Ageism

ObamaCare: Is it Ageist?

Posted by: Anti-Ageism Task Force

August 17, 2009 — Barack Obama's proposed plan for a so-called "public option", or a government-run health insurance program for Americans, has many advocates for senior rights hopping mad. Many believe that older adults and elders could well be among the hardest hit. As a recent article in The Wall Street Journal put it:

"From the point of view of politicians with a limited budget, is it worth spending a lot on, say, a patient with late-stage cancer where the odds of remission are long? Or should they spend to improve quality, not length, of life? Or pay for a hip or knee replacement for seniors, when palliative care might cost less? And who decides?"

Other nationalized systems use a cost-effectiveness standard which divides the cost of a medical treatment by the number of years the patient is likely to benefit. Treatments for younger patients, then, are more likely to get the green light than treatments for diseases that affect the elderly. A number of surveys find older Americans also concerned that they, too, will not be able to get quality-of-life treatments, such as hip or knee replacements, under the Obama program.

Obama has repeatedly assumed Americans that his health-care agenda would simply enhance, rather than replace, their existing health plans. However, in recent polls, elderly voters cite fears that they will have to change existing healthcare arrangements as the greatest reason to oppose his plan.

Others opposed to Obama's plan also cite its so-called "death panels", and other end of life services. Rumors about these, while overblown, may not be without some cause, according to an article in The New York Times.

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Keywords: health care reform, end-of-life care, ageism

Comments

"Death Panels"

By Unknown on Aug 18 2009 at 6:59 PM

The "death panels" have been in effect for 20 years. Living wills and end of life defectives are what they are talking about. No one except the person it applies to can approve it and they can be changed at any time. The "panel" is your doctor or a social worker who explains your options.

Republicans who voted for this provisions are now repeating the lye started by and insurance company executive calling it "death panels." It is part of Medicare. There are no government bureaucrats handing out euthanasia orders.

The same people are equating living wills with Hitlers final solution and thus calling the president a Nazi and equating him with Hitler. I pray that this does not continue and that we ae not headed int an era of politics by violence.

"medical treatment by the number of years the patient is likely to benefit"

By Unknown on Aug 18 2009 at 7:45 PM

The insurance companies and health organizations already do this. I had a friend who contributed to the good of the world with his brilliant intellect. When he sought treatment for his eyes a doctor told him that he was not worth the cost. He went on to find a cure and lived to 90 years old.

Being too old is a reason for not getting organ transplants. Depression us vastly under diagnosed in older Americans.

The Insurance Companies have there own bureaucrats who tell my doctor what treatment he can give me and what medicines I can take. The never see a patent but make major medical decisions.

Insurance companies have forced me to change from an excellent primary care doctor to an inferior doctor in a inferior clinic. With privet insurance I have never had any real choice. I can not afford privet insurance and the last company I was with had insurance that cost so much that I would not be able to live on the money that was left.

The American health system may be the best for the congress and the health care executives that make $11 million per year but not for people like me.

ObamaCare

By Unknown on Aug 20 2009 at 9:04 PM

The last commenter is entirely correct when they are talking about the existing "death panels" and it has been going on for many years. Grandma at age 70 fell and broke her wrist. It wasn't properly treated because "at her age it didn't matter" per the doctor and insurance company. Grandma lived to be 101, 31 years as a cripple. Same Grandma broke her hip at 91 and we got the same song and dance about her age. 11 years spent unable to walk. If we do anything to reform healthcare, it needs to begin at the insurance companies. Of course with the money they make I am sure they can afford many lobbiest so this will never happen.

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