Apr 10
3
How Might the New Healthcare Bill Affect Those with Breast Cancer?
The new healthcare bill, while definitely being a landmark bill that will go down in history, is not short on the angst it is causing in both the medical world and the private sector. Many people think that the health bill will cause ultimately much higher taxes, and “subsidize” those that don’t make enough to pay for health insurance. Some people think it’s borderline socialist since it may in some way “force” people who don’t have health care to buy it in some form or another.
While I have not read it, or any rendering of it, I have heard a lot of tales of how this bill will work. Of course, we all know the infamous one, which the democrats vehemently deny. The “Death Panel” where a panel of doctors and insurance specialists decide who lives and who dies, in other words who gets treatment and who doesn’t.
To some degree, this sounds like it was based on a true working part of the bill. I heard this morning on the radio from a specialist on this type of stuff (reading of political bills), something that made more sense.
He said that the bill does provide provisions for medical staff to take this pot of money that they have, and decide what treatments make the most sense for patients, and how to best go about splitting this money. Of course, this begs the question, would some patients be left out in the cold then?
Would some patients who were deemed “too far gone” such as a patient with advanced breast cancer, be totally dropped from further care? I’m not really sure how this works, but to me it does sound like some degree of decisions will be made that can impact people’s lives.
All in all, it might be a good thing for those that could not previously afford insurance. Honestly though, for those of us that already have insurance through our employer or a great, cheap individual plan, it may kind of stink. We will probable end up taking on more taxes to pay for this expensive bill. Also of course, there is the notion that we all will have to pay for insurance in some form now, and a lot of people are opposed to this. I can’t blame them, it feels like it’s being forced down our throats.
And when are we going to figure out how we are going to actually pay for this if we don’t get the direction from the government? One thing is for sure, over the next six months to a year, we will be getting more information and direction on this, and much more discussion will be prompted on this landmark legislation. Several attorneys general in several states have already filed suit against the federal government, claiming that the law is unconstitutional.
