"That’s a trick question, of course, as illustrated by this biting Henry Payne cartoon. But let’s look at one of the commonalities of Romneycare and Obamacare – higher premiums, thanks to mandates and third-party payer. Here’s a quick look at what’s been happening to premiums in Massachusetts. The same thing is already happening with Obamacare." Continue reading →
"Protesters accused University of Chicago police of excessive force during a demonstration against the school’s medical center on Sunday. Authorities arrested four protesters but also allegedly attacked others, including the woman whose family tragedy inspired the campaign against the University of Chicago’s youth trauma center. Sheila Rush said campus police shoved her to the ground during the protest, an attempt to stage a sit-in at a $700 million addition to the facility, which only serves patients 16 years of age or younger. She said the age restriction leaves the city’s south side without a similar treatment option for adults." Continue reading →
"An unnamed cancer patient is suing the Salisbury District Hospital in the U.K. after an operation resulted in the amputation of his healthy testicle. The 48-year-old man is taking action against the hospital and the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust on the grounds that the medical error has left him infertile. Doctors realized their mistake about 40 minutes into the procedure. In 2007, a 47-year-old Air Force veteran sued the West Los Angeles VA hospital for removing his right testicle rather than his atrophied, possibly cancerous left one. Surgeons at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St. Edmunds, England made a similar mistake in 2010." Continue reading →
"Health plans [...] health plans want to reduce uncertainty around how all the risk-sharing provisions in Obamacare will eventually play out. The legislation puts in place mechanisms that forces Washington to share with health plans some of the cost of the covering the sickest beneficiaries. But the regulations outlining these parameters were only released last Friday. Nobody yet trusts how they'll work.To mitigate uncertainty, plans will price their products high. Insurers know that any excess profits they earn will have to be paid back to the government, anyway. Health plans are better off aiming high, and owing money back, then getting underwater." Continue reading →
"When industries and participants are not exposed to competition, there is no incentive to maintain performance. When this takes place within the context of health care, lives are at risk. Over time, there are needless deaths. Our prediction would be that NHS problems will get worse and worse and that the entire system will eventually be overturned. From what we can tell, the only reason the public tolerates it currently is because many of the problems associated with it are not reported." Continue reading →
"ObamaCare will now force you to be weighed and measured every time you go to the doctor’s. Your BMI is important to the federal government. Why? It’s not clear yet. At some point, fat people will start getting nagged. That’s what nannies are for. If you indulge in eating habits that the bureaucrats do not approve of, you will be reminded that you must change. Or else. Or else what? It’s not clear yet." Continue reading →
"If you are a lower income person in California, your ship has come in. If you make over $70,000, your ship has pulled out. You are about to be run over by a freight train. How many people are in each camp? The losers number 1.3 million. The winners are 3.6 million. This is democracy. 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' If you are not married, and make over $46,000 a year, you’re toast. If your family income is above $94,000, you’re toast. If you have insurance from your employer, you survive. Your employers may decide to fire you. You just got way more expensive. Do the words 'independent contractor' sound familiar?" Continue reading →
"EMS officers in New York are posted pictures of injured and dead people online, according to the New York Post. One such officer, 34-year-old Lt. Timothy Dluhos, posted the picture of a woman in a wheelchair — along with the with caption 'Wide Load' — on social media websites. The act is likely a violation of federal law. When confronted about his online activity, he broke down crying, saying his life was ruined. The newspaper also uncovered other EMS and EMT officers who published pictures of those they were supposed to be helping. The pictures were often accompanied by mocking comments or collected as 'trophy' shots." Continue reading →
"I confess to being a bit skeptical of this story. Then again, who would have guessed that the government in the United Kingdom would provide taxpayer-financed sex trips to Amsterdam? Or that the bureaucrats at the European Commission would be able to get penile implants at public expense? Closer to home, let’s not forget that Obamacare allows taxpayer-subsidized viagra for sex offenders! And Medicare pays for penis pumps, which creates frightening visual images. So even if this specific story isn’t true, I have no doubt that the British government has squandered money in similar ways." Continue reading →
"I criticized Gordon Brown, the former Labor Party Prime Minister, for being a compulsive redistributionist, big spender, and taxaholic. But nothing’s really changed under Tory leadership. David Cameron is a vacuous statist, undermining the Conservative Party in the same way that George W. Bush eroded the brand name capital of the Republican Party. This sign was on a train I rode today. It is sponsored by the UK version of the IRS, and it pretty much symbolizes how the United Kingdom has turned into a predatory state. And what are taxpayers getting for their money, other than Orwellian signs?" Continue reading →