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...but allows $2 million grant for algae research. Nice.

http://health.change.org/blog/...r_transplant_program

Death by Budget Cuts: Arizona Governor Slashes Funding for Transplant Program
by Brie Cadman

quote:
For transplant patients in Arizona, the warnings about death panels and health care rationing have come true, but they have nothing to do with health care reform. Instead, a Republican Governor and her allies are standing in the way of patient care, declining requests to reinstate funding for a critical, life-saving program.

Facing state budget problems, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer slashed funding for the state's Medicaid program that covered organ transplants. As a result some patients that were covered by the state and waiting for a transplant were cut from the program effective October 1st, leading to what some doctors are calling "death by budget cuts."

The impact on patients has been swift and dramatic. The Tuscon Sentinel profiles Randy Shepherd, a 36-year-old father of three, that has been living with a pacemaker for the past three years and was moving on to his last treatment option, a heart transplant. Shepherd had rheumatic fever as a child and the disease damaged his heart. Unable to get coverage because of the pre-existing condition (with health care reform, denials of this type will not be allowed), he went on Medicaid.

But while he was waiting for the heart transplant, Brewer cut funding for certain transplants under Arizona's Medicaid program, the Health Care Cost Containment System. His heart transplant would no longer be covered.

Other patients include Tiffany Tate, a twenty-seven-year-old woman that has had cystic fibrosis since she was two and now needs a lung transplant. But she didn't get the transplant before October and now there is no money available for her to get the procedure....

The $1.4 million cut has had a dramatic impact on the lives of the patients and their families, but it could've been avoided. According to the Sentinel, projects that were funded include a $20 million renovation to a roof of the Arizone Veterans Memorial Coliseum and a $2 million grant for algae research....

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quote:
Originally posted by ferrellj:
When so many people have become dependant on the government for so many things there will be a price to pay for cutting back the entitlements and government spending. The real problem is the government should never have started this in the first place.


Then the uninsured would die. How many dead poor people is enough?
The nineteenth century is history. People used to die from measles. Millions of kids used to suffer from polio. Guess who paid for all that research and vaccine?

Society has evolved and letting people die merely because they are poor will not happen again in the USA. Your stunning disregard for human life is noted.
Juan,
I trust the scope of the story, but the numbers just do not add up. I am not sure how $1.4 million is totally stopping the program. That is a drop in the bucket to a transplant program. On top of this Medicaid rarely will assist in transplant surgeries unless there are certain requirements which can be met. Most of these transplants can cost upwards of $200K, just for the surgery, not to mention the long term care afterwards. Both of the cases mentionedin the report sound like legitimate transplant candidates (certainly more so than transplanting a liver in an alcoholic), but in reality $1.4M would barely pay for 5 transplants. I think there may be more to this stroy, or else it is being sensationalized in some manner.
Academic programs and other grant programs will assist in the transplant service, so the publicity of these two cases will certain bring assistance to them.
I too find it distasteful that $20 M can be spent on a roof, but less than 10% of that amount will not go to medical therapy, but I believe there is more to the story than is being told in here. Not denying your source, but I believe someone has an agenda to promote.
Surely no one would use a story to promote an agenda. To the liberals on here that think I have no regard to human life you are mistaken. I donate money regularly to local cases of people in need. That is the way it should be and not the federal government. We are in disagreement in who we think can better manage our charitable money. You think the government knows best, and I think not.
quote:
Originally posted by ferrellj:
Surely no one would use a story to promote an agenda. To the liberals on here that think I have no regard to human life you are mistaken. I donate money regularly to local cases of people in need. That is the way it should be and not the federal government. We are in disagreement in who we think can better manage our charitable money. You think the government knows best, and I think not.


Are you going to help the illegal aliens that live in your community? you know, the ones that do all the masonry and drywall work for every local contractor?

And, what about the Muslim Americans that live in Athens? Will you contribute funds to cover their kidney transplants even though there is a fair chance they will tell you to your face that they hate you because your are an infidel?
quote:
Originally posted by ferrellj:
It may sound cruel juan but it is not the government role to insure and provide medical services to anyone. Local charities and employment is the solution. When this country was founded and you became sick what happened? It's a fact of life juan, people die.


So that means you are for death panels, yes? If death is a "fact of life" for young people who need transplants, then it should be a fact of life for anyone else.

It's funny how you conservatives argue that the so-called "death panels" are immoral under Obamacare or socialized medicine, but letting people die by the hand of private health insurance companies, or Medicaid funding that the governor has discretion to slash, is just a fact of life. What the difference????????

(And, again, the definition of the misnomer "death panels/death camps" as it relates to Obamacare refers to the discussion patients need to have with their doctors about end-of-life care, not the doctor pulling the plug against the patient's will. Roll Eyes)

And you can't rely on employment to pay for medical care if you're among the working poor. People who make minimum wage can't afford insurance, and even the ones who do have some form of insurance get rejected for needed procedures, due to the "preexisting conditions" mentioned in the article.

The 36-year-old father had rheumatic fever as a child, which resulted in heart damage - a preexisting condition that insurance companies, as it stands now, won't cover.

Same thing with the 27-year-old. She has had cystic fibrosis since she was two. NO INSURANCE COMPANY would cover her. What's she suppose to do: die, because it's a fact of life? I wonder if you'd feel the same way if this was YOUR 27-year-old.

I don't understand what you people think the poor are supposed to do.
Last edited by Buttercup
Ferrellj, you astonish me.
First, the government is not an alien, nor a machine, it is us. Remember? "By the people, for the people" We elect and pay the government to represent our interests and to protect our dearest rights, like the right to life.
It is well understood that we live in an organized society with its hierarchy and systems; not that the government knows better, it only administrates our money (taxes), and has the organizational means to deliver services (subsidies, grands, defense, etc)
Then you say that "people die". Nothing unusual when people die, but if we deliberately let people to die without lifting a finger that is neglect, malevolence or crime. We can be better then that. I will still help you if you fall, ferrellj.
quote:
Originally posted by Buttercup:
...but allows $2 million grant for algae research. Nice.

http://health.change.org/blog/...r_transplant_program

Death by Budget Cuts: Arizona Governor Slashes Funding for Transplant Program
by Brie Cadman

quote:
For transplant patients in Arizona, the warnings about death panels and health care rationing have come true, but they have nothing to do with health care reform. Instead, a Republican Governor and her allies are standing in the way of patient care, declining requests to reinstate funding for a critical, life-saving program.

Facing state budget problems, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer slashed funding for the state's Medicaid program that covered organ transplants. As a result some patients that were covered by the state and waiting for a transplant were cut from the program effective October 1st, leading to what some doctors are calling "death by budget cuts."

The impact on patients has been swift and dramatic. The Tuscon Sentinel profiles Randy Shepherd, a 36-year-old father of three, that has been living with a pacemaker for the past three years and was moving on to his last treatment option, a heart transplant. Shepherd had rheumatic fever as a child and the disease damaged his heart. Unable to get coverage because of the pre-existing condition (with health care reform, denials of this type will not be allowed), he went on Medicaid.

But while he was waiting for the heart transplant, Brewer cut funding for certain transplants under Arizona's Medicaid program, the Health Care Cost Containment System. His heart transplant would no longer be covered.

Other patients include Tiffany Tate, a twenty-seven-year-old woman that has had cystic fibrosis since she was two and now needs a lung transplant. But she didn't get the transplant before October and now there is no money available for her to get the procedure....

The $1.4 million cut has had a dramatic impact on the lives of the patients and their families, but it could've been avoided. According to the Sentinel, projects that were funded include a $20 million renovation to a roof of the Arizone Veterans Memorial Coliseum and a $2 million grant for algae research....



Arizona covers more medicaid procedures than most states. Why aren't you attacking the other 40 or so states that don't provide better coverage.

If, Arizona wasn't forced to cover the expenses of tens of thousands of illegal aliens, they might be able to cover more of their own people. The Federal government won't enforce the laws of the US.

Typical left wing emotional bleats, but no search for the underlying causes. Logic and reason aren't big with this crowd!
quote:
Originally posted by elinterventor01:
Arizona covers more medicaid procedures than most states. Why aren't you attacking the other 40 or so states that don't provide better coverage.

If, Arizona wasn't forced to cover the expenses of tens of thousands of illegal aliens, they might be able to cover more of their own people. The Federal government won't enforce the laws of the US.

Typical left wing emotional bleats, but no search for the underlying causes. Logic and reason aren't big with this crowd!


I don't disagree with you on the illegal aliens issue; that MUST be addressed.

I just don't understand why it's okay to say "Obamacare" is going to call for death panels when it's already happening with private health insurers. I also don't understand why this governor signed off on a $20 million renovation to a coliseum, and a $2 million grant for algae research, yet cut spending for life-and-death procedures. Not the most judicious use of taxpayer cash, don't you agree?

Why don't we (greatly) cut defense spending and use that money where it's needed - to fund things like low-income health insurance programs? The U.S. accounted for 43% of the world’s total defense spending in 2007. That's insane! But I guess we have to be number one in something.

I hear so much from the right-wing talk show hosts about so-called "American exceptionalism", but in what? How are we exceptional in any way anymore? We don't even care about the well-being of our own citizens.

(And Hannity and Beck aren't referring to American "exceptionalism" in the historical context; I know the difference.)

You guys on the right want anti-choice laws reinstated where abortion rights are concerned, but you've proven you don't REALLY care about human life at all...that baby means nothing to you once the fetus is fully developed and out of the womb. Without well-off parents who can provide from cradle to college, the child is just SOL in y'all's eyes, and worthless.
IMHO, Buttercup, we (the US) continues to circle around the issues without landing on the problems. The democrats had 2 years to make some serious changes, they wasted it on the mammoth ObamaCare, which has been shown in polls as unsupported by the majority of Americans as it stands. They should have had other priorities.

(1) Do away with Washington Lobbyists. All of them. There is no need for them. Politicians should listen to the American public. If it leans Dem, the govt should lean Dem. If it leans Rep, the govt should lean Rep. Now, both parties lean whichever way their Lobbying groups push them. Make them all illegal. Get rid of all the 'noise' in Washington so the politicians can hear us!

(2) Term limits - even if the new candidate is supported by the old candidate, the new person brings a new perspective to Washington. We should not have lifelong politicians, just like we should not have a lifelong president, and for the same reason. Politicians without limits can manipulate the system to benefit their continued reelection (ensure spending is on those that can support their campaign, elections are won as much on the campaigns as they are on the issues, he with more money usually wins).

(3) Immigration - anything is better than the nothing that Washington has done so far. Lets at least get something done.

Had the 111th done these three things while they had the ability to have their way, they would have been re-elected IMHO, and would have more than likely secured Obama another four years.

Captain
quote:
Originally posted by Buttercup:
quote:
Originally posted by elinterventor01:
Arizona covers more medicaid procedures than most states. Why aren't you attacking the other 40 or so states that don't provide better coverage.

If, Arizona wasn't forced to cover the expenses of tens of thousands of illegal aliens, they might be able to cover more of their own people. The Federal government won't enforce the laws of the US.

Typical left wing emotional bleats, but no search for the underlying causes. Logic and reason aren't big with this crowd!


I don't disagree with you on the illegal aliens issue; that MUST be addressed.

I just don't understand why it's okay to say "Obamacare" is going to call for death panels when it's already happening with private health insurers. I also don't understand why this governor signed off on a $20 million renovation to a coliseum, and a $2 million grant for algae research, yet cut spending for life-and-death procedures. Not the most judicious use of taxpayer cash, don't you agree?

Why don't we (greatly) cut defense spending and use that money where it's needed - to fund things like low-income health insurance programs? The U.S. accounted for 43% of the world’s total defense spending in 2007. That's insane! But I guess we have to be number one in something.

I hear so much from the right-wing talk show hosts about so-called "American exceptionalism", but in what? How are we exceptional in any way anymore? We don't even care about the well-being of our own citizens.

(And Hannity and Beck aren't referring to American "exceptionalism" in the historical context; I know the difference.)

You guys on the right want anti-choice laws reinstated where abortion rights are concerned, but you've proven you don't REALLY care about human life at all...that baby means nothing to you once the fetus is fully developed and out of the womb. Without well-off parents who can provide from cradle to college, the child is just SOL in y'all's eyes, and worthless.


Unfortunately, there are more economic needs than can be filled by anyone's purse. We could spend ourselves poor on health care and have dirt roads, no defense and no police. Competing economic needs will always be the way of the world.

A world without the US as a major military power might not be one you would wish to live in. Or, could stay alive in!

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