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Common Sense Junction…
“George Will: Romney’s trifecta”
Friday, October 5, 2012 

George Will reviews the debate and highlights three important things Romney accomplished. Here is one of them: 

Late in the debate, when Romney for a third time referred to Obamacare’s creation of “an unelected board, appointed board, who are going to decide what kind of [medical] treatment you ought to have,” Obama said, “No, it isn’t.” 

Oh? 

The Independent Payment Advisory Board perfectly illustrates liberalism’s itch to remove choices from individuals, and from their elected representatives, and to repose the power to choose in supposed experts liberated from democratic accountability. Beginning in 2014, IPAB would consist of 15 unelected technocrats whose recommendations for reducing Medicare costs must be enacted by Congress by Aug. 15 of each year. If Congress does not enact them, or other measures achieving the same level of cost containment, IPAB’s proposals automatically are transformed from recommendations into law. Without being approved by Congress. Without being signed by the president. [That is rationing by a DEATH PANEL. (My emphasis.)] 

These facts refute Obama’s Denver assurance that IPAB “can’t make decisions about what treatments are given.” It can and will by controlling payments to doctors and hospitals. Hence the emptiness of Obamacare’s language that IPAB’s proposals “shall not include any recommendation to ration health care.” 

Some ObamaCare (OC) rationing is already taking shape. OC rules are being circulated that would limit the number of mammograms (breast cancer screenings) a women can have. The “proposed” number is well below the threshold set by The American Cancer Society. 

A new rule extending the limits of hospital stays has already gone into effect. Under old rules hospitals were limited to a set number of days Medicare would cover based on the diagnosis code used for admission. Now they have dropped the other foot. New rules just went into effect that hospitals will be fined $125,000 per occurrence if the patient is re-admitted within thirty days for the same diagnosis. That means an elderly person admitted for pneumonia or congestive heart failure (CHF: a misnomer that describes an excessive collection of fluid in the thoracic cavity outside the lungs) had damn well better not have either condition within 30 days of discharge. It also means a lot of old people will languish in ERs or sent back home from ERS with pneumonia or CHF. I’ve personally known elderly that had to be re-admitted 2 or 3 times for pneumonia or CHF because the initial stay didn’t allow enough time for doctors to clear up the underlying problems. The new rules will certainly impact patients during chemotherapy when the patient is most susceptible to CHF and pneumonia. 

Read this and other articles at Common Sense Junction


 
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