If you were wondering what government run health care is going to look like, just ask Sarah Murnaghan. She is the 10-year old girl with cystic fibrosis who is in desperate need of a lung transplant. In spite of her severe circumstances government rules prevent her from being listed on adult transplant lists because she is under the age of 12. Apparently her doctors feel this is an arbitrary rule and they would be happy to transplant her with adult lungs if they are given permission. Murnaghan’s parents brought their pleas for help to Secretary of Health and Human Service Kathleen Sebelius. Sebelius acted with all of the compassion that you would expect from a government bureaucrat, she denied the request to intervene.
When Congressman Lou Barletta asked Sebelius to intervene she again responded with all of the concern and compassion that you would expect from the average DMV employee and said: “I would suggest, sir, that, again, this is an incredibly agonizing situation where someone lives and someone dies.”
Organ transplants are a difficult situation since they are a limited resource. Transplant boards often must make difficult decisions. In the United States we have never viewed other forms of health care as limited. Unfortunately, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will necessitate rationing of care. Government officials like Sebelius will be making decisions like this on a daily basis.
The Obama administration shamelessly paraded survivors of the Newtown shooting around to pressure Congress to pass gun control laws. Apparently this administration only cares about children dying from gun violence and has little concern for children that die as a result of government regulations. A federal judge has intervened and ordered Sebelius to allow this girl to be placed on the transplant list. Unfortunately that is what it took to change the government’s position.
If you thought it was difficult to argue with an insurance company review board, just try getting a federal judge to approve your healthcare. When Obamacare is fully implemented, the same government that uses the IRS to attack its critics will be making your healthcare decisions. That same IRS will be enforcing key provisions of the affordable care act. Will these healthcare decisions be made free of political considerations? Will critics of the government have the same access to treatment as supporters of the administration? The same government that has been monitoring the phone calls of every American will soon have access to all of your healthcare records. If you were not afraid of the government running our health care system before, you should be now.
Frank J. Mongillo III, MD
New Haven