Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Obama and U.S. Healthcare

While I like some of the things that Obama is up to, this health
care plan gives me pause. It was quickly put together, no one in
Congress has read it, Obama has not read it, and there seem to be
too many "loose ends".

John David Lewis, a university professor actually took the time to
read the bill. He is not in politics and has no "axe to grind" in
any direction. He just wanted to know how it would affect him and
his family. Here are a few of the things that he found:

Medical Care Rationing: (ii) EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN READMISSIONS.
—For purposes of clause (i), with respect to a hospital,
excess readmissions
shall not include readmissions for an applicable condition for which there are
fewer than a minimum number (as determined by the Secretary) of discharges
for such applicable condition for the applicable
period and such hospital
.

‘(A) APPLICABLE CONDITION.—The term ‘applicable condition’ means,
subject to subparagraph (B),
a condition or procedure selected by the Secretary.

‘‘(E) READMISSION.—The term ‘readmission’ means, in the case of an
individual who is discharged from an applicable hospital, the admission
of the individual to the same or another applicable hospital
within a time
period specified by the Secretary
from the date of such discharge.

‘‘(6) LIMITATIONS ON REVIEW.—
There shall be no administrative or
judicial review
under section 1869, section 1878, or otherwise of— . . .
‘‘(C) the measures of readmissions . . .


EVALUATION OF THE PASSAGES:

  • This section amends the Social Security Act
  • The government has the power to determine what constitutes an

“applicable [medical] condition.”

  • The government has the power to determine who is allowed readmission

into a hospital. This determination will be made by statistics:

when enough people have been discharged for the same condition,

an individual may be readmitted.

  • This is government rationing, pure, simple, and straight up.
  • There can be no judicial review of decisions made here. The Secretary
is above the courts. The plan also allows the government to prohibit hospitals

from expanding without federal permission: page 317-318.






Monday, August 10, 2009

Energy

Keep your energy up. I have noticed that I actually have more energy
after I have worked out or have been very active. The less active that
a person is, the less energy they seem to have. I have noticed for myself
that when I tend to get lazy, I find myself doing less and less physically.
I have to focus and push myself to stay active sometimes. This is the
only way that I can stay in decent shape and keep my weight down.

I lost over 40 pounds almost that many years ago and made the
determination that I would not become heavy every again.
So far I have kept my promise to myself.


Bob