Health care in Oregon.

[Scott S]

How would you like to have your cancer treatment denied but your suicide fully funded?

PORTLAND, Ore. — Some terminally ill patients in Oregon who turned to their state for health care were denied treatment and offered doctor-assisted suicide instead, a proposal some experts have called a "chilling" corruption of medical ethics.

Since the spread of his prostate cancer, 53-year-old Randy Stroup of Dexter, Ore., has been in a fight for his life. Uninsured and unable to pay for expensive chemotherapy, he applied to Oregon's state-run health plan for help.

Lane Individual Practice Association (LIPA), which administers the Oregon Health Plan in Lane County, responded to Stroup's request with a letter saying the state would not cover Stroup's pricey treatment, but would pay for the cost of physician-assisted suicide.

"It dropped my chin to the floor," Stroup told FOX News. "[How could they] not pay for medication that would help my life, and yet offer to pay to end my life?"

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,392962,00.html

I know, I know it's Fox News but it is a very accurate description of the story floating around this state. Will Obama Care be like this?

Scott S

[4RE KLR]

That is the future of our health care system in a nutshell.

[Scott S]

Here is another one, these stories are becoming common in Oregon.

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. -- Barbara Wagner has one wish - for more time.

"I'm not ready, I'm not ready to die," the Springfield woman said. "I've got things I'd still like to do."

Her doctor offered hope in the new chemotherapy drug Tarceva, but the Oregon Health Plan sent her a letter telling her the cancer treatment was not approved.

Instead, the letter said, the plan would pay for comfort care, including "physician aid in dying," better known as assisted suicide.

"I told them, I said, 'Who do you guys think you are?' You know, to say that you'll pay for my dying, but you won't pay to help me possibly live longer?' " Wagner said....

http://www.kval.com/news/26140519.html

Scott S

[Scott S]

You know all that newfangled computer health care billing and tracking?

Here is how we do it in Oregon....

SALEM -- A new state computer system that handles 2 million Oregon Health Plan payment claims each month has serious technical problems.

State officials say low-income Oregonians who qualify for state-paid care are still able to see doctors and get prescriptions filled. But those providing the care say the state's Medicaid Management Information System has turned into a nightmare that has dragged on for nearly eight months.

The system isn't clear on whether a patient is enrolled in a specific program or eligible for services at all; some managed care organizations complain about having to enter data manually. The providers also say they're worried about how the system will handle an additional 80,000 children and 35,000 low-income adults who will become eligible when the Oregon Health Plan is expanded this fall....

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/i...uter_runs.html

Liberal Oregon has led the country on many issues, green jobs, the Bottle Bill, open beaches, assisted suicide and many other issues. Do you want our version of health care too?

Scott S

[Excaliber]

I do like the idea that Oregon is one of the few (only?) states that allows for physcian assisted suicide. In some extreme medical cases it just seems like the right thing to do, let them pass with a little dignity, give them a choice.

...I said choice, not a freakin' shove off the cliff. Man, they need to review their communication protocol. Best to leave out the suicide part when denying medical benefits, DUH!!!

[427sharpe]

Bureaucracy at it's best. Since the common man is too much of a dupe to think for himself, let the friendly pencil pusher make the decision for you, comrade.
Just the tip of the iceberg we are sailing into.

[Jamo]

I just wished that mindset could be adopted to remove slow movers from the left lane.

[Ron61]

Scott,

I have read that some area in Oregon had started that policy and then later I saw in the paper that some woman I believe it was, had been the first to choose to use it. I figured that was what the so called National Health Care bill was modeled after the way it reads.

Ron