Posted by Doug Bandow on 08/21/09 09:36 AM   [Newer: Afghanistan: Time to Leave] [Older: So What is Our Big Military For?]

Remember, the government wants to "help" you get health care.

Reports the Borehamwood & Elstree Times:

A GRANDMOTHER who desperately needs a revolutionary cancer treatment is being denied it by NHS Barnet.

The woman, who does not want to be identified for fear of upsetting her family, has myeloma, a rare cancer of the plasma cells found in the bone marrow.

She said doctors have told her she urgently needs the drug Revlimid, or lenalidomide, to slow the progress of her incurable illness.

The woman is experiencing her fourth relapse, but has been told by NHS Barnet she will have to wait until the end of next month before she will be considered for the treatment. This is despite the drug being approved for use by patients in June by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

"Barnet is saying I have to wait from now until the end of September and I am just hoping my condition doesn't get worse," said the mother-of-two who is in her 50s and has tried two other therapies for her illness.

She is one of at least three myeloma patients in the borough in the same position.

Trust the president.  That could never happen in America.

Doug Bandow

Posted 08/21/09 12:03 PM James Calloway Lowgap, NC

It's NICE to have some tiddly-winks bureaucrat in charge of your health care decisions, isn't it?

Posted 08/21/09 3:12 PM Phil Giraldi Purcellville, VA

An awful story. But we live with a tyranny by health insurance. Many insurance companies will not cover various treatments and will even insist that a drug being prescribed by a doctor is not covered because they think something cheaper will do. My wife, daughter, and I have all recently been subject to capricious and idiotic decisions being made by a bureaucrat at an insurance company even though we allegedly have "good" insurance that allows choice. Money and employment already ration healthcare in the US. The fact is that while I sympathize with those who do not want a government program, the current system really is broken and something has to be done about it. We should probably go back to the system prevailing in the 1950s when there was only limited regulation and no one had insurance so the availability of health care actually was driven by market forces.

Posted 08/22/09 12:52 AM CharlotteJuett Genoa, NE

What needs to happen is to stop the states from mandating which insurance companies can operate within a state and let the people buy insurance from whatever location that they want. Right now the insurance companies can get away with excluding pre existing conditions because there is NO COMPETITION. The states tell the insurance companies what they have to offer in order to sell insurance in that state. More freedom is the answer, not more government regulation.

Posted 08/22/09 05:17 AM ChristyJ Everett, WA

"Pull the plug on this bill before your government pulls the plug on you." Excellent statement. This president wants this healthcare plan as another revenue stream from your pocket to theirs, so they can spend more. With social security, medicare, medicade on their resume, they can't run a healthcare system. It's starting out insolvent at the start! i.e. Cash for Clunkers - new program, payouts have not been given although the dealers have done their part. Imagine doctors and patients waiting and waiting for their payments and reimbursements. Guaranteed to increases costs - with 31 new agencies, that's a lot of government employee paychecks the taxpayers have to cover...and a lot of red tape, a system too big and it will fail. Guaranteed to lower coverage as time goes. They have the right to review the ageement annually. Get you hooked and committed, then lower the coverage. A president who is a part of a criminal force within our government to also get other countries to create a man-made pandemic with mandatory, untested, contaminated flu vaccines under threat of quarantine and for an undetermined amount of time is not fit to be in charge of my health! Check out these websites and don't take the jab. www.birdflu666.wordpress.com www.theflucase.com Just my doc and me. KISS. Keep it simple stupid.

Posted 08/22/09 2:12 PM Deb Wells Kansas City, MO

More horror stories - http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article1004.html

Posted 08/23/09 11:39 PM andy gorelik Austin, TX

I will bet any amount of money that this drug would not be covered by our insurance companies, and this lady would be in exact same position she's in now. In fact, I'd bet that she's better off where she is now - at least they promised to look into it. Once Humana/BCBS/Oxford/whatever decline the claim - you're done. It's over. I would bet that she'd get her drug next month. If everyone could just stop speaking in slogans, and actually speak, maybe we could solve it. Otherwise, this is all just a big opportunity for everyone to practice their best grandstanding poses.