"Death Panels" and the Inevitability of Rationing Health Care

Although I'm not the biggest fan of Sarah Palin, she might have had a point about those "death panels," especially in light of Nancy Pelosi's release of the health care bill today.  It might sound serene, from a libertarian perspective, to "give people the choice" of seeing a counselor.  What perturbs me more than anything is the simple economic laws that make nationalized health care a terrible choice for America.  If this does pass and gets nationalized, everyone will be under the impression that health care is free.  This misperception greatly increases demand well above the equilibrium point that the market normally dictates.  With a huge demand of health care in the market, there is only so much in goods that can be provided, thus creating a shortage.  This already occurred when government got more involved with health care as time went on.

We should take a look at how other countries with nationalized health care operate.  Canada is a good example.  Canada's waiting lines are infamous, to the point where "dogs can get a hip replacement in under a week and...humans can wait two to three years."  Guess where many Canadians go for health care?  America!  It's when it gets to the point where even a Canadian doctor can become accurately dissilusioned by the single-payer system.

Whether or not one agrees with the inflammatory rhetoric that Palin uses to get people's attention on the issue, seniors have a right to be worried about rationed health care.  Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, Obama's top health advisor, is the reason why if I were a senior, I'd be deeply worried about my longevity.  Only this year did the "'good' doctor" write an "ethical" analysis with two other doctors in the Lancet, a medical journal, about how health care needs to be rationed.  If you look at the chart on page 428, you're in the clear if you're between the ages of 15 and 50.  Aside from that, pray that a doctor will even examine you, let alone treat you!

Under this not-so-wonderful plan, I'd have about a quarter of a century to go before I am viewed as an inferior being because "the amount of life-years I'd have at that point would no longer be economically salient."  The most powerful health care advisor is justifying the denial of health care to certain citizens when they're too old, and we shouldn't be worried about a slippery slope.  Does Obama honestly think we're that stupid?  Here's an idea, Obama, Let the free markets handle it!  Again, the love affair that the Obama administration is making the Bush (43) Administration look like it was an actual advocate for free markets.  But that set aside, there are numerous alternatives that the Obama administration could be carrying out, some of which I have discussed in a previous blog.  Obama is so enamored with already-disproven Keynsian economics and socialist tripe that he will never be able to offer anything that will help the American people.  All we can hope for at this point is that there is something that stops this herendous bill from ever being implemented in this nation.