Valtrax online….

We are gagging on his lies.

The goal is to provide them with a common denominator in measuring benefits — how many years of life is expected to be gained in a patient if we give him this treatment? But the QA part says not all years are equal, nor is an additional year of life in a healthy 25-year-old male equivalent to that of a 55-year-old parapalegic female. You have to adjust for quality.

Aside from the moral objections, aside from the U.S. Constitution; unlike “how many years of life”, “quality” can not even be judged objectively as it is so very subjective.

This is sickening.
jeff_from_mpls on July 30, 2009

Every bit of the hope and change we are getting is quite sickening. We have lost ALL of our freedoms and it seems at least half the population supports this.

If you know the history of Chavez in Venezuela and the dynamics of his support/opposition….it is eerily similar to what we have here. Chavez championed the poor and proceeded to engineer many more into poverty thereby garnering a larger natural support base. So actually more people in Venezuela support Chavez than oppose him.

The next step in Obama’s marxist march will be to jail and intimidate dissidents. If Americans are the “exceptional” people we claim to be….at what point do we rise up against this?

I have a rather vivid imagination.

bloviator on July 30, 2009 at 1:17 PM

Same here. I also have strong opinions and had a few ideas about what should have happened to Splash a long time ago. As a woman it’s difficult to have a dispassionate view of this chap.

The DMV analogy is the one I have consistently used when talking to people about this plan to reform health care. I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t dread having to go to the DMV, but one normally doesn’t go there often. It usually isn’t a serious situation.

Imagine having to encounter the same type of bureaucracy, sullenness and lack of interest when one’s health is involved. This plan is a complete nightmare – in every respect. Once it’s in place it will be nearly impossible to dissemble.

Cody1991 on July 30, 2009 at 1:12 PM

I’m just not ready for my healthcare to be as efficient as the US Postal Service, comapssionate as the IRS or as easily accessable as the DMV. But I don’t think there’s much I can do about it. Elections have consequences and some are more severe than others.

Imagine if Ted were put through this process with his latest affliction.

Cody1991 on July 30, 2009 at 12:37 PM

Senator, according to QALY, you have lived 55 years beyond your usefulness to society and, according to the QALY Cap&Trade crosstab, we must terminate your personal CO2 production immediately.

I have a rather vivid imagination.

More like DMV employees with a printed out list and flowchart next to their telephone. ::scanning list:: “Oh, you’re (insert age) and you smoked since (insert age)? Well, that qualifies you for (insert $ amount) of coverage. Oh, you keep your blood pressure under control with diet instead of medication? Well that adds back (insert $ amount) credits back. You can have your gallbladder out after all, congratulations!”

DrAllecon on July 30, 2009 at 1:05 PM

The DMV analogy is the one I have consistently used when talking to people about this plan to reform health care. I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t dread having to go to the DMV, but one normally doesn’t go there often. It usually isn’t a serious situation.

Imagine having to encounter the same type of bureaucracy, sullenness and lack of interest when one’s health is involved. This plan is a complete nightmare – in every respect. Once it’s in place it will be nearly impossible to dissemble.

I agree that the decision should be between the patient and the doctor. However, they are doctors, not psychics, so they don’t always know how things are going to turn out. It has certainly been my experience that, to cover themselves from lawsuits, they always give the most pessimistic outlook.

I am pretty sure that the most pessimistic of the pessimists will be in charge of QUAL.

Lily on July 30, 2009 at 12:30 PM

You’re right, certainly doctors can only predict just so much based on previous experience, and sadly most do tend to lean toward the glass is half empty end of the predicitoni range so as to cover themselves and not to build up expectations that are too high.

And you can bet that the people in charge of QAYL will be pessimestic since that’s the most cost-effective way (being an optimist costs money, lol) I’m afraid that the people in charge won’t necessarilly be doctors though.

More like DMV employees with a printed out list and flowchart next to their telephone. ::scanning list:: “Oh, you’re (insert age) and you smoked since (insert age)? Well, that qualifies you for (insert $ amount) of coverage. Oh, you keep your blood pressure under control with diet instead of medication? Well that adds back (insert $ amount) credits back. You can have your gallbladder out after all, congratulations!”

Cody1991 on July 30, 2009 at 1:00 PM

Not Texas (a wee bit NE)….but I’ve got my eyes fixed on the Lonestar State.

Golden Banana

LimeyGeek on July 30, 2009 at 12:47 PM

I’m old, and no geek. What does a strip club have to do with statistics?

LimeyGeek on July 30, 2009 at 12:56 PM

You’re in TX, aren’t you? I’m thinking of relocating there. If BO manages a second term, the best places to live will probably be TX or AK. :))

…once it’s ripped away from us…

…we roll up our sleeves, load our guns, and go to war.

Figures that group would be called NICE. Wasn’t that the name of the technocrat group in Lewis’s That Hideous Strength?

Pianobuff on July 30, 2009 at 11:33 AM
.
Indeed, it is.

“…the National Institute of Coordinated Experiments (the “N.I.C.E.”), a scientific agency secretly inspired and directed by fallen eldila, attempts to alter the true nature of mankind through an exploitation of its members’ pride and greed. Its goal is the conquest of human nature, making true man a lost memory.”

How will qaly be calculated for two men facing an identical serious medical situation who are are identical in age and health, but one has a PhD from Harvard and the other is a high school drop out?

it’s a prescription for death. And in the hands of the leader of the most powerful nation on earth, it’s a recipe for death on a very large scale.

jeff_from_mpls on July 30, 2009 at 12:06 PM

Yes, but I’m convinced that there is a larger agenda here. There is no reason to replicate failed policies, however the Dems are dedicated to do so. The UK is their model. I have relatives there, and I’ve seen what NuLabor has done over the years. Brits had a reprieve during the Thatcher years, but they back-tracked with Blair and Brown.

My relatives come to the US for medical attention. In one case it was a life-threatening situation.

The additional toll that socialized medicine takes is psychological, imo. When the most personal decisions of one’s life are no longer personal but the domain of government bureaucracy, people view their lives and aspirations differently. You are no longer an individual. That is what made this country great, and once it’s ripped away from us we are forever changed.

Airlines have been doing that for years.

OldEnglish on July 30, 2009 at 12:43 PM

Golden Banana

LimeyGeek on July 30, 2009 at 12:05 PM

Airlines have been doing that for years.

Imagine if Ted were put through this process with his latest affliction. He’s was diagnosed with a brain tumor after he was into his 70′s. He’s still alive after receiving the best medical attention available. For us, the story would be different. As BO said it might be just as well to take a pain killer and live with it – for as long as it takes you to die.