Government health care at its finest - Oregon
Want to see a perfect example of what happens when a government steps into the private sector and starts providing socialized health care?
Check out Barbara Wagner�s story at the Oregon
Statesman Journal:
Drug company supplies cancer drug Oregon Health Plan won't
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.
Good lord! What part of "First, Do No Harm" do these bureaucrats fail to grasp...
There is good news though:
Then on Monday a representative of the pharmaceutical company Genentech called Wagner and offered the medicine for free.
The decision to implement government sponsored health care is a difficult one to make. Sure, it ensures that people have a basic level of service but at the same time, it adds another layer of cost and bureaucracy to what is already an expensive and bureaucratic process and this can only decrease the efficiency.
We need to strip out a lot of the malpractice insurance, reduce the system down to 50% of its size and see what happens. Streamline the process just like an auto or a microchip manufacturer would do.
Posted by DaveH at July 1, 2008 9:16 AM