Gov. Jan Brewer's death panel

[Political Junky]

Ariz. Man Denied Life-Saving Liver Transplant - Phoenix News Story - KPHO Phoenix


PHOENIX -- A Valley man was in the surgery room, prepped and ready for his life-saving liver transplant when doctors told him the state's Medicaid plan wouldn't cover the procedure.
Francisco Felix, who has Hepatitis C, has been on the waiting list for a new liver since April, his wife said. A liver became available and Felix was ready for surgery at Banner Good Samaritan Hospital.
Arizona's medicaid agency, AHCCCS, which has recently cut funding for some services, refused to pay for Felix's surgery.

 

[Mad Scientist]

That's terrible! He should go back to Mexico right away and get the life saving liver transplant he needs.

 

[Harry Dresden]

That's terrible! He should go back to Mexico right away and get the life saving liver transplant he needs.

so who said he was from Mexico?......or is just being a Hispanic mean you must be?....

 

[Moon]

What, you mean government health care sucks?!?! Say it ain't so!!

 

[Revere]

If we all get denied transplants by government, we'll all be equal.

 

[Wry Catcher]

Callous Conservatives, just what we want when your child, your wife or you need help. Vote Republican, and pray to God you and your's stay healthy; you have the constitutional right to keep every dime you earn.
If you're stupid enough to lose you job, tought shit. Pay Cobra, you don't need to eat, feed your family or pay the rent. Insurance companies rely on your payments. How else can they survive?

 

[Wry Catcher]

If we all get denied transplants by government, we'll all be equal.

Don't be bitter Revere, not getting a brain transplant is not the end of the world. You might get a job with the Republican National Committee (hell, you might even become chair).

 

[daveman]

Callous Conservatives, just what we want when your child, your wife or you need help. Vote Republican, and pray to God you and your's stay healthy; you have the constitutional right to keep every dime you earn.
If you're stupid enough to lose you job, tought shit. Pay Cobra, you don't need to eat, feed your family or pay the rent. Insurance companies rely on your payments. How else can they survive?

Krugman says what happened to this guy needs to happen all the time.

Does that make it okay in your mind?

 

[rightwinger]

Typical GOP

Healthcare= We Don't Care

 

[Gadawg73]

Until we go back where the consumer, us, are the customers you will see this continue.
Insurance companies do the same thing.
Under the current system the insurance companies and the government, not the consumer, determine the care.
But folks love it!

 

[CrusaderFrank]

What do you think ObamaCare is anyway?

 

[daveman]

What do you think ObamaCare is anyway?

Liberal government making decisions that kill people is good. Conservative government making decisions that kill people is bad.

Right, USMB lefties?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Note, he was denied because he had Hep C.

 

[Gadawg73]

What do you think ObamaCare is anyway?

ObamaCare I oppose as it is everyone has to carry insurance.

The one thing I was for under the Obama plan was the $200 to a doctor to counselfamilies on ho to draft a living will.
Without a living will doctors and hospitals are filling hospital beds and running up hundreds of thousands of dollars in unneeded care.
The right wing kooks call this death panels and that was all a joke.
A doctor in the ER where they brought my Dad 2 weeks before he died authorized him to be sent to a nursing home when we had a DNR order in place per Dad's living will. It gets better Frank. The good doctor authorized OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY for my 89 year old father on his death bed for an entire week along with speech therapy and other unneeded therapy to the tune of 13K.
And Medicare paid.
Tell us Frank, how does an economy survive when 25% of the entire economy is medical care? You do know Frank that in less than 20 years that is where we will be under the current system, don't you?
And how does a family, business or government afford topay on average $48K a year in healt insuranced premiums fora family of 5 in less than 15 years Frank?
You do know that based on 15% increases,which is the average over the last 30years, that is what it will be in less than 15 years as that figure is 12K a year NOW oer family of 5.
Please get head out of sand and readand know the facts.
But you folks love this system!

 

[Greenbeard]

Krugman says what happened to this guy needs to happen all the time.

Does that make it okay in your mind?

It looks like Krugman said:

PAUL KRUGMAN, NEW YORK TIMES: If they were going to do reality therapy, they should have said, OK, look, Medicare is going to have to decide what it's going to pay for. And at least for starters, it's going to have to decide which medical procedures are not effective at all and should not be paid for at all. In other words, it should have endorsed the panel that was part of the health care reform.

If it's not even -- if the commission isn't even brave enough to take on the death panels people, then it's doing no good at all. It's not educating the public. It's not telling people about the kinds of choices that need to be made. [...]

KRUGMAN: No. Some years down the pike, we're going to get the real solution, which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes. It's going to be that we're actually going to take Medicare under control, and we're going to have to get some additional revenue, probably from a VAT. But it's not going to happen now.

So, we've got to get Medicare under control by deciding "what it's going to pay for...which medical procedures are not effective at all and should not be paid for at all."

AKA "death panels."​

Are you arguing that a liver transplant is not an effective procedure?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

What do you think ObamaCare is anyway?

ObamaCare I oppose as it is everyone has to carry insurance.

The one thing I was for under the Obama plan was the $200 to a doctor to counselfamilies on ho to draft a living will.
Without a living will doctors and hospitals are filling hospital beds and running up hundreds of thousands of dollars in unneeded care.
The right wing kooks call this death panels and that was all a joke.
A doctor in the ER where they brought my Dad 2 weeks before he died authorized him to be sent to a nursing home when we had a DNR order in place per Dad's living will. It gets better Frank. The good doctor authorized OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY for my 89 year old father on his death bed for an entire week along with speech therapy and other unneeded therapy to the tune of 13K.
And Medicare paid.
Tell us Frank, how does an economy survive when 25% of the entire economy is medical care? You do know Frank that in less than 20 years that is where we will be under the current system, don't you?
And how does a family, business or government afford topay on average $48K a year in healt insuranced premiums fora family of 5 in less than 15 years Frank?
You do know that based on 15% increases,which is the average over the last 30years, that is what it will be in less than 15 years as that figure is 12K a year NOW oer family of 5.
Please get head out of sand and readand know the facts.
But you folks love this system!

I've said many many many times that the twin reasons medical costs in the USA are skewed is that first, we are the only country that lets its lawyers make a living off of medical care and second and far more importantly, there is a total divorce between the patient and doctor so that the insurance company or government is the patient and dictates the treatment because they are the payee and that must end.

And like you, I know this first hand too. My Dad was recently asked if he wanted to start Chemo and some of us, myself included, were trying to dissuade him, but he went ahead with in and in a very short space of time I watched him go from a guy gallantly battling cancer to a cancer patient.

 

[mudwhistle]

Callous Conservatives, just what we want when your child, your wife or you need help. Vote Republican, and pray to God you and your's stay healthy; you have the constitutional right to keep every dime you earn.
If you're stupid enough to lose you job, tought shit. Pay Cobra, you don't need to eat, feed your family or pay the rent. Insurance companies rely on your payments. How else can they survive?

Alot may have been left out of this story.

Is he a legal resident?

Does having Hep C cause adverse effects that would lessen the possibility of a successful transplant?

I'd like to look into this further. Seems to be somebody is only telling half the story here.

While Medicaid and Medicare sound similar, they are in fact very different programs. One of the biggest differences is Medicaid is a state governed program and Medicare is a federal governed program. Here are some other differences:
Medicaid is for low income:

* Pregnant women
* Children under the age of 19
* People 65 and over
* People who are blind
* People who are disabled
* People who need nursing home care

Application for Medicaid is at the State's Medicaid agency.

Medicare is for:

* People 65 and over
* People of any age who have kidney failure or long term kidney disease
* People who are permanently disabled and cannot work

Hepatitis C is an infectious disease affecting the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV).[1] The infection is often asymptomatic, but once established, chronic infection can progress to scarring of the liver (fibrosis), and advanced scarring (cirrhosis) which is generally apparent after many years. In some cases, those with cirrhosis will go on to develop liver failure or other complications of cirrhosis, including liver cancer[1] or life threatening esophageal varices and gastric varices.

The hepatitis C virus is spread by blood-to-blood contact. Most people have few, if any symptoms after the initial infection, yet the virus persists in the liver in about 85% of those infected. Persistent infection can be treated with medication, peginterferon and ribavirin being the standard-of-care therapy. 51% are cured overall. Those who develop cirrhosis or liver cancer may require a liver transplant, and the virus universally recurs after transplantation.

Seems the disease has to be removed first before a transplant or else the new liver will be damaged....which is a waste of money.

See.....little things like this seem to be left out when somebody wants to push their agenda

 

[geauxtohell]

I've said many many many times that the twin reasons medical costs in the USA are skewed is that first, we are the only country that lets its lawyers make a living off of medical care and second and far more importantly, there is a total divorce between the patient and doctor so that the insurance company or government is the patient and dictates the treatment because they are the payee and that must end.

And like you, I know this first hand too. My Dad was recently asked if he wanted to start Chemo and some of us, myself included, were trying to dissuade him, but he went ahead with in and in a very short space of time I watched him go from a guy gallantly battling cancer to a cancer patient.

All estimates show that malpractice makes up about 2-3% of the cost of healthcare. Most of the cost is due to the fact that technology has made medicine expensive. So expensive that it is beyond the realm of most people to truly pay for it when it comes to serious illness.

The real role in Malpractice is to be a red herring for conservatives to reference when it is anything but. You could eliminate malpractice tomorrow, and health care would still be beyond the realm feasibility. Even with insurance, if you have a catastrophic illness, you are going to cap out. And then what happens? Your policy pays the max and the hospital writes off the bad debt (because hospitals don't want to start suing patients for their assets to recoup) and spreads the cost off the every other patient who has minor procedures. This is why 9 stitches costs $1200 dollars. Insurance companies continue to pay for over-inflated costs for minor procedures and everyone winks and nods at each other.

I am sorry about your father, but what does the fact that he entered into chemo have to do with anything? Chemo is hard on everyone, regardless of who pays. What's the alternative? He looks healthy for a while off chemo until the Cancer started to consume him and he dies of it?

I don't see your point.

 

[NYcarbineer]

I've said many many many times that the twin reasons medical costs in the USA are skewed is that first, we are the only country that lets its lawyers make a living off of medical care and second and far more importantly, there is a total divorce between the patient and doctor so that the insurance company or government is the patient and dictates the treatment because they are the payee and that must end.

And like you, I know this first hand too. My Dad was recently asked if he wanted to start Chemo and some of us, myself included, were trying to dissuade him, but he went ahead with in and in a very short space of time I watched him go from a guy gallantly battling cancer to a cancer patient.

All estimates show that malpractice makes up about 2-3% of the cost of healthcare. Most of the cost is due to the fact that technology has made medicine expensive. So expensive that it is beyond the realm of most people to truly pay for it when it comes to serious illness.

I am sorry about your father, but what does the fact that he entered into chemo have to do with anything? Chemo is hard on everyone, regardless of who pays. What's the alternative? He looks healthy for a while off chemo until the Cancer started to consume him and he dies of it?

I don't see your point.

Tort reform for healthcare is the GOP's 'earmarks' canard, i.e., something that is, as you pointed out, financially insignificant in the big picture but plays well as political grandstanding.

The funniest part of the of the tort reform argument is where they say that if doctors' malpractice insurance rates are lowered, we'll all get cheaper healthcare. Really? Is that really what doctors are fighting for? To get their money back so they can give it to you and me? lol

 

[NYcarbineer]

What do you think ObamaCare is anyway?

Liberal government making decisions that kill people is good. Conservative government making decisions that kill people is bad.

Right, USMB lefties?

Why don't you give your opinion on the topic?