Posted on 05/22/2008 5:12:30 AM PDT by Bodhi1
Imagine for a minute that Ted Kennedy lived in an America where the government ran health care, and he was what pundits and talking heads like to call a “working class” American.
He’s sitting in his kitchen, reading the paper and eating his morning breakfast when he starts convulsing uncontrollably. His wife makes the call for an ambulance, only to be told that the ambulance would be there as soon as their government mandated break was complete. Unlike this British man, who died from a heart attack five minutes from an ambulance station while two ambulance crews took an EU-mandated break, the ambulance arrives before he expires and gets him into the back of the vehicle.
Ted rides to the nearest hospital and his ambulance parks outside the building, but he is not unloaded. Instead he sits. And sits. And sits. For nearly five hours, Kennedy waits in the ambulance, “in a holding pattern”, waiting to be allowed in the hospital. He can’t be allowed in because the hospital can’t treat him immediately, and they have a government mandate that says patients have to be treated within four hours of admission. So rather than being treated right away, Kennedy is stacked outside the hospital in an ambulance. During that time, other 911 emergencies are left unattended by his ambulance because it is being used to meet government regulations.
(Excerpt) Read more at allamericanblogger.com ...
A must read for All, especialy the Dems.
Let's see if Ted goes to Canada or to England for their "superior [socialized] medical facilities".
You mean Teddy will get special health care the rest of us could not get under the system the Democrats want to impose on America? How does Obama or Clinton answer to this?
Under any system.
Tell me that if I were visiting Hyannisport and had that happen, that I would be medflighted to Mass General, even having a really expensive HMO. *snort*
Ted Kennedy’s doctor needs to be a board certified proctologist for dealing with that a$$hole.
It’s not fiction either, unlike the liberal version of socialized medicine.
No matter what the Government Plan people of Kennedy’s power and money class will always get the best possible care, just like Hillary or Obama.
You made the right point. The only problem with his article is that he does not recognize that if you have political connections, as Kennedy does, then you go to the front of the line, while Joe Sixpack waits in the ambulance for hours.
Under socialized medicine, the elite will take up residence in another country, preferably in a five star hotel or villa rented for the duration of treatment, pay out of pocket amounts that the rank and file will never see, and get first class treatment.
Some people, like politicians, are just more "equal" than others.
Ted Kennedy is of The Elite - the health care he wants for thee and me won’t apply to himself and Hillary and Obama and the other Powers That Be. Just as they have their own retirement plans and don’t have to rely on Social Security. Government work - not a bad gig if you can get it!
Ain’t irony ironic?
If the patient was Teddy's age and was just a common citizen, he'd be be moved to the top of the euthanasia list.
My father-in-law had the same kind of tumor. His firt episode was misdiagnosed as a stroke. The radiologist report was correct but the neurologist misread it. There was no point in a lawsuit, his kind of cancer is terminal in older folks. Fighting through surgery & radiation gave him 15 months rather than 3. The incorrect diagnosis meant he spent a couple of agonizing days on medication that dilated his arteries, causing migraines. He would have been spared that.
And eventually, whatever they do, they die anyway. Can't buy your way out of that.
You can bet your liquor bottles that Teddy WON’T be going to Canada for his treatment!
We can always use one less Ted.
This, right here, is what is called "hitting the nail on the head."
It will be like it is in Kanada. All Government workers go to the front of the line and get immediate service, while the poor taxpayers struggle to survive in line. Some have to wait months to even be accepted into a clinic, then have to wait some more.
But to pay for all of that government, they only take home about 40% of their paychecks. The 60% goes to pay for all of that “free” stuff. (Well, it is “free” for a few who don’t pay)
A must read for All, especialy the Dems.
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They are so blind, I don’t believe it would do any good. Today’s dem party is filled with a large segment of class envy trash who walk around with their hands out demanding that Federal Gov’t foot the bill. And there are far too many party leaders (on both sides) who are only too glad to oblige.
Here’s the rub: When Socialized medicine hits our shores, people like Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Shumer et all will have access to the very best medicine in record time. It’s you and I who will be SOL.
His mind is clearly gone....has he given up his political seat yet? And he was always so much fun to make fun of.....but I won’t miss him.
I think you are misreading many of the Dems. They would view the average Joe 76 year old, as just too old, and a burden, and not worth it and so forth. The cost of treatment would deny some homosexual treatment for AIDS or some criminal alien who has TB, etc., etc.,. They would have no compunction about denying treatment to almost anyone. Heck they would like to deny treatment to conservatives or republicans if they think they could get away withit. And in a system like that, how could you prove that you were being denied care based on you politics.
Great post. Even in a socialist helthcare environment, Senator Kennedy’s position as a high government official put him at the head of the line over all others and would get him immediate first class healthcare. If adequate care was not available his wealth backed by taxpayer money would enable him to go to another country where he could be successfully treated. The rich and influential will always prevail wherever they live no matter what system they live under..
bttt
I don't know about Massachusetts, but you might in Maryland, although our state medical transport helicopters are usually reserved for trauma victims, often car accident victims, where the accident causes traffic jams that make getting ambulances to the site slow and difficult.
“The care Teddy gets as a senator is nothing like the care a private citizen would get under such a system.”
I don't know. I'm looking at the care that Sen. Kennedy is appearing to receive, and it doesn't look quite as on top of things as what my son received at Johns Hopkins this past September when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor (benign, thank God).
He had his MRI on a Friday afternoon, was admitted Friday evening, on drugs starting Friday evening to prep him for surgery, which was, because of the neurosurgeon's busy schedule, “delayed” until Wednesday (if it had not been preliminarily diagnosed as a likely benign and very slow growing tumor, they'd have rushed the surgery for Saturday or Monday).
We do have pretty good insurance, and thus, at no time did the insurance company have any say in treatment.
But for folks with good insurance who live near world-class facilities (as Johns Hopkins is), the care received is pretty much as good as it gets.
sitetest
I would get World Class care at any of several Boston hospitals.
But it would have been a ride in an ambulance through Rush Hour Traffic, not a Medflight.
My wife had a very serious life-threatening problem a few years ago. I rode in the ambulance through traffic with her.
We are just Little people....No one of importance.
My MIL might, MIGHT, read all the way through the article, before declaring -
that won’t happen here in our system.
Some lib chick called into Hannity one day and said she’d be willing to give up 60% of her paycheck if all her needs were provided for by the government.
Obviously a secular socialist indoctrinated public school graduate.
Well, you know the old saying: “Socialism works! For those in charge.”
Like I said, in Maryland, we have “free” (paid for out of automobile registration fees) helicopter medical transport service. It's the judgment of the first responders whether it's needed. In the part of the state where I live, there are a lot of emergency rooms that are within short driving distance, and a helicopter might not generally get someone there any faster than an ambulance, even with traffic (remember that the helicopter must come from someplace, usually further out than the nearest ambulance).
One time, a medical transport helicopter landed in my cul-de-sac to take a neighbor to the hospital. He'd been sick for a long time, and I imagine that he was being treated by a specific set of doctors out of a specific hospital. Apparently, it was judged that his condition was of a sufficient emergent nature, and the hospital where his doctors were was so far away that a helicopter was required.
He was just an old retired guy.
I think this is very rare, though. It's the only case I've ever seen or heard of it happening.
Usually, as I said, helicopter transport is for trauma victims at accident sites. Staying at Johns Hopkins (where pediatric trauma victims are usually brought from around the state) with my son, we heard the helicopters landing and taking off frequently during the day, and even more during the night. It was a very eerie and sobering experience, knowing that every time that helicopter took off and came back, it was carrying at least one severely injured young person.
I was told at Johns Hopkins that the state helicopters are also occasionally used to transport folks from the hospital where a patient was received (usually through the emergency room) to another hospital at considerable distance. This is done when the patient must be transferred to a hospital with greater expertise for his condition, and when prolonged travel is considered unwise.
sitetest
I’m thinking he might not even be considered for treatment, because his condition may be lifestyle related. He’s old, morbidly obese, and a lifetime lush. These are all disqualifying factors in the NHS, are they not?
Kennedy has a tiny 0.5 cm (small pea sized) primary glioma. This means he had instant access to a high resolution state of the art MRI, something the liberals like Kennedy want to deny you or me.
In a socialized system, like Canada there would be a three month+ wait for a second rate obsolete MRI. And forget the PET scanners so invaluable in modern oncology. Stone Age Ontario doesn’t cover or even allow PET scans.
The hypocrisy and dishonesty of democrats like Kennedy is impressive.
That being said, the glioma is incurable and Kennedy will be gone in a few months. I wish him a pain-free and peaceful death.
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