Will Mr. Ross be home for Christmas?

Last night John McCain came out strongly against healthcare reform that would have  “bureaucrats” telling doctors how to practice medicine. 

And he’s right. 

Many people, who disagree with the GOP nominee, echo the empty rhetoric of SiCKO and are calling for healthcare “like in Europe – where it’s free.” 

Well, it ain’t free.  Government-controlled healthcare is funded through (gasp!) taxes.

Consider Canada, while the percentage of taxes used to provide healthcare varies, it is estimated that 22 percent of taxes collected go towards funding of their health system.

Then consider the United Kingdom, so often held up by advocates of "universal" healthcare.

Citizens of the UK pay 11 percent of each pound they make in weekly income between £100 - £670 for the NHS, plus an addition 1 percent of income over £670 a week.

But it’s not only what you pay – it’s what you get (or don’t get) for the money. Consider this story from today’s edition of the British newspaper, The Independent:

“A cancer sufferer whose primary care trust refused to pay for a drug which could extend his life by up to three years has launched an 'end of the road' legal challenge to the decision. If Colin Ross continues to be denied the drug, Revlimid, he will die within a few months, experts say.

Mr. Ross, 55, said his doctors had requested funding for up to four courses of Revlimid at £5,000 a time. "If I don't win and I get no further treatment, I won't be here for Christmas. It's as simple as that," he said.

He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood cells, in May 2004. Doctors at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London deemed Revlimid to be his last chance after side-effects forced him to give up the other life-prolonging drugs he was taking.

Revlimid is readily available to patients in Europe and the US but has yet to be approved by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence. 

In May, West Sussex Primary Care Trust blocked an emergency application for NHS funding for Revlimid for Mr. Ross, saying it was too expensive and his circumstances were not sufficiently exceptional for him to qualify.”

Yes – that’s what the “bureaucrat” said – “his circumstances were not sufficiently exceptional …” 

Yes, by all means, let’s put bureaucrats in control of health care.

Is this the sort of healthcare “reform” we want? 

Is that the sort of “change” we want?

For those who call for “free and universal” healthcare, remember the words of Benjamin Franklin, who said:

"All human situations have their inconveniences.  We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse."