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An American NHS  Patients screaming for the toilet as their requests for assistance go unheeded.
Dehydrated patients forced to drink out of flower vases, while others are left in soiled linen on filthy wards. Nurses turning off heart monitors because they don't understand how to use them. Such events as these belong in nightmares, where you can wake up and say "Thank God we have an unimpeded, competitive, and reliable healthcare system." They do not belong in the civilized world. And yet each instance is a real life event, having taken place at Stafford General Hospital in Stafford, England. An investigation of the Mid-Staffordshire NHS foundation trust by the Healthcare Commission, begun in March last year upon receiving 11 alerts about high mortality rates, concluded at least 400 deaths could not be explained, although it is feared up to 1,200 patients may have died needlessly. Sir Ian Kennedy, chairman of the Healthcare Commission, said patients had died because of deficiencies at "virtually every stage" of treatment. Relatives of patients have their own stories to tell of terrible neglect and gross inefficiency. March 17, 2009, the day the Healthcare Commission released their investigative report, a memorial gallery of patients who died at Stafford General Hospital covers the wall at the headquarters of campaign group Cure The NHS. Much like the pictures that plastered the corner café near Stafford General Hospital; one of a tiny baby on a hospital bed, under the words, "Why has it taken so long, 400 deaths."  Why indeed.
And now, I fear, it is America's turn. The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday (3/29/09), to pass a $3.4 trillion compromise budget plan; budget blueprint is only a first step toward Obama's goal of providing health care coverage for all Americans. A nationalized healthcare system in which private practice would be smothered under a load of regulations and taxation, to the point of extinction. Much like the coming nationalization of our banks, hospitals would be first be caught by necessity and then seized by force, obliterating the private healthcare sector. Like President Obama's extended healthcare coverage for 11 million "uninsured" children (an estimated 2.4 million would have had access to private health insurance) signed in February to the tune of an additional $32.8 billion on the state children's health insurance program, for which revenue was generated by raising the federal tobacco tax, this $3.4 trillion will be coming from your pocket. Obama said it is a key step toward his promise of universal health care coverage for all. Organizing For America, a website devoted to explaining just how private healthcare will disappear from this continent, is very open about our President's plans for American healthcare.  To lower costs, a plan that will save the "typical American family up to $2,500" -(is that before or after the $3.4 trillion?), President Obama proposes to "reform the insurance market" so all Americans - regardless of their health status or history - can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums.
Damaging to quality and availability? Extremely. A true cut in costs? Quite the opposite. Our President pledges commitment to fiscal responsibility and solves the problem by "responsibly" picking our pockets. Thank you Mr. President. In addition to making sure everyone has healthcare, Obama and Biden will require coverage of preventive services, including cancer screening - and will increase state and local preparedness for terrorist attacks and natural disasters. Your employer may have to let you go so he can pay for the benefits of your co-workers, but at least they will be covered in the event that a crazy right-wing extremists shoots up the local community center or a July blizzard (caused by the ever-increasing threat of global warming) leaves them stranded in their toolshed. Obama-care will be much like Britain"s National Health Service, where young people in their twenties have their teeth pulled in place of proper dental care. With government management we can expect waiting lists of outrageous length. Using Ireland"s nationalized healthcare a patient experiencing symptoms of cancer can expect a to wait up to a year before they see a specialist. A shortage of neurologists leads to hospital inpatients with conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson"s disease and dementia waiting up to two weeks before they see a therapist. Government healthcare recipients in U.S. will face the same problems of cramping, long waits and care that runs from fair to bad. We will be blessed with doctors offices that are impossible to contact by phone, months of waiting to obtain a referral to see a specialist or even for scheduling such a simple appointment as a physical. We will also experience a shortage of truly qualified medical personnel in government employ. Those who can will enter private practice (if is still possible), in order to garner higher wages. Moreover, those who are employed as government health providers will lack the incentive to provide quality care. And why not? Like public school teachers everyone will be paid the same regardless of their performance. In the end, government-run healthcare will be highly regulated, nixing expensive research and rationing costly treatment.. No matter where you look, you will find that government-provided healthcare pales in comparison to the private sector. In the free market the quality of the care is directly related to business prosperity. No one will continue to spend their own money on fallacious healthcare if they have the choice. If a private enterprise expects to last, it must offer quality at a competitively price to attract patrons. No such incentive guides government run healthcare. Dear fellow Americans, we are headed full-tilt for nationalized healthcare - and a national debt of unfathomable proportion. In other words, you will pay mightily for your place in an endless waiting list to receive helthcare. It won't be long before we see monstrosities such as those at Stafford General. Nationalized healthcare in the U. S.of A will soon be just as bad as that in Britian. "I'm asking you to believe," says President Obama, "Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington . . . I'm asking you to believe in yours." I believe alright. I firmly believe in President Obama's ability to destroy what little freedom still exists in America. But let us take him at his word, if only in part. Let us believe in our ability to bring about change. Let us defy the slaughter of our freedoms. Let us demand cessation of the regime's interference in our private affairs. Let us join the outcry for change in government. It is not yet too late to turn this monster from its prey. If nothing else, let it not be said we were taken without a fight. We must let our federal government know that we will not abide this march toward tyranny. Now is not the time to grin and bear it - if we do, we may not long have the teeth to grin. |