Denial of Health Care Comes To The US

Contrary to the protestations of the supporters of government run health care, rationing of services is a very real prospect. Just ask Barbara Wagner of Oregon.

EUGENE, Ore. — After weeks of bad news, things turned Barbara Wagner’s way this week.

Last month her lung cancer, in remission for about two years, was back. After her oncologist prescribed a cancer drug that could slow the cancer growth and extend her life, Wagner was notified that the Oregon Health Plan wouldn’t cover it.

It would cover comfort and care, including, if she chose, doctor-assisted suicide.

According to administrators of the state run plan, treatment of advanced cancer that is meant to prolong life or change the course of the disease is not covered. Excuse me....isn't that why we WANT health care....to prolong our lives and change the course of diseases? No???? Silly me - what was I thinking???? What is worse is that this is a change in policy, contrary to what the plan administrators claim.

Officials of LIPA and the state policy-making Health Services Commission say they’ve not changed how they cover treatment of recurrent cancer.

But local oncologists say they’ve seen a change and that their Oregon Health Plan patients with advanced cancer no longer get coverage for chemotherapy if it is considered comfort care.

It doesn’t adhere to the standards of care set out in the oncology community, said Dr. John Caton, an oncologist at Willamette Valley Cancer Center.

Well DUH - of course it does not adhere to the "standards of care" set by the oncology community. The doctors in the oncology community want to CURE their patients...not kill them. Remember the Hippocratic Oath - first do no harm?????? Apparently that does not apply to state bureaucrats!

Thankfully for Ms. Wagner, the "evil" pharmaceutical company that manufactures the drug has offered the treatment for free.

This is the kind of "care" that all Americans (not just Minnesotans and Utahns) can expect should government run health care become a reality. Is this really the kind of care we want for our aging parents or our children or even ourselves? Somehow I think the answer is a resounding no!