"Reform"

My blog, my opinion. Please feel free to disagree with me.

I stole this from another heart mom's blog. One of my fears of this proposed health care "reform" (one of many) is that, down the road, government is going to start restricting care because they don't have the funds to cover it. Excuse my language, but I'll be damned if some bureaucrat is going to tell me what the correct course of action is for my child. And I'll be damned if someone is going to deny my child care now, or in the future, because it's deemed to be too costly. Or, if any future children are denied care because of this for that matter...OR, God forbid, I am advised to "terminate" (see: murder) my unborn child because the government feels his/her life is not worth saving, or is too costly to save, upon birth.

Does our health care system need reform? Absolutely! Does everyone deserve access to proper health care? Absolutely! Is socialized medicine the appropriate route? In my opinion, no. I don't have the solution to this puzzle, I wish I did. But I do know that I refuse to sit by and watch as, eventually, the government dictates which lives are worth saving and which aren't.

Please read:


WASHINGTON -- Parents of children with disabilities are worried about what the proposed changes in the health care plan could mean for their children.

As the sun beamed down on the U.S. Capitol building, more than a dozen families gathered outside to shine light on one issue in the middle of the health care debate.

They sent a letter to President Barack Obama and congressional leaders about their concerns and fears -- that a government-run health care plan would lead to rationing of care for children and people with disabilities.

"He's never spoken a word, and he probably won't, but he sings and he loves the Bible, and he claps his hands, and he's just a joy," said parent Mary Kellett about her son.

The group says legislation now working its way through the House and Senate could eventually lead to commissions that will decide which treatments are the most effective for patients.

"I fear such a system will deem his ventilator too costly or his wheelchair too rehabilitative," said parent Carrie Holt.

They worry that the pending legislation could result in the U.S. having a health care system very similar to Canada's Barbara Farlow, who lost her baby daughter to a genetic condition in Ontario, shared her story.

"No diagnostic tests had been done and a 'do not resuscitate' order was written before we had provided consent." Farlow said. "The hospital apologized and wrote that they could have done better."

Now Farlow's mission, along with the other families, is to see that the needs of the most vulnerable children in society are not overlooked or rationed.

Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rogers, R-Wash., the mother of a son with Down syndrome, is working on alternatives."There needs to be improvements to the health care system to meet the needs of families that have children and loved ones with disabilities," McMorris-Rogers said.

While the current legislation does not precisely call for rationing, the concern is what it will lead to down the road.

"Bottom line, these are concerns that we believe need to be addressed as we move forward on health care reform," McMorris-Rogers added.

"Johanna has continually reminded us to take every day as a gift from God, and not take anything for granted," said parent Eileen Benthal. "She is a reminder to us that life is much more than the temporal world, that there is an eternal perspective that will change the world for the better."