Government Fail: The Health Care Crisis (Updated)

(Proudly Cross-Posted to ComputerQueen.Net and MyDD)

In the continuation of our "Government Fail" series, I'd like to take a moment to highlight how Senator McCain would be just as bad, if not worse, than the Bush Administration has already been in regards to health care.

What I find the most troubling, is McCain's stance on Bush's veto of the Children's Health Insurance Expansion. Bush's reason for the veto was that he felt it was a step towards "federalizing" medicine.

McCain's response to CNN's John King:

"Right call by the president.

In short, because they don't want to look like they're federalizing medicine, they have left 10 million children without health care through the vetoed expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. What a great way to stand up for our children!

NEXT! ...

McCain is proposing a health plan that is nearly indistinguishable from President Bush's, including dislodging State insurance regulations:

McCain's plan would allow companies to offer national plans based in states that don't have requirements passed by the vast majority of other states, including emergency care, required by 44 states. "Mr. McCain would also allow people to buy insurance across state lines." [Wall Street Journal, 10/11/07]

Some of the State Mandates that would be overridden would include :

• Emergency Room Care (currently required by 44 states)
• Direct Access to OB/GYN (44 states)
• Diabetes (47 States)
• Colorectal Cancer Screening (23 States)
• Mental Health Parity (45 States)
• Post-Mastectomy Breast Reconstruction (33 States)
• Off-Label Prescription Drug Use (36 States)
• Chiropractors (46 states)
• Clinical Trials (20 States)

The McCain plan would also move away from an Employer-based system.

"The existing tax break for employer-sponsored insurance would be eliminated, taking a step away from the work-based model in place for the last half century and toward an individual market." [Wall Street Journal, 10/11/07]

The NY Times also weighed in:

Health Care

Mr. McCain’s proposal to eliminate tax breaks that encourage employers to provide health insurance for their workers is very similar to one that Mr. Bush pushed last year, to little effect. The Bush plan offered a $15,000 tax deduction for families buying their own insurance, while the McCain plan would give a refundable tax credit of $5,000 to families for insurance whether or not they pay taxes. Both men opposed a 2007 bill to expand a children’s health insurance program for lower- and middle-income families.

I've shopped for insurance - I know that most comprehensive plans for a healthy individual start around $150 per month. And the price increases exponentially for those with pre-existing conditions. McCain wants to claim he's doing this for the little guy, but what little guy can afford to insure his family wihtout the breaks of a group insurance plan, such as the ones that many employers offer. While the current system isn't the best, this plan would only further disadvantage the lowest of wage earners, and give money back to the corporate monster.

And the newest piece to the puzzle - adding ideology into policy.

The Bush Administration recently floated a draft rule to the Department of Health and Human Services redefining how monies are spent. While the basis cited by the Administration was to prevent discrimination in employment based on a medical provider's aversion to abortion, it also gave some new language to what falls under the category of abortion.

Again, from the New York Times:

The proposal defines abortion as follows: “any of the various procedures — including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action — that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation.”

With all of McCain's quotes about America being founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs, it takes little conjecture to see where he will land on this issue.

While I can understand the point of not wanting to bar medical providers from employment based on their personal beliefs, I have to be reminded that Roe V. Wade guaranteed that the Right to Choose rested with the woman, not the doctor.

Additionally, the Hippocratic Oath in short requires a doctor to do no harm, regardless of their personal convictions. If a woman might die without an abortion, the doctor is ethically bound to perform it, regardless of their personal beliefs. Bush's plan would effectively give them a policy based exemption that is ethically and morally wrong.

Also, I'm sure I don't need to go into detail, again, about how Bush has (and McCain will further) tear away at the Ryan White CARE Act.

These are just a few examples of how, in the vein of health care, McCain would seriously be McSame, and how the Republican Controlled Government (read President Shrub) has Failed the American People.

[UPDATE]

Someone just e-mailed me a link to this video that MORE than underscores my previous article in the Government Fail series from C4O ...

So, A BIG thanks to Liberty Balls for the following video:

Just my 2 Cents - comments always welcome

Dizzy