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Originally posted by: jphelan
Money - I think you missed my point. I was saying I trust the US medical system to decide who gets scarce organ transplants more that I would trust the government. Doctors are people that devote their life to making people well and the burearcrats seem to be best at lining their pockets.
Government's role in this process should be limited to promoting public service announcements encoruaging organ donation and making it easier through the drivers license renewal process.
Keep government out of my medicine and give me more choices please!
Originally posted by: jphelan
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Originally posted by: MoneyLA
whoa... there is some misinformation here.
in the case of organ transplants such as kidneys -- unless you have a live donor such as a friend or relative who is willing to make a direct donation to someone such as a friend or relative, there are various medical boards which decide who is the best "match" for that organ. when I got my transplant it was determined that in the entire country I was the best match. indeed it was as near as perfect a match as I could get. in pre op the doctors told me that had I been on vacation in europe and didnt get this particular kidney it would have been a 15 to 20 year wait to get another match as good as this one.
where do I draw the line? I dont when it comes to medical care. But I do draw the line when it comes to government waste, military overspending, and continuing to fight wars years after they were won. (I thought the Iraq war was over when Hussein was captured?)
But again, do your cost analysis. If a transplant costs less than 14 months of dialysis-- do the transplant, doesnt that make sense? Return the dialysis patient to the work force. Get them off disability. Make them taxpayers instead of tax recipients.
If my commodities broker friend had a transplant and returned to work for one year -- the taxes on his income (lets use 20%) would pay for his transplant costs, plus it would save the $15-thou a month his dialysis costs.
My friend the movie editor makes about $100,000 a year (movie editing is not salaried or steady work). His transplant might have cost $200-thou (I dont know the exact cost, of course) but I know that at the dialysis center the price was $12,000 a month, discounted to $8,000 per month for insurance patients. So his "transplant payback" came in about two years plus he is working again, no longer drawing disability.
More importantly I dont draw any lines with people's lives. Perhaps thats how I was brought up to think. God gave me a good life... and God gave me a second good life too. And every day I cry that some young person died in a traffic accident and I pray for that family that donated the organs--- two kidneys, pancreas, liver (divided between two people), lungs -- that were able to be harvested.
edited for typo
Money - I think you missed my point. I was saying I trust the US medical system to decide who gets scarce organ transplants more that I would trust the government. Doctors are people that devote their life to making people well and the burearcrats seem to be best at lining their pockets.
Government's role in this process should be limited to promoting public service announcements encoruaging organ donation and making it easier through the drivers license renewal process.
Keep government out of my medicine and give me more choices please!
Jphelan - YOU miss a huge point - the "US medical system" doesn't really make the decisions regarding who gets healthcare - the INSURANCE COMPANIES do - and I would trust the government over the insurance companies EVERY day of the week - at least there are some in the government who are trying to look out for the general welfare of the people. With insurance companies, they ONLY care about obscene profits and outrageous compensation for their executives - and they have no problem dropping someone from insurance (even when doing so illegally) if there is a chance that they're going to shell out any substantial money for healthcare
