Who could have seen this coming?
Cataracts, hips, knees and tonsils: NHS begins rationing operations
Hip replacements, cataract surgery and tonsil removal are among operations now being rationed in a bid to save the NHS money.
Two-thirds of health trusts in England are rationing treatments for “non-urgent” conditions as part of the drive to reduce costs in the NHS by £20bn over the next four years. One in three primary-care trusts (PCTs) has expanded the list of procedures it will restrict funding to in the past 12 months.
Examples of the rationing now being used include:
* Hip and knee replacements only being allowed where patients are in severe pain. Overweight patients will be made to lose weight before being considered for an operation.
* Cataract operations being withheld from patients until their sight problems “substantially” affect their ability to work.
* Patients with varicose veins only being operated on if they are suffering “chronic continuous pain”, ulceration or bleeding.
* Tonsillectomy (removing tonsils) only to be carried out in children if they have had seven bouts of tonsillitis in the previous year.
* Grommets to improve hearing in children only being inserted in “exceptional circumstances” and after monitoring for six months.
* Funding has also been cut in some areas for IVF treatment on the NHS.
The alarming figures emerged from a survey of 111 PCTs by the health-service magazine GP, using the Freedom of Information Act.
Doctors are known to be concerned about how the new rationing is working – and how it will affect their relationships with patients.
Birmingham is looking at reducing operations in gastroenterology, gynaecology, dermatology and orthopaedics. Parts of east London were among the first to introduce rationing, where some patients are being referred for homeopathic treatments instead of conventional treatment.
There is not example in which universal health care cost less then promised or even what was promised. It always costs far more than advertised.
My strong advice is to suggest that anyone in need of the above listed treatments in the foreseeable future avail themselves of them as soon as is reasonable. These treatments are going to be rationed not long after Obamacare kicks in.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
WHY did Americans (who were for ObamaCare) say they were for ObamaCare?
They mostly said they wanted health care reform that would lower costs and give better access.
So, what will they get?
Total spending is projected to grow annually by 5.8 percent under Mr. Obama’s Affordable Care Act, according to a 10-year forecast by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released Thursday. Without the ACA, spending would grow at a slightly slower rate of 5.7 percent annually.
Wait a minute!
The prices will rise higher, faster than without ObamaCare?
Well…….
What about that ”access” issue?
Seniors and the poor are already discovering that their government health “coverage” prevents them from finding primary care doctors.
Why?
Because government coverage doesn’t pay enough to cover the costs of treating patients.
Now, remember Steven Larson?
HINT:
He issued nearly 1,500 ObamaCare waivers.
Guess what he’s up to now that the waiver of ObamaFriends is almost over?
He gets to issue waivers to some states while taking over the insurance oversight apparatus of other states. And he won’t tell us how he makes his decisions to do either.
REMEMBER.
As I have relayed this story before here at FA, the rationing has already begun. Two summers in a row, my Congestive Heart Failure gave me problems, to the point where I had to go to the ER. In 2009, they did blood tests (looking for key enzymes present when CHF is flaring up), then I was hospitalized. Medicare, my health insurer, gave the go ahead.
Fast forward to 2010, same problems landed me in the same ER, in fact it was even the same ER Doc that treated me. After the same blood tests showed enzyme levels that were higher than the previous year, Medicare refused to admit me to the hospital.
Go Obamacare!
My wife and I were on what qualified under the Democrats description of a “Cadillac plan.” After the passage of Obamacare when it was time for open enrollment, that plan was no longer being offered. Nor could we “keep our doctor” because none of the remaining two plans (HMOs) had our doctor on their lists of providers.
My question is With almost 2000 waivers with untold thousands of people included in those waivers, who is left to pay for the deathcareplan? If there is a fee of $1000 and ten people sharing, they pay $100 each, if there is a fee of $1000 and only one person he is burdened with the entire amount. It is all simple math and I see those not included in the waivers are screwed by paying for a health system that will provide little to nothing unless you are one of the Arian. (young, healthy)
My private health insurance costs have gone up 10% since Obamacare became a reality. My brother-in-law is still paying the same for his, but him and my sister’s out of pocket expenses have increased significantly. They have already spent a few hundred dollars more this year on the kids than what they would have spent had Obamacare not happened. Those on the left will no doubt look at the personal stories here and still say Obamacare is not at fault and that it lowered costs despite reality. There was an article (should have saved it) that made a good argument showing how Obamacare paralleled the slow down or stopped the ‘recovery’. Do you think that was figured into its costs?
Funny how obamacare supporters are absent from this thread.
It gets better tho–
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/07/30/nhs-trusts-delaying-surgeries-to-get-people-to-pay-or-die/
It also takes a 2 to 3 times as many days to schedule an appointment to see our doctor.
I was diagnosed with cataracts two years ago in 2010. The thing is, I’m in the crack that makes too much for help and has to pay a loan for the surgery. They are payments I don’t have money to pay. I don’t want my bill to be in a collections account. So, I’m saving the cash to pay the cost at the appointed time and no interest. I’m youthful and work everyday, but the cataracts are worsening as I save toward that goal. Americans may realize as in the Great Depression that we take care of our own family finances without handouts from government or other agencies! Only time will tell.