Home

Steamboat Springs — The death of Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts on Tuesday night of inoperable brain cancer highlights two important issues whose answers are imbedded in the House of Representatives National Healthcare Bill.

The first issue has to do with end-of-life medical care. In the House bill, there is authorization for a "Medical Review Panel" whose members can deny medical procedures if judged too costly or if it only extends life somewhat but provides no permanent cure. Also, on page 425-430 of the House bill, there is authorization for funds to require citizens end-of-life counseling as to their sickness and their burden on their family, friends and fellow citizens. This counseling provides subtle guidance to sick citizens to terminate their life for the better good.

The second issue concerns quality of health insurance and the ability to keep one's current insurance. In the House bill, all senators, representatives, government employees, etc., will be able to keep their existing federal health insurance, which will never be canceled. Not so for the rest of us. The government health insurance (called the public option or co-op insurance) will undoubtedly be somewhat cheaper than private health insurance. Why? The government insurance company won't have to buy their own buildings (the General Services Administration buys and owns government buildings), doesn't have to pay property taxes, doesn't have to pay state and federal income taxes, doesn't have to pay business taxes, doesn't have to maintain a cash reserve for unexpected insurance claims, can borrow money cheaper under the government umbrella, etc. All these costs are paid by private insurance companies. Additionally, and this is never discussed by politicians nor imputed into the public-option cost, private insurance companies will be driven out of the market (just like student loans by banks) and the large amount of income tax they pay lost to the government.

Ted Kennedy has supported all these proposals in the past.

Kennedy lived 15 months - near the high end of survival times - after discovery of his incurable Gliomas brain tumor. He had immediate surgery followed by chemotherapy with the drug Temodar during and after radiation. He also likely received Avastin, a new drug recently approved by the FDA. In the past 30 years, only minimal improvements have been made in finding a cure for malignant brain tumors, although there has been some modest improvement in life expectancy. Several experimental drugs, vaccines and a radioactive device that helps cancer drugs reach tumors deep in the brain are currently being tested. However these procedures are very expensive and would probably be denied by the "Medical Review Board" - unless, of course, one was a U.S. senator.

Under the House bill, Kennedy's cancer treatment would not be allowed because it costs too much and his cancer was untreatable. Kennedy allowed his treatment to go forward even though he would deny such treatment to average citizens. Kennedy, of course, could justify such expensive treatment because his gold-plated government health insurance covers such procedures and does not have to abide by the restrictions in the House bill.

Some would call this self-serving arrogance and hypocrisy on the part of our political class. I call it smart politics. What congressman would support such a national health bill if they weren't excluded from its onerous mandates? Or if they weren't able to foist their large medical cost onto an uninformed and unsuspecting electorate who won't enjoy these same health benefits?