The paranoid right is getting deep into it with the notion that
the whole point of National Health Care is over control, not
health care. It's stupid enough, (why would they care?), and
misdirected. The real problem is on the state level, where the
government likes to impose religious and moral rules to decide
medical issues.

To a real libertarian, it doesn't matter what level of
government intrudes, the 10th amendment is really meaningless.
To them any government involvement, at any level, is
unacceptable. Yet the state of Ohio, under a republican governor
and a republican legislature, has been putting rules about drug
use in treatment ahead of medical considerations.

Not too long ago a columnist wrote up a story about a surgeon
who had his license suspended for six months, because his
prescribing of controlled pain relivers didn't meet state
standards. No where did it say he actually was prescribing
improperly in medical terms, just by state regulations.

Now I did have doubts about that, but I let it go, it would be a
lot of work to dig further into it. In Sunday's Toledo Blade
there is a guest editorial by a woman who is suffering from
severe chronic pain. She has three doctors she is seeing about
various aspects, and one surgeon who has operated on her basic
condition. The surgeon will prescribe effective pain medication,
but only for three months after surgery. After that the personal
physician is supposed to take over. None of the three doctors
she is seeing will prescribe opiods for pain relief, not at all.
The won't because, in the word of one of them, the state is
counting the pills he prescribes and he won't take the risk.

IOW, the doctor is afraid of repercussions from alleviating
suffering, in real cases of sever pain.

So, the states are exercising their 10th amendment rights to
restrict access to medical care in a manner Obama and the ACA
never even thought of doing. Isn't that just loverly? Isn't that
just Republican?

Commentary at www.tinyrul.com/pymv8kh


BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

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