“Comparative effectiveness research is not a bloodless sport,” said Dr. Sean Ellis of Mountainview Medical Institute. “You’re discussing it all in terms of ‘better information for doctor and patient,’ but let’s face it, you’re going to deny payment for a treatment that a national body says is not proven effective, even if the doctor and the patient want it. That’s the bloody part, and I think that should be addressed.”

Carol Clancy of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Qualtiy (AHRQ) immediately responded, “That’s a very important point; the burden of proof is going to be shifted.” The founding regulations of Medicare, Clancy noted, say that “‘Payment is to be denied if the treatment has been shown to be ineffective.’ That puts the burden on the payer, to show it’s ineffective. But that burden has already begun to shift. And it’s going to shift to where the burden is on the doctor to show that the treatment is effective, or it won’t be paid for.” AHRQ is the lead Federal Agency for “health care quality measures.”

As for me, I think I’ll take my chances with liberty. Security like the kind Castro offers is hardly something I’d want for my family. I’ll go ahead and ignore the snide comment about not being able to think for myself. I’ve long ago stopped basing my self-esteem on the opinions of others. You might try using valid arguments instead of attacking me though. It’s a bit more becoming.

We are currently on Medicare Parts A, B and D. She will be in the Part D “doughnut hole” in June and I will be in the doughnut hole in mid-August. This means that we will not have coverage for our medications by the end of this summer. At that time our medications will cost us almost $1,200.00 per month; that’s in addition to doctor visit co-pays, hospital co-pays and expensive over the counter drugs that our doctors have said we must take.

We are on a fixed income and, quite frankly, not all of our medications will be within our reach financially. I have long term disability insurance which supplements our Social Security Disability but just our current co-pays of almost $600.00 per month really takes a chunk out of our budget. My plan at this point is to buy my wife’s medications and eliminate all but the most necessary of mine. We’ve talked with our doctors and have been told that all of our medications are necessary but that doesn’t mean we can afford them.

I am an ardent supporter of single-payer national health care but if all we can get is a public plan than give us the public plan! The public plan would have to be less expensive than the plan we have now, which we cannot afford.

I’m sorry you have lost the ability to think for yourself.

Step 1: Create a “public option”.
Step 2: As a competitor as well as the regulator, the “public plan” will have an unfair advantage, and will soon be the only viable player in the “market”
Step 3: Watch as the “private options” die an unnatural death.
Step 4: Realize, as all the other industrialized countries with socialized health care have, that there is never enough money to truly provide this entitlement successfully.
Step 5: Foment revolution on the part of the masses, leading the way to a Marxist take-over of the government.

This is so 1960s. I can’t believe you guys haven’t already heard about it.

You’ll soon get the Marxist Totalitarian Utopia of your dreams. Just be patient. You’re almost there. You’ve already created entire swaths of the country that are dependent on the government for their very day-to-day survival. Well done. You should be so proud.

MOCKBADOC.