Think You're Too Old for Hip Surgery under Government Run Healthcare Insurance?

[FayeforCure]

Not so........

70% of all hip surgeries in the US are paid for by the government,.......under Medicare!

Then there's is the VA and Tricare, all government run healthcare insurance also providing hip replacement surgeries, leaving very few hip surgeries actually paid for by the for-profit private insurance industry.

Another False argument against a government run healthcare insurance option alongside employer based insurance exposed.

[JeffreyS]

Faye it is comical that rationing is ever used by those who support a strictly private system.

[JMac]

Are you referring to what Obama is arguing?

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said his grandmother’s hip-replacement surgery during the final weeks of her life made him wonder whether expensive procedures for the terminally ill reflect a “sustainable model” for health care.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aGrKbfWkzTqc

[Sigma]

 

That's why we are going to let a bureaucrat make the decision as to a person's "terminal illness" status and hey, if you are not worth saving, then pull the plug. 

Also, cut off the social security checks too.

Faye, this is ridiculous.

[BridgeTroll]

70% of all hip surgeries in the US are paid for by the government,.......under Medicare!

Hmmm.... why oh why would most hip surgeries be paid by Medicare?  This is just completely freeking astounding.  I was thinking perhaps sports injuries... you know... tennis elbow or shin splints from jogging... but not hip replacements...

[FayeforCure]

70% of all hip surgeries in the US are paid for by the government,.......under Medicare!

Hmmm.... why oh why would most hip surgeries be paid by Medicare?  This is just completely freeking astounding.  I was thinking perhaps sports injuries... you know... tennis elbow or shin splints from jogging... but not hip replacements...

Yes isn't it ironical that the "too old for hip surgery under a government run healthcare insurance system" argument is negated by the very fact that indeed it IS the government that pays for just about all hip surgeries right here in the good old US of A.

[BridgeTroll]

So what is it you want faye??  Are they too old for this or not?  Is it a waste of government resources or not?  Obama says so... I mean they are gonna die soon anyway... Maybe after they die we can remove the hardware and reuse it...

[FayeforCure]

BT, it's the opponents of a public option that are trying to have it both ways. Telling us that how things are in the US where you are never too old for hip surgery, is how we should keep it.

They are telling us:

"Be AFRAID, be VERY AFRAID, because if we implement a public option you will be determined too old for hip surgery"

BE AFRAID, things are going to CHANGE.

Of course hip surgeries in the US are perfomed by an already operational public option (Medicare), and as was the case with Obama's mother, you are never "too old" for hip surgery even under a government plan already operating in the US. So there won't be any change there at all.

False fearmongering.

[BridgeTroll]

Not sure I agree faye... as was noted earlier even the President questioned the wisdom of the replacement for his own Grandmother.  Clearly... things are going to change... and clearly they should.  We simply disagree as to how to do it.

[FayeforCure]

Not sure I agree faye... as was noted earlier even the President questioned the wisdom of the replacement for his own Grandmother.  Clearly... things are going to change... and clearly they should.  We simply disagree as to how to do it.

BT, things only should change to the effect of not having doctors and hospitals milk the Medicare system ( as Rick Scott, Healthcare Profiteer And Anti-Reform Campaigner did).

We have seen some regions in the US with three times the number of procedures than similar geographical areas. The higher Medicare utilization did not equate with better healthcare outcomes. This is how we can save 30% of current Medicare healthcare costs or a good $700 billion, enough to just about cover everyone who is currently uninsured.

[Clem1029]

We have seen some regions in the US with three times the number of procedures than similar geographical areas. The higher Medicare utilization did not equate with better healthcare outcomes. This is how we can save 30% of current Medicare healthcare costs or a good $700 billion, enough to just about cover everyone who is currently uninsured.

Tell you what...how about we start with Medicare then? Let's save that $700 billion, bring this year's deficit down to $1.1 trillion, and then maybe we can talk about how to cut more of the deficit...and THEN we can entertain maybe talking about thinking about some sort of nationalized systme. Because until the government can prove it can save that 30%, believing the government can effectively manage health care doesn't pass the laugh test.

Fix Medicare before subjecting the rest of us to the same fiasco.

[JMac]

Faye - so is Obama making false arguments about his own healthcare proposal?  Although he seems pretty broken up about it, he's saying that care should be rationed for other people's grandparents.