The news from Barbara Wagner's doctor was bad, but the rejection letter from her insurance company was crushing.The Oregon Health Plan is all about saving money. Obamacare is all about saving money. It doesn't take a leap of logic to predict that Obamacare will operate in a similar manner when it comes to older folks with deadly diseases.
The 64-year-old Oregon woman, whose lung cancer had been in remission, learned the disease had returned and would likely kill her. Her last hope was a $4,000-a-month drug that her doctor prescribed for her, but the insurance company refused to pay.
What the Oregon Health Plan did agree to cover, however, were drugs for a physician-assisted death. Those drugs would cost about $50.
"It was horrible," Wagner told ABCNews.com. "I got a letter in the mail that basically said if you want to take the pills, we will help you get that from the doctor and we will stand there and watch you die. But we won't give you the medication to live."
Thursday, August 13, 2009
We'll Pay to Kill You, But Not to Save You
That's pretty much the experience that Barbara Wagner from Oregon has had with the state-run insurance program:
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This is an excellent case to debate the dilemma...should insurance pay for the expensive drug with uncertain addition to life expectancy, and thus spread the cost to all other insured? Or should the decision be left to the family as to whether they would spend their own money for the drugs? If the cost is determined to be the responsibility of the family, then less financially able families would have to prepare for the somewhat premature death of their wife/mother. One can argue that the cost, distributed over all the insured members, would not be excessive, however, as more and more seek increasing variety and costly medicines the cost of insurance must increase. Thus the decision is thrust into the domain of finance at the expense of the poor who happen to contract deadly disease prematurely. Actually, the decision is likely buried in legalese in the insurance provisions thus leaving little wiggle room for either the company or the family.
I am profoundly grateful I do not routinely have to make such decisions for others.
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