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Romney a victim in health care debate
Politico.com ^
| 09/26/09
| Andy Bar
Posted on 09/26/2009 4:27:55 PM PDT by OldDeckHand
The national health care reform debate is far from settled, but one of the casualties is already clear: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Three years ago, Romney was heralded for his innovative effort to institute near-universal health care in his state. But now that the issue has emerged as a partisan fault line and the Massachusetts plan has provided some guidance for Democratic reform efforts, Romney finds himself bruised and on the defensive as the GOP rallies around opposition to President Barack Obamas plans.
When Romney came to Washington last week to speak to social conservative activists at the annual Value Voters Summit, his potential 2012 GOP rivals chewed him up in front of the same audience over his Massachusetts legacy.
Before he took the stage to criticize the presidents approach to foreign policy and the economy, the former governor was dinged by one of his opponents for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
Its going to bankrupt their entire budget, former Arkansas GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee said of Romneys health care program in his address to the summit. The only thing inexpensive about the Massachusetts health care bill is that there you can get a $50 abortion.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: abortionsforus; bigdig; brutusromney; cheapabortions; dnc4romney; gaymarriage; healthcare; hillarycare; msm4romney; obama4romney; obamacare; pimpromney; pimpromneyhere; rino; rinoromney; romney; romney2lose; romney4obama; romneyantigop; romneyantipalin; romneycare; romneydeathpanel; romneyhateswomen; romneykillsgranny; romneymarriage; romneystinks; socializedmedicine; stenchofromney; upyoursmitt
HAHAHAHAHHAHA - No further comments necessary.
To: OldDeckHand
Three years ago, Romney was heralded for his innovative effort to institute near-universal health care in his state. By who?
2
posted on
09/26/2009 4:29:16 PM PDT
by
SeeSharp
To: SeeSharp
3
posted on
09/26/2009 4:30:20 PM PDT
by
OldDeckHand
(No Socialized Medicine, No Way, No How, No Time)
To: SeeSharp
He was heralded by all the same people who consistently “advise” GOP politicians to do stupid things.
4
posted on
09/26/2009 4:31:36 PM PDT
by
hometoroost
(Time to bust the nut - stamp out ACORN)
To: OldDeckHand
i think he is pretty much done
5
posted on
09/26/2009 4:32:20 PM PDT
by
dalebert
To: dalebert
6
posted on
09/26/2009 4:34:15 PM PDT
by
lmarie373
(*These little guys might look cute and cuddly, but trust us: they will kill you.-on emanuel brothers)
To: OldDeckHand
This is the only benefit I have seen to this whole Obamacare mess: it may have killed off Romney as a presidential candidate. Hopefully. Now what can we do to get “Huckleberry” to give up his ambitions.
To: OldDeckHand
Doesn't look like a victim to me. Looks like he went willingly:
8
posted on
09/26/2009 4:37:56 PM PDT
by
50mm
(AARP is a steaming pile)
To: OldDeckHand
The only thing inexpensive about the Massachusetts health care bill is that there you can get a $50 abortion. Oh my. It's a little early to be taking the gloves off but go ahead boys - Sarah Palin
9
posted on
09/26/2009 4:39:17 PM PDT
by
McGruff
(Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency - Obama)
To: lmarie373
This is what happens when RINOs run in blue states and when moderate or conservative democrats run in far right districts which is what is happening now with the blue dog democrats in the healthcare debate if it were not for the fact that the government and the administration and Congressional leaders are all trying and attempting to shut down any debate at all. If they get away with that, look for a major conservative landslide in 2010.
To: dalebert
Why is McCain holding a fund-raiser here in AZ for him next week?
To: SeeSharp
To: OldDeckHand
"Pssssssst, hey buddy, have I got a used car for you!"
13
posted on
09/26/2009 4:47:26 PM PDT
by
Snurple
(VEGETARIAN, OLD INDIAN WORD FOR BAD HUNTER.)
To: OldDeckHand
"Romney a victim in health care debate"
Romney a victim of his own stupidity. This jerk needs to go home and stop muddying the waters with his worthlessness.
14
posted on
09/26/2009 4:47:31 PM PDT
by
Psycho_Bunny
(ALSO SPRACH ZEROTHUSTRA)
To: OldDeckHand
The only thing inexpensive about the Massachusetts health care bill is that there you can get a $50 abortion. For once, Huckabee speaks the truth.
15
posted on
09/26/2009 4:47:32 PM PDT
by
Cicero
(Marcus Tullius)
To: 50mm
Whoever said that a picture is worth a thousand words must have drawn his inspiration from that picture.
16
posted on
09/26/2009 4:49:03 PM PDT
by
Mr Ramsbotham
(Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
To: OldDeckHand
I’m laughing too. Rinos do what feels good getting along with their “friends across the aisle” at the moment and then are slammed by the reality of their messes in the near future.
To: OldDeckHand
"Attention passengers..."
18
posted on
09/26/2009 4:49:22 PM PDT
by
mkjessup
To: OldDeckHand
The only way Romneycare guides the Democrats is to show them what happens when their plan is implemented ~ people will no longer be able to afford either the premiums or the taxes.
At the same time the doctors will all suffer a serious wage cut.
The fact any Democrats at all want to move in that direction proves that they are stupider than the Republicans who preceeded them.
19
posted on
09/26/2009 4:50:15 PM PDT
by
muawiyah
To: Mr Ramsbotham
Even without the photoshopping he looks like a braying jackass. LOL
20
posted on
09/26/2009 4:50:35 PM PDT
by
50mm
(AARP is a steaming pile)
To: OldDeckHand
I saw Romney on tv a few months ago where he was praising himself essentially for the “success” of this state health care thang. Later I found out what a holy mess this program is. No wonder people are leaving Massachusetts in droves.
To: SeeSharp
22
posted on
09/26/2009 4:52:35 PM PDT
by
Vaquero
("an armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
To: OldDeckHand
When Mitt Romney was marching with Martin Luther King I bet he did not foresee the injustices that life would visit on his humble self.
“My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit.”
23
posted on
09/26/2009 4:53:39 PM PDT
by
ansel12
To: OldDeckHand
1) Romney with his millions couldn't beat McLoser
2) Has corporate ties to the financial crisis
3) MA universal health care
Timing is everything. Mitt is toast.
24
posted on
09/26/2009 4:58:40 PM PDT
by
VRWC For Truth
(Throw the bums out who vote yes on the bail out)
To: OldDeckHand
Romney was right about the GM bailout, and the war on terror, but wrong about Romney care.
I worked hard for Romney in 2007 and 2008, until his last minute defeat by McCain in the Florida Primary.
I bought the line that a moderate Republican is more electable. I surveyed the landscape of available candidates, yet no others seemed electable. At present, for the most part (Palin excluded) Republicans are charisma challenged. It takes a level of charisma to be competitive. Mitt does have some, but he is sometimes ill at ease.
Despite my misgivings about the choice, I worked hard for McCain.
Looking back, the man who was most right on the most important issues was Ron Paul.
Every other 2008 wanna be owes an apology, some more than others,. I just made mine.
25
posted on
09/26/2009 5:02:43 PM PDT
by
mission9
(It ain't bragging if you can do it.)
To: fatnotlazy
He very stupidly graded it as an A ... then the news hit about how deep in debt it had placed the state.... and he went away until he found something he could jump in and draw attention back to himself...
To: mission9
There are some real up and comers in the Republican Party like Palin and Paul Ryan among others.
To: OldDeckHand

GOP-backstabber Romney:
"This should bankrupt Massachusetts.
Remember, I was first to impose Death Panels
and after I service you all, you will make ME the victim."
Health costs to rise again.( RomneyCare )
The states major health insurers plan to raise premiums by about 10 percent next year,
prompting many employers to reduce benefits and shift additional costs to workers.
The higher insurance costs undermine a key tenet of the states landmark health care law
passed two years ago, as well as President Obamas effort to overhaul health care. In
addition to mandating insurance for most residents, the Massachusetts bill sought to rein
in health care costs. With Washington looking to the Massachusetts experience, fears
about higher costs have become a stumbling block to passing a national health care bill.
Woman bleeds to death after doctor punctures jugular - and no blood is available(UK)
A young woman died in hospital after waiting almost two hours for a blood transfusion that could have saved her. Sally Thompson, 20, bled to death after a doctor accidentally punctured her jugular vein during a bungled procedure.
Despite an urgent request to the blood bank at Manchester Royal Infirmary, she died one hour and 45 minutes later, before any arrived.
Speaking after her inquest, her father John, 62, said she would still be alive if the blood had been available sooner.
The retired farmer said: 'This hospital is supposed to be the cornerstone of the NHS in Manchester, but they couldn't get any blood for two hours. "
Senior Care To Suffer Under Gov't Plan,Two-Thirds Of Practicing Physicians Say
Will the quality of care for seniors improve under health care reform currently being considered by Congress?
A recent IBD/TIPP Poll shows that a majority of physicians think the answer is no.
Of the 1,376 physicians who answered our survey, 65% said that government reform would lead to lower-quality care for seniors. "
Canadian Aboriginals receive body bags for flu

Health officials ordered an investigation Thursday into why the Canadian government
sent body bags to an Aboriginal reserve in Manitoba after community leaders requested
assistance to deal with an expected outbreak of swine flu.
45% Of Doctors Would Consider Quitting If Congress Passes Health Care Overhaul
Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan under
consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting
down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted, a new IBD/TIPP Poll has found.
The poll contradicts the claims of not only the White House, but also doctors' own lobby
the powerful American Medical Association both of which suggest the medical
profession is behind the proposed overhaul.
It also calls into question whether an overhaul is even doable; 72% of the doctors polled
disagree with the administration's claim that the government can cover 47 million more
people with better-quality care at lower cost.
The IBD/TIPP Poll was conducted by mail the past two weeks, with 1,376 practicing
physicians chosen randomly throughout the country taking part. Responses are still
coming in, and doctors' positions on related topics including the impact of an overhaul
on senior care, medical school applications and drug development will be covered
later in this series.
Nations ill-advised to follow Mass. plan [Health plan a failure]
September 17, 2009 The canary is dead.
Massachusetts, the model for the ObamaCare universal insurance plan, is the canary in
the health care coal mine. Yesterday, its obit appeared on the front page of both The Wall
Street Journal and The Boston Globe-Democrat.
Both papers reported that our Commonwealth Care reform isnt working as planned. A
new law that was supposed to control costs and drive prices down (sound familiar?) has
instead sent costs soaring.
"Patient with ulcer collapses and dies after paramedics tell her: 'Stop being a drama queen'
A retired teacher died of a burst stomach ulcer after a paramedic told her to stop being
such a drama queen and failed to take her to hospital, an inquest heard yesterday.
Mother-of-three Eileen Ellis-Whitfield, 63, died just hours after an ambulance
was called to her home when she fell seriously ill with chronic stomach pains."
"Doctors said I'd had a miscarriage and did nothing as my premature baby fought for his life
09/12/2009 Like all mothers, Sarah Capewell will never forget the first minutes she spent with her newborn baby.
She told her tiny son how much she loved him, gently kissed his face and took photos of
him wrapped in the pretty blanket she'd bought for his birth.
Then she held him tightly in her arms and watched helplessly as his body grew cold
and he finally stopped breathing.
Sarah pleaded for help from hospital staff from the moment he was born, but none came."
"British Death Panel IBD Editorials September 10, 2009
Single Payer: In Britain, where the public option is about all most patients get,
a newborn has died because national guidelines recommend that the baby not be treated."
"Obama health care plan projected to cost 5.2 million jobs
In an interview on Fox News on August 27th Mark Wilson of Applied Economic Strategies
made the economic case against the current plan for health care reform.
He said the current idea for mandating employers to insure employees or pay a fine in the form of a tax would cost employers
$49 billion dollars and cause the loss of 5.2 million jobs. In addition wages would be stunted for another 10.2 million wage earners."
"Is This The Obamacare Future? Overworked Doctors in Australia Worried They Are Killing Patients
Australia has a health care system which is similar in some aspects to what the Democrats are proposing.
In a short time (the system was set up in 1983) the country became divided into one group that gets good medical care
(private insurance) and the group whose insurance is not as good.
there are long waiting lists for orthopedic surgery (median wait for total hip replacement is 88 days;
10% of patients waited over 345 days in 1999 to 2000), and cataract surgery (median is 73 days; 10% waited more than 316 days)."
"Bay State Insurance Premiums Highest in Country - Boston Globe August 22, 2009
Massachusetts has the most expensive family health insurance premiums in the country,
according to a new analysis that highlights the states challenge in trying to rein in medical costs
after passage of a landmark 2006 law that mandated coverage for nearly everyone...
The report by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health care foundation,
showed that the average family premium for plans offered by employers in Massachusetts was $13,788 in 2008,
40 percent higher than in 2003. Over the same period, premiums nationwide rose an average of 33 percent..."
"Bed shortage forces 4,000 mothers to give birth in lifts, offices and hospital toilets
Thousands of women are having to give birth outside maternity wards because of a lack of midwives and hospital beds."
"Oregon Offers Terminal Patients Doctor-Assisted Suicide Instead of Medical Care
PORTLAND, Ore. Some terminally ill patients in Oregon who turned to their state for health care
were denied treatment and offered doctor-assisted suicide instead, a proposal some experts have called a "chilling" corruption of medical ethics.
"It dropped my chin to the floor," Stroup told FOX News. "[How could they] not pay for medication that would help my life, and yet offer to pay to end my life?"
"Sentenced to death on the NHS
In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, a group of experts who care for the terminally ill claim that some patients are being wrongly judged as close to death.
Under NHS guidance introduced across England to help doctors and medical staff deal with dying patients,
they can then have fluid and drugs withdrawn and many are put on continuous sedation until they pass away.
"Massachusetts: the laboratory for ObamaCare
Cato Institute looks a little farther down the coast to Massachusetts, where the state began its own health-care reform complete
with individual mandates and a government plan.
Cato calls it an almost perfect mirror of ObamaCare, complete with promises of reducing cost and extending care that failed in both respects:
Massachusetts shows that such a mandate would oust millions from their low-cost health plans and force them to pay higher premiums.
"Obama Health-Care Would Drive Up Inflation and Health-Care Costs
ObamaCare would shrink the economy, drive up health-care costs and inflation,
and increase the deficit,
Overall, total federal expenditures will be 5.6 percent higher than otherwise by 2019, adding $285.6 billion to the federal deficit in 2019.
An increase in national health care expenditures by an additional 8.9 percent by 2019.
An increase in medical price inflation by 5.2 percent above what it would have been otherwise by 2019.
A doctor shortage [4] is looming, but the AMA has successfully lobbied Congress to artificially restrict [3] the number of doctors in America,
ObamaCare is full of special-interest giveaways and constitutionally-dubious provisions [9]
like racial preferences and set-asides, which has led to ObamaCare being criticized [9] by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
"Pushing Veterans Toward the Grave
The Obama administration now seems to have our nation's veterans in the crosshairs.
Perhaps you've heard about the booklet Your Life Your Choices-also known as the Death Book for Veterans.
This book is particularly alarming, so I want to share some detail you may not have heard.
I have the book on my desk.
The "instructions" that follow sent a chill up my spine. If the veteran more than once checked the column called "worth living, but just barely,"
he or she is asked what combination of those would it take to make his or her life "not worth living"?
The Veterans Administration might as well abandon all subtleties, dig a grave and push our nation's heroes into it.
"NHS blunders allowed cannibal Peter Bryan to kill two
A catalogue of systemic failings and blunders allowed a schizophrenic killer,
Peter Bryan, to murder two more people, including eating parts of the brain of one, two inquiries have found.
It found a "systematic failure" because he was looked after by an inexperienced social worker and a psychiatrist who had never worked with a convicted killer.
"Massachusetts' Obama-like reforms increase health costs, wait times [RomneyCare]
"If you are curious about how President Barack Obama's health plan would affect your health care, look no farther than Massachusetts.
In 2006, the Bay State enacted a slate of reforms that almost perfectly mirror the plan of Obama and congressional Democrats.
.... Premiums are growing 21 to 46 percent faster than the national average
in part because Massachusetts' individual mandate has effectively outlawed affordable health plans."
"Massachusetts' Obama-like reforms increase health costs, wait times [RomneyCare] "If you are curious about how President Barack Obama's health plan would affect your health care, look no farther than Massachusetts.
In 2006, the Bay State enacted a slate of reforms that almost perfectly mirror the plan of Obama and congressional Democrats.
.... Premiums are growing 21 to 46 percent faster than the national average
in part because Massachusetts' individual mandate has effectively outlawed affordable health plans."
"Mass. Pushes Rationing to Control Universal Healthcare Costs (RomneyCare)
A 10-member Massachusetts state healthcare advisory board unanimously recommended
that the state begin rationing healthcare to keep the states marquee universal health care program afloat financially.
The July 16 recommendations, the Boston Globe explained, would result in a situation where patients could find it harder to get procedures they want but are of questionable benefit if doctors are operating within a budget.
And they might find it more difficult to get care wherever they want, if primary doctors push to keep patients within their accountable care organization.
The Globe stressed that the recommendations would dramatically change how doctors and hospitals are paid, essentially putting providers on a budget as a way to control exploding healthcare costs and improve the quality of care.
"Budget" is a more politically acceptable word for rationing.
The Globe also noted that consumer advocates said patients are going to have to be educated about the new system. Yes, apparently they will have to get used to having their healthcare rationed.


"1,000 cancer patients 'refused treatment'
0Charities warned that patients with less common forms of cancer were being discriminated against, while others condemned the system as a scandal.
Patients and their doctors can appeal for the NHS to pay for drugs not currently licensed for that type of the disease.
But one in three applications were turned down in the last three years, leaving patients having to pay up £20,000 for the medication themselves."
"Mass. Pushes Rationing to Control Universal Healthcare Costs (RomneyCare)
A 10-member Massachusetts state healthcare advisory board unanimously recommended
that the state begin rationing healthcare to keep the states marquee universal health care program afloat financially.
The July 16 recommendations, the Boston Globe explained, would result in a situation where patients could find it harder to get procedures they want but are of questionable benefit if doctors are operating within a budget.
And they might find it more difficult to get care wherever they want, if primary doctors push to keep patients within their accountable care organization.
The Globe stressed that the recommendations would dramatically change how doctors and hospitals are paid, essentially putting providers on a budget as a way to control exploding healthcare costs and improve the quality of care.
"Budget" is a more politically acceptable word for rationing.
The Globe also noted that consumer advocates said patients are going to have to be educated about the new system. Yes, apparently they will have to get used to having their healthcare rationed.
"Massachusetts Universal Healthcare System Breaking Down Already
When Governor Mitt Romney instituted a universal healthcare plan for Massachusetts in 2006 he proclaimed it a conservative idea.
But has it worked? Has it been successful?
For a time, many thought it might but cracks in the system are already being seen.
These cracks are instructive as a lesson on how Obamacare will crash and burn just like Romneycare is now in the process of doing.
One of the early claims that helped push Romneycare through to law was the insistence by its supporters that Emergency Room visits would fall as more and more citizens became covered under healthcare insurance.
Since ER care is far more expensive than a doctor's care, it was thought that more people with insurance would ease the overcrowding of ERs as well as lower the overall costs of healthcare.
However, a flaw in this logic has been seen throughout the state. As more people became insured, more people demanded the care of doctors. These doctors became overloaded with patients and waiting lists for doctors got longer and longer.
As a result, ERs in Massachusetts have not seen a downturn in visits. On the contrary, it seems that ER visits are actually on the upswing in the Bay State. In fact, in 2007 they were higher than the national average by 20 percent...
"Hospital patients 'left in agony'"
"Patients were allegedly left screaming in pain and drinking from flower vases on a nightmare hospital ward.
Between 400 and 1,200 more people died than would have been expected at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust over three years, a damning Healthcare Commission report said.
The watchdog's investigation found inadequately trained staff who were too few in number, junior doctors left alone in charge at night and patients left without food, drink or medication as their operations were repeatedly cancelled.
Patients were left in pain or forced to sit in soiled bedding for hours at a time and were not given their regular medication, the Commission heard.
Receptionists with no medical training were expected to assess patients coming in to A&E, some of whom needed urgent care.
Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of the NHS, said there had been a "gross and terrible breach" of patients' trust and a "complete failure of leadership".
The Healthcare Commission's chairman Sir Ian Kennedy said the investigation followed concerns about a higher than normal death rate at the Trust, which senior managers could not explain.
He said: "The resulting report is a shocking story. Our report tells a story of appalling standards of care and chaotic systems for looking after patients. These are words I have not previously used in any report.
"There were inadequacies in almost every stage of caring for patients. There was no doubt that patients will have suffered and some of them will have died as a result."
Julie Bailey, 47, was so concerned about the care being given to her 86-year-old mother Bella at Stafford Hospital that she and her relatives slept in a chair at her bedside for eight weeks.
She said: "We saw patients drinking out of..."
"Paramedics told: 'Let accident victims die if they want to' in new row over patient rights (UK)"
Health Service paramedics have been told not to resuscitate terminally-ill patients who register on a controversial new database to say they want to die.
It has been set up by the ambulance service in London for hundreds of people who have only a few months to live so that they may register their 'death wishes' in advance.
It is believed to be the first in the country, but other trusts around the country are expected to follow suit to comply with Government guidelines which state that patients' wishes should be taken into account, even at the point of death.
Patients' groups and doctors have welcomed the scheme, but it has met opposition from pro-life groups who say it violates the sanctity of life.
The system would come into play if a cancer patient, for example, was in serious pain and rang 999 for help to alleviate the suffering.
But if the paramedics arrived and the patient was close to death, he or she would not be resuscitated if such a request was registered on the database.
This would also be the case if a patient on the database was being transferred between hospitals, and had a heart attack.
Dominica Roberts from the Pro-Life Alliance said: 'This is very sad and very dangerous. It's another step along the slippery slope, at the bottom of which is euthanasia as we see in Holland. 'Paramedics should be there to save lives. They should not be there to let patients die. The medical profession should not agree with someone's belief that their life is worthless.'"
"National Health Preview - The Massachusetts debacle, coming soon to your neighborhood."
"Three years ago, the former Massachusetts Governor had the inadvertent good sense to create the "universal" health-care program that the White House and Congress now want to inflict on the entire country.
It is proving to be instructive, as Mr. Romney's foresight previews what President Obama, Max Baucus, Ted Kennedy and Pete Stark are cooking up for everyone else.
In Massachusetts's latest crisis, Governor Deval Patrick and his Democratic colleagues are starting to move down the path that government health plans always follow when spending collides with reality -- i.e., price controls.
As costs continue to rise, the inevitable results are coverage restrictions and waiting periods. It was only a matter of time.
They're trying to manage the huge costs of the subsidized middle-class insurance program that is gradually swallowing the state budget.
The program provides low- or no-cost coverage to about 165,000 residents, or three-fifths of the newly insured, and is budgeted at $880 million for 2010, a 7.3% single-year increase that is likely to be optimistic.
The state's overall costs on health programs have increased by 42% (!) since 2006.
0What really whipped along RomneyCare were claims that health care would be less expensive if everyone were covered.
But reducing costs while increasing access are irreconcilable issues.
Mr. Romney should have known better before signing on to this not-so-grand experiment, especially since the state's "free market" reforms that he boasts about have proven to be irrelevant when not fictional.
Only 21,000 people have used the "connector" that was supposed to link individuals to private insurers."
A Very Sick Health Plan; Bay States Grand Experiment Fails [RomneyCare]
"The Daily News Record, Harrisonburg, Va. - 2009-03-31 "
"For folks increasingly leery of President Obamas plan to radically overhaul Americas health-care system,
or 17 percent of the nations economy, all this could hardly have come at a better time
that is, fiscal troubles aplenty within Repubican Mitt Romneys brainchild, Massachusetts grand experiment in universal health care."
"Initiated on Mr. Romneys gubernatorial watch in 2006, this experiment has fallen on hard times, and predictably so.
Even though the Bay State commenced its program with a far smaller percentage of uninsured residents than exists nationwide,
RomneyCare is threatening to bankrupt the state. Budgeted for Fiscal Year 2010 at $880 million,
or 7.3 percent more than a year ago, this plan, aimed at providing low- or no-cost health coverage to roughly 165,000 residents,
has caused Massachusetts overall expenditures on all health-related programs to jump an astounding 42 percent since 2006.
So what does Mr. Romneys successor, Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, propose as a remedy for these skyrocketing costs?
Well, whaddya think? The standard litany of prescriptions (no pun intended) price controls and spending caps, for a start, and then, again predictably, waiting periods and limitations on coverage.
As in Europe and Canada, so too in Massachusetts. And, we feel certain, everyone from Mr. Romney to Mr. Patrick said, It would never happen here.
But then, such things are inevitable when best-laid plans, with all their monstrous costs, run smack-dab into fiscal reality.
"Dem Congresswoman Admits Obama Health Care Plan Will Destroy Private Health Insurance Industry"
"Romneys mistreatments a sick man, as Gov. Mitt Romney meets a medical marijuana patient"
Thousands of patients with terminal cancer were dealt a blow last night after a decision was made to deny them life prolonging drugs.
The Government's rationing body said two drugs for advanced breast cancer and a rare form of stomach cancer were too expensive for the NHS.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is expected to confirm guidance in the next few weeks that will effectively ban their use.
The move comes despite a pledge by Nice to be more flexible in giving life-extending drugs
to terminally-ill cancer patients after a public outcry last year over 'death sentence' decisions."
"Patients Forced To Wait Hours In Ambulances Parked Outside A&E Departments
"An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has found that thousands of 999 patients are being left to wait in ambulances in car parks and holding bays, or in hospital corridors in some cases for more than five hours before they can even join the queue for urgent treatment.
Experts warn that hospitals are deliberately delaying when they accept patients or are diverting them to different sites
in order to meet Government targets to treat people within fours hours of admitting them."
"Cancer survivor confronts the health secretary on 62-day wait (UK Socialized Medicine)
WAITING times for cancer treatment need to be cut, the Scottish Government was told yesterday.
..Cancer experts later said that patients elsewhere in Europe would be "outraged" by having to wait two months to start treatment, with most being seen within two weeks.
The current target of 62 days from urgent referral by a doctor to starting treatment has still not been met in Scotland, despite that originally being the target figure for 2005."
"Hospital patient so shocked at dirty ward she climbed out of bed to clean it herself
After 12 years cleaning care homes and private houses, no one is better qualified than Tereza Tosbell to say whether a room is spotless.
So hospital bosses should take heed of her opinion after she spent four days on a 'filthy' ward.
The mother-of-one said during her stay there was a single, brief visit from a cleaner who left dusty curtains, dirty bedframes and a messy floor.
Disgusted at the conditions, she grabbed the antibacterial fluid dispenser at the end of her bed and some hand towels from the bathroom.
She then set about cleaning her four-bed ward, at one point dropping to her hands and knees to sanitise the floor as she dragged her drip trolley behind her.
'It was shameful to see how sloppy the cleaners were while I was there. I was not prepared to put up with such conditions,'
said Miss Tosbell, a 48-year-old divorcee who was admitted to Colchester General Hospital in Essex with an abscess in her neck.."
"Kidney cancer patients denied life-saving drugs by NHS rationing body NICE (UK Socialized Medicine)
Thousands of kidney cancer patients are likely to lose out on life-prolonging drugs.
The NHS rationing body, NICE, has confirmed a ban on three out of four new treatments.
.. 'Families will be denied time together and doctors will be unable to give patients the best treatment.'."
"Girl, 3, has heart operation cancelled three times because of bed shortage (UK Socialized Medicine)
A three-year-old girl awaiting heart surgery has had her operation cancelled three times this month because of a shortage of beds.
... A hospital spokesman said that procedures would be reviewed, but the case highlights a growing problem of cancelled operations in the NHS.
More than 57,000 surgeries were postponed for non-clinical reasons, including a lack of beds, last year 10 per cent more than the previous year."
28
posted on
09/26/2009 5:19:52 PM PDT
by
Diogenesis
("Those who go below the surface do so at their peril" - Oscar Wilde)
To: SeeSharp
By his fellow socialists/fascists.
29
posted on
09/26/2009 5:22:06 PM PDT
by
ExpatGator
(Extending logic since 1961.)
To: OldDeckHand
Sen. John Kerry to Don Imus: "
I like this health care bill".
Sen. Hillary Clinton: "To come up with a bipartisan plan in this polarized environment is commendable."
James Carville: "It's a feel-good story, this Romney thing. Romney is an ascendant guy."
30
posted on
09/26/2009 5:24:36 PM PDT
by
Diogenesis
("Those who go below the surface do so at their peril" - Oscar Wilde)
To: mission9
"Romney was right about the GM bailout.."Mitt bought off the Michigan/Detroit Republican caucus with his promise of a 20 billion dollar bailout. Typical Mitt. Selling out common sense and principals for higher office. McLame told Detroit to get it's own house in order. ( I also think he didn't at all compete in Michigan so he could be high horse moral about it. )
31
posted on
09/26/2009 5:24:53 PM PDT
by
Leisler
(It's going to be a hard, long winter)
To: Arizona Carolyn
RINO...whats up with republican party anyway?...no reply to emails...
32
posted on
09/26/2009 6:00:51 PM PDT
by
dalebert
To: OldDeckHand
My definitional of Romneycare, is that I’ll will take great care to never vote for Romney. This guy governed as a leftist and I’m up to here with that. Not no, but HELL NO, NO WAY IN HELL!
33
posted on
09/26/2009 6:01:04 PM PDT
by
DoughtyOne
(Ded Kennedy, Stealing from the middle class for nearly 40 years to end poverty.)
To: SeeSharp
left wing democrats is by whom
34
posted on
09/26/2009 6:01:37 PM PDT
by
dalebert
To: InterceptPoint
Heh heh heh... great minds...
Couldn’t agree more.
Just say no to the Huckabilly.
My folks watch his show on Sunday nights. They like the guy. Some things I like about him too, but he’s not my idea of a viable Presidential contenda.
Sorry Huck...
35
posted on
09/26/2009 6:03:07 PM PDT
by
DoughtyOne
(Ded Kennedy, Stealing from the middle class for nearly 40 years to end poverty.)
To: VRWC For Truth
I really, really hope so.
36
posted on
09/26/2009 6:27:53 PM PDT
by
MamaB
(If you see someone without a smile, give them yours.)
To: dalebert
Kyl responds, all I ever receive from McCain is requests for money... they go in the trash.
To: OldDeckHand
Actually, if the Politico had covered the GOP primaries last year, they’d have noticed that Romney was attacked for his healthcare plan and that he avoided talking about his healthcare plan. Romney blew it last time and doesn’t have a chance next time.
38
posted on
09/26/2009 6:47:25 PM PDT
by
Jabba the Nutt
(Are they insane, stupid or just evil?)
To: VRWC For Truth
Romney’s biggest prblem is that he was elected by Massachusetts.
Why in God’s name would civilized America vote the same way as Massachusetts?
To: socialismisinsidious
Socialized Medicine aka Universal Health Care daily digest PING LIST
FReepmail me if you want to be added to or removed from this daily digest ping list (one ping per day of links to pertinent articles).
40
posted on
09/26/2009 7:43:38 PM PDT
by
socialismisinsidious
( The socialist income tax system turns US citizens into beggars or quitters!)
To: fatnotlazy
I saw Romney on tv a few months ago where he was praising himself essentially for the success of this state health care thang. Later I found out what a holy mess this program is. No wonder people are leaving Massachusetts in droves. Lots of old people leave Massachusetts and go to Florida for tax reasons to avoid estate taxes for their heirs. Yet they come back on airplanes several times a year to see their doctors.
To: Leisler
I was referring to the 30 billion dollars loaned to the car companies in December using the TARP bailout. Very unlawful, and the car companies went bankrupt anyway. The 20 billion was for new technologies, not a bailout, the economy had yet to collapse under the weight of 4 dollar a gallon fuel at the time of the Michigan bailout. A case could be made that he 20 billion dollars Romney advocated was a form of tax relief, but that is a stretch.
McCain said the car industry is dead and not coming back, which is of course, way more that stupid. Such thinking was hatched in the same thought process that gives us cap and trade.
Cars are still the among the most coveted of any product every made by the of mankind.
Romney has his share of mistakes, but he does not deserve criticism for all things.
42
posted on
09/27/2009 11:33:31 AM PDT
by
mission9
(It ain't bragging if you can do it.)
To: mission9
Money is fungible.
The 20 billion was a bribe, pure and simple. It wasn’t tax relief. What kind of bow you want on it is irrelevant.
Detroit’s, problems is not new technology. Anyone that believes that, and for example, GM’s boob bait dazzle, the Volt, is drinking GM/Obama Koolaid. Chrysler should of been put to sleep ten years ago. That would of helped GM and Ford and that other poor slob, the American taxpayer.
Mitt has a history of buying votes with other peoples money. The Utah ‘rescue’ was a half billion Federal bailout.
Romneycare was/is a intergenerational buyout for Mitt’s Presidential ambition.
43
posted on
09/27/2009 12:12:16 PM PDT
by
Leisler
(It's going to be a hard, long winter)
To: Leisler
I mostly agree, the pity is that in the Republican Stable, Romney is actually more conservative, than even Orin Hatch.
Any Republican Politician who supported massive Government, the FED policies, and who doesn’t recant, after spending tow or three years running a string trimmer, or hanging sheet rock, is dead to me.
44
posted on
09/27/2009 3:45:55 PM PDT
by
mission9
(It ain't bragging if you can do it.)
To: mission9
That’s why we have to go with young’ens. Anyone has a technical question, they can call Mitt, or who ever. We need young, conservative/libertarians that understand that a good part of the GOP/RNC is a hooked to big government, big taxes for THEIR and THEIR FRIENDS rackets, corporations, insider(ism) at the expense of not only the majority of registered Republicans, but the county at large. Sure, not as bad as Democrats, but the sales pitch of ‘We Suck Less Than The Democrats’ isn’t going to cut it.
In many ways, McCain, and even Mitt or whoever would of lost because of the lack of enthusiasm of the Republican majority with the older, old, usual candidates. This is of course with one exception, Palin.
Palin has a record, and I think she believes it too, of taking on the GOP money men, and hooked up to the government teat in Alaska, and this is absolutely not the attitude that the RNC/GOP want. Why, why..if if the elites are turned away...why...why...we’ll have to deal with ...God forbid...Republican yokels!
45
posted on
09/27/2009 4:18:38 PM PDT
by
Leisler
(It's going to be a hard, long winter)
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