I have been a breast cancer survivor for 6 years and a stage IV metastatic breast cancer patient for 5 years. I share my story of how Medicare has, and continues to, ration care to some (if not all) stage IV cancer patients. This is at least the third denial that my doctors have had to face for my care this year. Medicare denies payment to doctors based on generic “one size fits all” treatment guidelines, otherwise known as rationing. It took 15 fractions of IMRT Stereotactic Radio Surgery (5 days of pinpointed targeted radiation) to treat my most recent brain tumor, but Medicare will only pay for 10 fractions… that is all that is approved by them for my diagnosis. My doctor, being that he is MY DOCTOR and is the cancer expert, knows that I need 15 fractions of said radiation to treat my tumor. The Govt says that 15 is excessive, and they will only pay for 10. So after 4 appeals, he gives up and essentially the 5 fractions that the Govt won’t pay for are on his dime. And that is on top of the absurdly miniscule amount that they tell him they will pay him for each treatment, as opposed to what the treatments actually cost. This is paternalistic rationing/eugenics. He will continue to treat me in any way necessary to keep me alive and kicking as long as we can, even though he will be continually screwed by Medicare. He is sadly very accustomed to being screwed by the Govt telling him how to practice medicine for his Medicare patients, but he continues to treat me as medically innovatively and soundly as necessary for us to keep a leg up on the disease. I apologized to his business office yesterday that I had ever opted into Medicare, giving up my private insurance… I want out of Medicare so bad I could vomit. But I don’t have that choice. My private insurance never questioned what the doctor needed to do to treat my advanced cancer. I have a medigap supplement that pays the 20% that Medicare doesn’t pay, and I have Prescription Part D. I pay $320 per month to have as complete coverage as I possibly can, but my longevity and medical care is completely dependent upon what the Medicare guidelines are, not upon what I pay in premiums per month. Anyone who thinks Medicare is “free”, as so many of my liberal friends do, needs to have their head removed and screwed on straight. I opted for my social security disability 3 years ago, and when I became eligible for Medicare a year later, I stupidly and regretfully opted in and canceled my superior private insurance…

Private insurance is allowed to follow Medicare guidelines (and of course they should be, in order to fairly compete), so most of the demonized private denials are based on Medicare denials. Not always, but more often than not. On average, private denies coverage a lot less than Medicare in my experience with the two systems. For medical procedures, private insurance also negotiates the prices they pay the doctor for medical procedures, but they pay a more fair price. Private insurance never denied any part of my radiation, and with private you have a precertification process for surgeries and procedures that you don’t have with Medicare. With Medicare you treat first and find out later if they will pay or deny it. It is a wretched system. For my radiation they dictate per service payment to the doctor at about 1/6th to 1/8th of what private insurance pays. To put it in perspective, a hairdresser like me, in an mid-level salon, charges more for a ladies haircut than Medicare pays my Oncologist for an office visit.

I share this so that folks can get a glimpse of what government healthcare is REALLY like.

What they are about to heap upon us will be so vulgar and obscene. If this passes, and it is unrepealable, we will truly have lost everything American about America… I am devastated by the thought of what these criminals are about to get away with.

http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1313923&ct=3698367

I never watched one episode of West Wing because I knew intuitively what it would be.
I never watched one episode of JAG or Army Wives.
One that fooled me was Politically Incorrect. I watched two half episodes. Bill Maher would get one conservative and three liberals to filibuster them out of the “conversation.”
At first I thought he had deliberately tricked people like me with the name of the show “Politically Incorrect.” Then I figured it out. To people like hime it really is politically incorrect, to even let one conservative be seen on the show. To let them be heard would be too much I suppose.
I notice lately that there are liberal shows that have names like Real Time and Getting Real.
I wonder if incorporating the word Real in the title is to appeal to a feeling of need the liberal base has, that somehow the ideas and even the news they are being fed daily in their entertainment and the “fringe media” in general leaves them needing more of a connection to reality. You can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Even the most obtuse may find themselves uneasy at one time or another.

Here’s the funny part – in order for your “vote” to be “counted”, you have to register, right? So, I put in my email address, first name as “Leaveus” last name as “Alone”.

I received a response in my email box: Dear Leaveus: Thank you so much for joining our movement, blah, blah, blah, help America grow stronger, blah, blah, blah. What a CROCK!

It will be interesting to monitor what sort of crap the idiot’s campaign “workers” put out. If any of it serves up humor, I’ll be sure to share! Man, what a bunch of morons.

I believe that answer will come and be so obvious when its time to act. I’m not sure what it is now.

Pelosi comes up with a 1,990 page bill…

All I have to say is this Congress makes me sick. I dont know anyone out here who trusts you guys any more. This entire Government is failing and failing big.

Vote no. God only knows what is in that bill.

That is a bill designed to not be understood

I’m not even going to ask that the Representive read it. No one would be able to read it and understand it..

And accordingly therefore, you should not vote for things you don’t understand.

Nancy Pelosi has to be removed from Leadership.

I wish I had a Representive in Congress who had some balls .. but instead I have this mute who I never hear anything about.

So be it.. vote no.