Nick LawtonObamacare in All Its Assumed Infamy
August 5th 2009 01:59
I did not come here to praise or condemn our president's ideas about our health care. That is not my job.
So for the sake of the misinformed and the semi-informed, I make this next case.
There has been a particularly viral video going about on the Internet these days involving Obamacare. It has been the source of evidence that many people against the current health care agenda have cuted against the president.
Here is the link to the video: Really Long Link
Watch the video and get back to me.
Now that you're done, let's really truly go past the text on the film and take a deeper look at what the president said about this.
Phrase by Phrase.
"Not making decisions based on spirit"
-OK, I'm with you there. While every human life is valuable, spirit is a hard thing to judge.
"Rules saying we are gonna provide quality health care"
-This is the part where I cringe a bit. Not sure what the rules will entail, but if the rules are going to help get us better health care without killing me, that would be great.
And in repsonse to our good colleague Charles Gibson, Obama DID acknowledge the fact that the money might not have been around and recognized the diffictuly when it comes to end-of-life decisions.
Think about it, how easy is deciding whether or not an elderly person lives or dies? How easy is deciding between painkillers that will cause certain parts of their bodies to waste away faster or surgeries that have a 99.99% chance of ending their lives before it's completed? Can you make that call?
"But what we can do is make sure that at least some of the waste that exists in the system that's not making anybody's mom better, that is loading up on additional tests and additional drugs that the evidence shows is not necessarily going to improve care, that at least we can let doctors know, and your mom know, that maybe this isn't going to help. Maybe you're better not having the surgery, but taking the pain-killer."
Now, folks. I want you SERIOUSLY consider what has just been said. Read every word, and remember the context it was said in.
What Obama said didn't sound like "let's round up the old folks and let them just die out". What it sounded like to me was a possible step in the right direction. Will good come from it? Only time will tell.
What Obama sounds like he's saying, and I am basing this analysis only on the his own words, that what he believes the government can do for now is to aid in eliminating all of the white space between a patient and their care. Everyone knows the countless forms and provisions separating doctors and sick people. Most of that gap can be summed in one word: insurance. What Obama's words are saying is that he wants to get rid of pointless tests and procedures, but not essential ones, ones in which concrete evidence shows are of no benefit to the sick person.
Think about it. If the surgery is not going to help the person, and there's strong evidence showing that it won't, Obama says don't do it. If the evidence shows that just sticking to the pain-killer will improve your health as opposed to the surgery, then he says stick to it.
Now, that doesn't sound "cold" and "heartless" to me, or maybe I just heard the president wrong.
Am I saying thats the key? Am I saying things are all hunky-dory now and that the president is infallible? Never once did I say that. I only showed how some information, like this video, can be twisted and warped through assumptions, otherwise changing the opinion of someone who is not informed, making them think this is the truth because someone else said it was.
For your consideration.
Keep yourselves informed.
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