Obamacare: Canadian Death Panels Prove Lethal Danger of Cost/Benefit Rationing Panels » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog

Obamacare: Canadian Death Panels Prove Lethal Danger of Cost/Benefit Rationing Panels » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog

The Canadians may put up with bureaucrats telling them what medicine they can and cannot receive–but we in the US are not so passive. Alas, we could become so if Obamacare passes and we let centralized rationing boards to take control of our entire health care system. If we do, in about ten years, we will begin to see stories such as on reported in today’s Globe and Mail that tells the terrifying story of young women, who need a combination of drugs to fight pulmonary disease, being told–Nyet! And now, as a direct consequence, one woman is close to death. From the story:

Bonnie Cameron and Cindy Waters-Goodman do not know each other, but they have much in common. Both are feisty, small-town Ontarians who were young, busy mothers when hit with diagnoses of pulmonary arterial hypertension, an incurable heart and lung disease…Both were started on a regimen of drugs that are costly but slowed the pace of the disease, which is uncommon and often goes undetected. The province paid much of the tab, which the women estimate was about $100,000 a year each. Their lives improved drastically: They could play with their kids, cook meals and shower without fainting.

Then, last spring, out of the blue, both received letters informing them the province would no longer allow more than one medication. To continue receiving support, they’d have to stop taking combos.