A Parable of Health-Care Rationing

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...949697784.html

Great read...


"The result is that the Belgian government ships patients abroad for proton therapy. Most of them go to Massachusetts..."

"The U.K.'s National Health Service, meanwhile, sends people to Oklahoma City, where 10%-12% of ProCure's patients are British".

"If we priced everything as Medicare, we wouldn't be able to run a center. It wouldn't cover the fully loaded costs."

"That's why the government needs $716 billion in Medicare cuts, and why the health-care law creates an Independent Payment Advisory Board to help decide which treatments are worth what for whom."

"the countervailing factor is that it's (Obamacare) pretty expensive for everyone to be covered, and it's going to put a lot of pressure on the government to look for ways to cut costs. Down the line, someone's going to have to pay the piper."

"As for whether America will remain the first destination for medical advances in the age of ObamaCare, Mr. Ford cautions: "Anything that moves toward one of anything, you're going to have less innovation—one provider, one payer, one manufacturer."