Posted by
Vansword on Monday, November 09, 2009 4:07:06 PM
Nancy Pelosi and her merry band of tax marauders would have us believe that the new healthcare bill that passed late Saturday night, H.R. 3962, will provide upwards of 38 million people the absolute best in medical care at affordable prices without costing the country one single, solitary cent. Although many of us did attend government schools we've educated ourselves this past year in the political process-we've learned a lot about the ins and outs of Washington and armed with this knowledge have taken to the streets to protest on many issues. We are not as dumb as dirt like many in Congress would hope.
We are perfectly capable of looking at the mishandling of the swine flu vaccine and understanding the limitations of the bureaucratic mess that is the federal government! First of all, let's dispense with the whole name conundrum. It's swine flu. I'm not calling it H1N1....R2D2...or anything else. The name's easier than the number so just get over it Axelrod! You can call it the Maharesi fever. It's still the flu, albeit one that has the potential to be serious. The seeming overwhelming logistical problem of delivering the vaccine to those who need it most and who have been waiting ever so patiently, points to the utter absurdity of allowing the United States federal government to be the sole supervisor of our health care.
HHS initially promised that 130 million doses of the vaccine would be made available to all who wanted or needed it by mid-October. Only 13 million have been distributed thus far. Americans were strongly encouraged to seek vaccination for the swine flu because of the serious complications that could occur to very young children, pregnant women and those with underlying diseases and compromised immune systems. But now they are waiting in extremely long lines only to be turned away for lack of vaccine.
Part of the problem is production delays but adding to this major snafu is the increased demand for the regular flu vaccine. It seems the government might have better planned the synchronization of both of the flu vaccines considering how vital it is for Americans to know their options and be able to choose the best plan for their own health. CDC Director, Dr.Thomas Frieden, told a House Sub Committee that though the shortages are very frustrating, nothing can be done about it. Maybe, Mr. Frieden, you ought to have considered producing the swine flu vaccine first since that strain appeared three months before the seasonal flu usually does; all flu cases at the moment are of the swine variety. There have been only a few cases of the regular seasonal influenza to date. Attempting to mass produce both vaccines simultaneouly in the necessary quantities appears to have been a bad idea-and one our government is far from competent enough to handle.
One decision in the government's production of the swine flu vaccine has sparked much criticism; in their glaringly noninfinite wisdom, the 'powers that be' opted to produce single-vial doses against overwhelming evidence that dual-doses are made much faster. Their reason for ordering the vaccine in single doses is most disturbing. It represents what will happen if we give the feds carte blanche over our health. The Wall Street Journal reported the only reason for them to take that route was to bow to people worried about the preservative thimerasol, which is used to provide multiple doses of the vaccine.
Though the scientific community has long-since proven that fears that thimerasol causes autism in children are unfounded, the government caved in to antivaccine fringe groups and now we're faced with severe vaccine shortages and many children are left unprotected from the swine flu. If government-healthcare is enacted into law, how many more times will officials concede to the demands of activist groups who seek to cram their own ideologies down our throats? It's these same radical wingnuts that have had a vegetarian day introduced at a school in Maryland and want us all to be taxed for eating products with white sugar!
The government has managed however to get the swine flu vaccine to some prominent fiancial companies(how convenient). According to a recent report: "some large employers, including Wall Street banks, have received H1N1 vaccine even while hospitals and clinics are trying to accommodate those in high risk groups. In a story that first broke in a BusinessWeek article, some financial companies like Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup have received shipments: Goldman got 200, Citigroup received 1200 doses. Goldman confirms the order, but says it’s up to the CDC to make decisions on distributing vaccines, and the shots will go to high risk employees." Yeah, right! Meanwhile, that's doses that by all rights should have gone to 1400 very young children and pregnant women who I believe according to CDC mandates are at a much greater risk of contracting swine flu than middle-aged financiers!
In the possible event that the Senate does pass their version and a melded Congressional bill becomes law, do we expect that more inane, progressive-oriented decisions won't arise from that common sense vacuum called the Department of Health and Human Services? Kathleen Sebelius is not the person I want in charge of telling me what I can and can't do with my own health!
If anyone needs further proof that the United States government is incapable of managing a system of such proportions as outline in Pelosicare, than they have only to look at the mangled, half-baked healthcare available to Native Americans. They have always had government-run medical care. They have been promised much more than has ever been delivered.
Native Americans have been under government-run healthcare for generations. The result has been a debacle of mammoth proportions. It has contributed to the overall lack of any kind of quality of life for the first Americans. Their alcoholism, depression, teen pregnancy and crime rates are among the highest in the country. The United States Commission on Civil Rights in 2004 issued a blistering report, called Broken Promises, on the atrocious condition of Native American healthcare. And our federal government wants to run the healthcare of 300 million Americans?
Beyond the unquestionable incompetence that the swine flu vaccine shortage demonstrates, there are other questionable occurences that point to a rather disturbing trend of governmental secrecy that really would not translate well to their overseeing a healthcare program. If you think your doctor won't talk to you now, wait until some government bureaucrat's jaw becomes wired when you need his help!
There was an incident involving a man in Orlando, Fl who was told by the nurse at the walk-in clinic where he went to address his 103 degree fever that there was a shortage of Tamiflu and the government had instructed them to only give it to pregnant women, young children and those with respiratory disorders. The man didn't take this no for an a answer and proceeded to ask his personal pharmacist about it He was told there is plenty of the antiviral. The man then demanded Tamiflu from the clinic which grudgingly obliged. That's rationing at work, folks.
The H1N1 vaccine shortage has everybody concerned. Will those who want to get vaccinated against this flu be able to before they contract the malady? Recent medical thinking is that the swine flu may wane and this wave(another may follow in the spring) may die out before anymore vaccine is even available. In past years, drug companies have been allowed free reign to develop and mass produce vaccines in massive quantites-and allowed to ship at their own discretion without governmental fetters. Not so in today's flu pandemic. The U.S. is keeping their large, greasy palm on the heads of pharmaceutical divisions. How do we know that they aren't mandating some sort of cap on vaccine totals? And why are they lying to doctors about Tamiflu being in short supply?
What could possibly be their motive for telling a clinic where patients seek treatment that antivirals are in short supply? There have been no such pronouncements on television or radio that I can remember. We have more to fear from government than poor bureaucratic juggling skills and misguided decision-making. The question of trust looms much larger. Americans aren't sure where the lies end and the truth begins regarding the swine flu and the regulations laid out in the healthcare bill.
Rahm Emmanuel once exhorted, "never let a good crisis go to waste" .President Obama surely didn't when he declared H1N1 a national health emergency, though the numbers of sick and dead aren't as high as the percentages of those who contract the regular seasonal variety of influenza each year. Obama makes sure he looks the part of concerned leader-even while his government can't get enough vaccine to the people.
There was a time in the not-so-distant past that I was afraid that the Obama administration was using the swine flu crisis to insinuate themselves even more into our lives. I'm afraid I've read Margaret Atwood's, The Handmaid's Tale, one too many times and was envisioning closed state borders and ID cards! Now, I don't believe that this particular White House is intelligent enough to hoodwink anybody! They couldn't give away candy to five-year olds.
Of coure, they would have to write a 2000 pg illustrated report about it, which, of course, the kids couldn't follow because the pictures were done by government illustrators! Then they would charge a surtax on each wrapper. The bureaucratic tangle of creating subsidies for those 5 yr olds without an allowance would be a nightmare. The kids would subsequently find out when they unwrapped their government candy that it was of the green variety-made of eco-friendly, vegetable derivatives with very little flavor, though they had been led to believe otherwise.
Americans cannot afford to trust our centralized government with our healthcare for so many reasons. But the number one reason is because it is not now, before and in the future about concern for our well-being. For that would-be Robin Hood Pelosi, it's all about redistribution of wealth, making those of us who prosper under capitalism suffer for daring to do so. It is about forwarding our profits to the financially irresponsible. Let's join with our Native American brethren and demand real reform, a reform that caters to our needs, not the overblown ideologies of an opportunistic political machine.