According to the 2006 study by the Dept. of Health and Human Services 5% of the US population accounts for nearly 50% of health care spending in America. Most of those people are 65 years of age and older with serious, chronic illnesses. Obama will not make the cost-cutting targets by cutting care to the healthy young Americans, they already spend less than $670.00 per year. In his speach, Obama said "incentives" would be given to doctors to "avoid unnecessary hospital stays, treatments, and tests that would drive up costs." In an ABC news special June 24th, Obama implied medical treatment may be wasted on elderly people with grave illnesses, citing his grandmother as an example. His grandmother, who was dying of cancer- needed a hip replacement. "The question was, does she get hip replacement surgery, even though she was fragile enough they were not sure how long she would last?" asked the president. "Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller." Obama concluded.
In Europe, governments already ration health care, just as Obama plans to do here. The older and sicker people are, the less care they get. bureaucrats determine a patient's eligibility for health care using the QALY system (quality-adjusted life years). They divide the cost of treatment by the number of "quality" years the patient is expected to live. Older, sicker patients are expected to live fewer "quality" years, so why bother treating them at all? On this basis, British elders are routinely denied treatment for cancer, heart disease and other deadly illnesses.
Please consider your loved ones; consider yourselves- do you want to see your family denied the health care needed? We never know what will prolong life and for who it will be prolonged. As humans we should care about and respect all lives- not leave them to the bureaucrats.
