Shortly after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it would cut off late-stage breast cancer patients from Avastin, the Obama Administration announced it would create “end of life counseling” program for Medicare patients. How convenient. The government is sentencing women to death but will try to make them feel better about it.
It’s no surprise that the announcement of the creation of “end of life counseling” comes from the rationer-in-chief Donald Berwick — the unconfirmed head of the Office of Medicare and Medicaid Services. Berwick has said that “Cynics beware, I am romantic about the [British] National Health Service, I love it.” Here’s another Berwick quote: “The decision is not whether or not we will ration care, the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.”
It’s clear the bureaucrats have begun to ration care with their “eyes open” but the question is the American people seeing what is happening?
For decades, America was not only the golden land of opportunity; it was the place where the sick would come for cutting edge treatments that could not be found anywhere else. The socialist health care systems of Europe could not save your life, but a trip to America often could. Americans took this for granted. But we cannot anymore.
Over 17,500 women rely on Avastin to extend their lives — many of who will see their drugs ripped from their hands. News First 5 in New Mexico reports on Patty Esquibel who has Stage-4 breast cancer that’s spread to her lungs and claimed both of her breasts. But she says, she’s alive today and has beaten cancer twice because of Avastin. Now she says, she can only hope the federal government re-evaluates, before her biggest fear comes true and the cancer comes back. “I’m not mad I’m just hurt, I’m upset and disappointed, I wish they would reconsider for those of us with breast cancer, it’s working for us,” she says.
But Avastin is just the tip of the problem. Other drugs in the pipeline will be denied insurance coverage if cost becomes a factor on the approval process. Why would any company invest a decade of more into research if they cannot recoup their investment? The FDA’s decision threatens the drug pipeline that has saved lives for decades. But even if drug companies throw caution to the wind and continue to produce the drugs, what good will it do if patients are denied access?
And that is the fundamental issue. Will America continue to pursue cutting-edge (and often expensive) drugs to save lives, or will we worship at the altar of government budgetary goals. Will we as a nation accept bureaucratic rationing of care or will we demand that we be allowed to pursue the best treatment options for families and ourselves?
As Congress begins to debate the repeal of ObamaCare, the effects on the patients must be the center of the debate — and nothing harms patients more than denying them the care and treatment they need to survive — even if the government is offering counseling in its place.
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