I’m trying not to harp on this too much, but how is this not a death panel?
The Arizona case, said Diane Rowland, director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, “is a classic example of making decisions based not on medical need but based on a budget.” And, she added, “it results, potentially, in denial of care to individuals in a life-or-death situation.”
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services do not monitor which states use Medicaid money for transplants. But health experts said no other state had withdrawn coverage for patients pursuing transplants.
Arizona’s decision, by Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, and the Republican-controlled Legislature, was made after state officials assessed success and survival rates for a number of transplant procedures. National transplant groups call the figures misleading.
“It seems inappropriate that life-saving care has the potential to be withheld based solely on budgetary issues and the bureaucratic determination of relative benefits,” said Dr. Robert S. Gaston, president-elect of the American Society of Transplantation.
What we’ve got is a state deciding not to pay for something which would save a life, solely for cost reasons. You’ve got a group of people – a panel, if you will – deciding that your family member may die because the treatment is too expensive.
Where is the outrage? Where are the screaming people? Where are the tweets?
Where are the politicians?*
*You know who you are.
