SARAH PALIN WAS RIGHT ABOUT OBAMACARE AND RUSSIA

SARAH PALIN WAS RIGHT ABOUT OBAMACARE AND RUSSIA

By Domenick J. Maglio Ph.D. Traditional Realist

The media, Democrats and even Republicans made a mockery of Vice President candidate, Sarah Palin, in the 2008 election. They crucified her for her Affordable Care Act comments of predictable inferior service, long waits, high costs, MDs leaving and fewer entering the field of medicine and especially the “death panels” as a necessary part of the future implementation.  The unfolding facts are proving her right and them wrong.

Imagine an insignificant, non-Ivy league educated, attractive mother of five, governor of the isolated state of Alaska, audaciously contradicting the media and the political establishment. The elites had no alternative but to target and destroy an outsider who raised objections to many progressive sacred cows.

Even the Republican campaign staff of John McCain limited Palin’s opportunities to speak openly. She was taken out of the campaign limelight for raising concerns about global warming, big government, inherent inefficiencies and corruption. This resonated with citizens.

The establishment relentlessly hammered her statement that Russia was still an adversary of the United States. This was preposterous to the One World Government, progressive establishment who wanted to initiate a “reset button” with Russia. She was viciously ridiculed in the media for the remark, “I can see Russia from my back door” even though Tammy Fay made that comical statement, not Palin.

Yet the establishment’s greatest fury was reserved for her prediction that the death panels would become a fundamental part of Obamacare. The media and political elites counter argument was to double down by singing the praises of the Veteran’s Administration Healthcare, Canada’s and England’s medical programs.  Everyone paraded in front of the cameras could not have been happier with all three nationalized delivery systems.

Most Americans were confused. They knew people from all over the world including Canada and England who came to the USA to receive advanced medical treatment.  These ordinary thinking citizens heard about the long lines and waits in the nationalized medical programs in other countries and did not want to abandon the most advanced healthcare system in the world.

The individuals who were most surprised about the glowing reports of VA hospitals were our veterans. These patriots had first hand experience of horror stories and horrendous service at the VA hospitals across the nation. Now we all know.

President Obama stated as a senator and announced to the nation on May 30 as commander-in-chief that the veteran’s health services have been in disarray for decades.  He acknowledged inspector generals reports revealing these problems in over 57 hospital medical centers all over the USA.  Even with tripling the VA budget since the year 2000, the VA centers have “cooked the books” to hide incredible waiting times. 

The inspector general even found 17,000 veterans not on any list. There have been 68,000 veterans who have never gotten appointments after requesting them. The initial time to get an appointment was 115 days, which is 5 times as long as reported. Only half of the veterans with PTSD received treatment. This bureaucratic time scam resulted in some preventable deaths of these heroes.

This behavior is understandable when you grant 65% of the senior executives bonuses to lower the waiting time of patients. These quotas would encourage schemes to fake a decline in waiting hours.

The VA medical service is a central government model. The workers are government employees who are rigidly protected by union derived practices. Eighty percent of these VA employees were viewed as exceeding expectations. They are driven not by the consumer of services, the veterans, but by the internal politics of a government bureaucracy. The protocol of working hours is established from the top down.  The budget is set, the wages and hours are locked in. Thus the only way to cut costs is to cut the quality of service. 

Of course Sarah Palin was right about “death panels.” Inevitably government healthcare costs will rise and quality of service will decline. As in England, a committee of “experts” will have to make decisions to lower healthcare expenses by cutting back on coverage.

The Affordable Care Act will ration services especially for older patients.  They will, in essence, pull the plug on many older or severely ill patients in the system.  “Death panels,” as many people have referred to these medical expert committees, seems to be an accurate label. Indeed, Sarah Palin was right on the money about Obamacare limiting service to control costs.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.