Healthcare For Rover

Tuesday's Investor's Business Daily ran an editorial about how the statewide healthcare system is working in Oregon.  The statewide healthcare plan has been in operation since 1993.  The Health Services Commission has a list of 680 treatments, only 503 of which will be paid for by the Oregon Health Plan.  Treatments not in the top 503 have to be paid for by the patient.  The article points out that therapy for a cracked rib (No. 512), nasal polyps (No. 524), a broken big toe (No. 527) and liver cancer (No. 575) are not covered by the plan. However, those who abuse or are dependent upon psychoactive substances or are dependent on tobacco (Nos. 5 and 6) are covered.  As the system continues to operate, the ranking of treatments changes according to cost considerations.

Concerning the goal of the plan:

"According to the Willamette Week, Oregon's program was designed "to broaden eligibility to the working poor" but not as an open-ended system that could be exploited. Reasonable limits -- "no more liver transplants for alcoholics or boob jobs for transsexuals," were part of the plan from the beginning."

As the plan progresses, costs get higher and life-saving medical procedures move further down the top 503 list, and people are denied the healthcare they need.  The article concludes:

"Rationing should never be conducted by a bureaucracy, particularly one that's heavily lobbied. But we are rapidly moving into the realm, as one of our readers has noted, of the veterinary ethic of health care. In this arrangement, a third party, not the patient, decides if the patient will receive treatment.

In a government-run system, we will all become dogs, awaiting the master's decision from Washington. Human lives are devalued and individual well-being is subordinated to the collective. America is too prosperous, and most Americans are too self-reliant to deserve the punishment of such an arrangement."

To my knowledge, there is no system of government-controlled healthcare that innovates and meets the needs of the people as well as the one we have in America now.  It is not perfect, but a complete government overhaul will only make it worse.