish promises of what the government will deliver. Their plan is to put us all in one boat, then make us pay for their promises to prevent the boat from sinking.
Obamacare Bails Out Medicare.
The government has given control of the health care market to insurance companies. It was unions and other progressives that agitated for an increased role and power for the insurance companies and what we got was a system that inverted capitalism. It used to be in health care you made money by treating as many people as you possibly can. With health insurance companies in control, money is made by collecting money every month from workers and doing every thing possible to limit how much health care a policy holder accesses every month. It's a backwards system that needs to have it's legal protections removed so it can be forced out of business on the free market.
ROTFL! Although, what makes it a little scary is, you may not be far from the truth….
It doesn't matter in the slightest what industry we discuss: Government-imposed price controls always mean shortages.
In a sense, I've fibbed in the above paragraph. There's really no such thing as a shortage in and of itself. A shortage is always a shortage at a specified price. When the price is government-specified but the demand for the good exceeds the supply at that price, a black market emerges in response…and "Consumer" becomes a synonym for "Felon," at least in the eyes of the State.
I don't want to be a Felon. Do you?
Why are we continuing to nip at the margins of the death star? This is crap. Repeal NOW!!
Planned Parenthood cheats taxpayers with imaginary mammograms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq0kBkUZbvQ&fe...
"It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible." George Washington
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