What would a U.S. government run health care system look like? Well, one big indication is to examine what is going on at places where the United States government is already running health care. One of those place is at VA hospitals, and the reality is that the level of care that our veterans receive can only be described as horrific.
Some time ago, ABC News did an investigation of VA hospital conditions that uncovered the reality of “disastrous management and deficient care” at the 162 VA facilities throughout the United States.
The following are just some of the things that ABC News found during the course of their investigation…..
*Bathrooms filthy with what appeared to be human excrement
*Dirty linens from some patients mixed in with clean supplies
*Examining tables that had dried blood and medications still on them
*Equipment used to sterilize surgical instruments that had broken down
*Some patients were forced to beg for food and water
*Vets neglected so badly that they developed horrific bedsores and dangerous infections
Is this any way to treat our veterans?
Is this what we can expect under Obamacare?
So will there be long waits and rationing under Obamacare? If it is anything like the vets are experiencing right now there will be. Just consider what ABC News found about vet waits for health care…..
Veterans who responded to a survey by the American Legion in 2003 said it took an average of seven months to get a first appointment at a VA hospital. In some hospitals, patients have waited as long as two years.
Is that the kind of health care system that you want?
Do you think that you will be treated better or worse then military vets under Obamacare?
Not only do we find rationing in VA hospitals, but we also find the kind of “death counseling” that the Democrats have worked so hard to deny will happen under Obamacare.
Jim Towey, the president of Saint Vincent College, former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives and the founder of the nonprofit organization Aging with Dignity just wrote an extraordinary piece about this in the Wall Street Journal. The following is an excerpt from that excellent article where he describes that death counseling that takes place at VA hospitals……
—–
Last year, bureaucrats at the VA’s National Center for Ethics in Health Care advocated a 52-page end-of-life planning document, “Your Life, Your Choices.” It was first published in 1997 and later promoted as the VA’s preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes. After the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues, the VA suspended its use. Unfortunately, under President Obama, the VA has now resuscitated “Your Life, Your Choices.”
Who is the primary author of this workbook? Dr. Robert Pearlman, chief of ethics evaluation for the center, a man who in 1996 advocated for physician-assisted suicide in Vacco v. Quill before the U.S. Supreme Court and is known for his support of health-care rationing.
“Your Life, Your Choices” presents end-of-life choices in a way aimed at steering users toward predetermined conclusions, much like a political “push poll.” For example, a worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own life would be “not worth living.”
The circumstances listed include ones common among the elderly and disabled: living in a nursing home, being in a wheelchair and not being able to “shake the blues.” There is a section which provocatively asks, “Have you ever heard anyone say, ‘If I’m a vegetable, pull the plug’?” There also are guilt-inducing scenarios such as “I can no longer contribute to my family’s well being,” “I am a severe financial burden on my family” and that the vet’s situation “causes severe emotional burden for my family.”
When the government can steer vulnerable individuals to conclude for themselves that life is not worth living, who needs a death panel?
—–
But Democrats assure us that this type of thing will NOT happen to seniors under Obamacare.
Do you believe them?
Perhaps if they had not already lied over and over and over to the American people they might have a shred of credibility left.
The reality is that if we let the U.S. government take control of health care then our elderly will become very vulnerable.
The truth is that the U.S. government will abuse all of our seniors under Obamacare the way they are abusing our veterans right now if this “health care reform” package gets pushed through.
The two videos posted below show more examples of the incredibly poor conditions at VA hospitals around the U.S.
This first video is of a news report which explains how cardiac alarm monitors were actually turned off at one VA hospital…..
This second video is another news report that examines that very unsanitary conditions at 3 other VA hospitals…..
If the U.S. government cannot even provide decent health care for military veterans, what in the world makes you think that they can do it for the entire population?
