Health care Archives - Page 2 of 6 Voice For Liberty

Dec

Rationing of health care, now and on the horizon

A Wall Street Journal article explains that -- contrary to the promises of President Barack Obama and supporters of his health care plan -- rationing of health care is happening and will become more pervasive. Citing the story of Avastin (see below), the authors write "The Avastin story is emblematic of the government's broader agenda to ration care based on cost and politics. Once ObamaCare comes into full force, such rationing will be pervasive. When the government sees insufficient benefit, all but the wealthiest and most politically connected will have to go without." The article explains the doctrine of "comparative…

Aug

By Bob Weeks

Obama health care rejected in Missouri election

What are we to think when President Obama's signature legislative achievement is highly unpopular with Americans? Scott Rasmussen has written: "One of the more amazing aspects of the health-care debate is how steady public opinion has remained. Despite repeated and intense sales efforts by the president and his allies in Congress, most Americans consistently oppose the plan that has become the centerpiece of this legislative season." Now we have election results that show that Americans -- Missourians, anyway -- don't like what they see in the Obama health care plan. The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto reports on the Missouri…

Apr

By Bob Weeks

Dr. Milton Wolf at AFP Kansas summit

At the Kansas Defending the American Dream Summit 2010, produced by Americans for Prosperity-Kansas, Dr. Milton Wolf addressed the crowd on health care issues. Wolf is a physician and second cousin to President Barack Obama. "Three months ago I had never been to a political rally," he told the audience. He started a website -- The Wolf Files -- and became involved. He told the audience of some of the personal attacks he's received. "Freedom isn't free, and liberty cannot be a spectator sport." The government takeover of health care is really a cover for an assault on our freedom,…

Mar

By Bob Weeks

Bigger danger of healthcare bill: the arrogance of Congress

By Eric O'Keefe. We may never fully know the damage that will be done by the massive health care bill Congress passed on Sunday, but one thing is certain: It will lead to lower-quality care at higher costs. Dozens of new health boards will come on line in the next few years, as bureaucrats gradually take control of our health care system. Who knows how many bright college students will decide to avoid medical careers because they don’t want to follow orders from these bureaucrats? As alarming as some of the bill’s provisions are, what’s more dangerous is the arrogance…

Mar

By Bob Weeks

After U.S. health care reform, where will Canadians go?

Now that the Democrats' health care reform package has passed Congress and is sure to be signed into law, wealthy Canadians will need to start looking for somewhere else to travel for surgery. Earlier this year Danny Williams, the premier of the Canadian province of Newfoundland traveled to Miami for heart valve surgery. As Sally C. Pipes explains in a San Francisco Chronicle article: "With his trip, Williams joined a long list of Canadians who have decided that they prefer American medicine to their own country's government-run health system when their lives are on the line." In an interview defending…

Mar

By Bob Weeks

Health care about to get worse

A good summary of the problems with American health care, and of what the future holds is from Competitive Enterprise Institute's Gregory Conko. In his piece Health Care Crisis About to Get a Whole Lot Worse he writes: Most of the problems in America’s health care system -- high and rising prices, lack of consistent and reliable access for millions, rampant cost shifting, and an inability to distinguish between effective and ineffective services or between high and low quality, to name just a few -- stem not from some supposed market failure, but primarily from existing government interventions in the…

Jan

By Bob Weeks

To some, Democrats not bold enough, despite Massachusetts results

A coalition of liberal political action groups has released a poll that contradicts the conventional wisdom stemming from Tuesday's election. The poll, conducted after Republican Scott Brown's victory in the United States Senate election in Massachusetts, was sponsored by Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy for America, and MoveOn.org. According to a communique from Democracy for America, Democrats in Washington should "Be bold, fight for more change -- not less, and pass healthcare with a public option." The message speaks of "Stay-at-Home Voters and Obama-Voting Independents" as a new set of swing voters. These voters, DFA claims, were responsible for Brown's…

Nov

By Bob Weeks

Wall Street Journal on government health care

The Wall Street Journal has compiled its editorials and op-eds into a collection titled The WSJ Guide to ObamaCare. It's an invaluable collection of reporting and analysis. For example: The German model, promoted by American liberals as a model to follow? "Alas, the German system is starting to come apart at the financial seams." (The Stressed German Model: It took the Germans 125 years to figure out that their health-care system doesn't work) On learning from the states: "Like participants in a national science fair, state governments have tested variants on most of the major components of the health-care reform…

Nov

By Bob Weeks

Failure of one program doesn’t justify forming another

The blogger at the KRA got it just right in the post Liberal-socialists ignore government failure in insuring children. It seems that at a recent rally in Johnson County, a sign said there were 58,000 uninsured children in Kansas. The blogger points out "But doesn’t the state of Kansas already have a program in place that is supposed to insure children when their family can’t afford to do so? Of course, it’s called Kansas Healthwave!" At the national level a similar problem exists: people are eligible for government programs, but they don't sign up. As I wrote in Uninsured count…

Oct

By Bob Weeks

In Winfield, citizens don’t agree with their opinion leaders

On Wednesday the Winfield Daily Courier printed an editorial titled ‘Tea party’ bunch is going to extreme. While criticizing a move made by some Kansas legislators, it uses loaded language like "in full Glenn Beck mode," "they look silly," "appealing to prejudice rather than reason," and "should just laugh at the 'tea party' jesters." The anonymous author of this piece -- probably Dave Seaton, identified in the newspaper's website as "responsible for the Courier's editorial content" -- seems to be more than a bit out of touch with readers, at least those who have left comments to the editorial. One…