Get it now.
The Senate will pass this idiotic health care bill and match it up with the House. That means that despite what they say, the surgery such as certain knee, prostate, or back surgery will be labeled ����elective���� and not covered by any plan.
Private insurers, who now have big bulls-eyes on them, will have to raise prices because the government will now require them to insure people with ����pre-existing conditions.���� (Can you imagine a car insurer being told that the car he is about to insure has a fuel-line leak that will likely cause the car to burn up?) The insurers will jack up prices rapidly to recover the millions in R&D they spent on drugs such as Avonex, an MS drug, because soon they know they will be price-capped by the government. This, in turn, will drive all sorts of people�� off the drug if the insurers raise their co-pays to, say, 30%. The free market pushed six different anti-MS drugs on the market in 20 years and the private insurers have covered them for under average insurance policies for regular, small payments and a $10 co-pay with each use. That����s about to change, drastically. The insurers will have no choice but to raise their prices.
But that����s what the government wants. The goal, all along, has been to destroy the private health system in America, beginning with the insurance companies. When they make it impossible for people to get private insurance, everyone will have to go on the ����public option,���� which of course cannot possibly supply drugs or services at reasonable prices (because there is no market mechanism and no competition). Therefore, it����s only a matter of time before we get a Britain-style rationing, and hence, the prostate surgery or the knee surgery such as I had will be ����optional���� and ����elective���� and we����ll just have to live with our conditions. As for people with debilitating illnesses such as MS, in Britain they����ve already said it����s too expensive for the government to cover and they����ve rationed the drug over there.
If you have any other medical issues, get them taken care of immediately. For those who have chronic, long-term conditions, they’re screwed.