Well, that certainly didn’t take long. Governor Strickland proposed state regulation of hospital construction, and by extension, what new services will be allowed at your local health-care facility. According to Comrade Ted, we have “unhealthy competition” at hospitals. And, as we all know, competition must be stopped at all costs!
Waving the bloody shirt, the Governor declared that since hospitals receive over $1 million each year from the government, they need to be accountable to his office. What he failed to mention is that the vast majority of these dollars are spent not as a result of government grants, but through low-income health care spending, in programs such as Medicaid. While the dollars are indeed from the “government”, they are spent through choice by the consumer.
While I heartily applaud most attempts to streamline the costs of government, regulating what services hospitals can provide is not the way to go about it. Competition doesn’t raise the cost of services; it lowers it – outside of governmental interference. So, if your hospital wants to build a heart center, but Comrade Ted decides your immediate area doesn’t need one, you won’t get it. And, when that heart attack finally comes after you’ve received your tax bill, you’ll have to be carted by (Government) ambulance 90 miles away to get the treatment you need – if you’re still alive when you get there. Smaller communities won’t have hospitals that can cater to their needs, they’ll get stuck with “Doc in a Box” clinics – served by underpaid physicians who received their degree on-line. For any of you undergoing chemo – expect to get up earlier for a 2 hour drive to a hospital that can administer your treatment.
This argument isn’t about government spending, it’s about the government absorbing a large section of the private economy. Rather then telling the local hospitals what services they are allowed to provide and focusing on “preventative” medicine (look out McD's), lets save some money by not adding a whole new bureaucracy to the government. Comrade Ted, this sounds an awful lot like the Hillary-Care Express.
Margaritas ante Porcos,
Right Wing Toledo
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I was hoping that some of the Ohio papers would cover this in a bit more detail so we'd have a better idea exactly what Strickland's plan entails.
I do agree with you though that merely trying to limit construction could create the exact doctor in a box scenario that is not my idea of great health care either. I understand not wanting to provide government funding to build hospitals, I'm hoping we get some more details on this one in the days to come.
Lisa,
It would be one thing if the plan he was proposing was limiting grants to hospitals for new construction. However, the need based plan would prevent building permits for any new construction, privately financed or not, unless the government deemed it necessary for the community. Under Ted's plan, if I donated $10 million to St. Vincent's for the "Right Wing Toledo Oncology Center", the hospital still wouldn't be allowed to break ground (or renovate a wing) if the governor decided that Toledo Hospital's Oncology department was adequate for the community.
Call me an alarmist for believing that this is the first step down the government seizing total control of the health care system in this country, but we were told that smoking on airplanes wouldn't lead to smoking bans elsewhere as well. This is laying the base for the paving over the best health care in the world - replacing it with a Canadian/English style health care - rationing, unmotivated doctors, and a wait timetable that allows the disease to kill you before you can see the specialist that can help you.
Canadian / English system? Ohhhh, you mean socialism-ized "healthcare". I saw firsthand how that system worked in Europe. Indeed, unmotivated doctors, crap facilities and instramentation and, abuse and rip-offs on a grand scale. Ethics are also a casulty since ripping off "the government" seems to be no big deal.
In typical liberal fashion, these clowns believe that socialist programs are always the best way to solve our ills and create some kind of false equality and harmony in the people. Imposible since one segment will ride on the backs of another which is hardly equal.
Excuse me, but limiting what a hospital can or cannot build/operate unless the government (in this case Governor Strickland) agrees comes off as being, oh I don't know, SOCIALIST...
And I don't mean socialist in any sort of benign way, but as in the socialist heading towards communist kind of way.
Ted, if "they" have taken over your mind/will, send us a sign and we'll help you.
Post a Comment