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Jacqui Brandwynne
Jacqueline Brandwynne started her Very Private® Q&A advice column to help people make their relationships happier and more intimate. The column focuses on dating, relationships, and intimate health. Jacqui also developed doctor recommended Daily Feminine Body Care products for women. For a free sample of the Very Private® Intimate Moisture product call (888) 837-9774. Mail a question to Jacqui: PO Box 491341, Los Angeles, CA 90049, or e-mail: info@veryprivate.com. For intimacy advice and to listen to Jacqui's radio show every Wednesdays visit www.veryprivate.com
Relationships
2009-09-01 14:47:00
How health reform affects cancer treatment
ANSWER: I have written my column for over ten years and have always been trying to inform my readers so they can make sound choices as to their health, happiness and lives. A high percentage of my readers are women and boomers or more mature senior citizens. This is one of the reasons I follow all information regarding health care reform avidly. The more mature in our population are the very people most needing of care, most prone to devastating illness such as cancer, and most at risk in losing out when these proposed reforms are enacted. An article in the Wall Street Journal on July 31, 2009 written by Myrna Ulfik, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, considered an incurable cancer, in 2000. Her words are eloquent and deeply felt when she speaks about the reasons for still being alive today. She speaks for many of us. “I am still here because my care was managed by doctors -- not a government agency. My doctors do what the bureaucracy can’t: They see me as a human being.” Patient-as-person will be a lost concept under the new health-care plan, where treatments will be based not upon individual patient needs, but upon what’s best for everyone. So cancer drugs for seniors might take second place. In order to finance health-care reform, Democrats in Congress have proposed cutting $500 billion from Medicare over the next 10 years. Yet in his press conference last Wednesday, President Barrack Obama denied that Medicare benefits would be cut. In spite of the president’s assurances, there is every sign that this plan will be financed by deep cuts to Medicare, which, like the public option, will limit payments for specialists, radiology scans, and cutting-edge cancer drugs. Despite its warts, our system works. Carelessly tinkering with it will have a world-wide penalty – the stifling of new drug development. The number of Americans who have cancer exceeds 10 million. It’s time for cancer patients and their families to remind those on Capitol Hill that health-care reform is a matter of life and death for us. Being a breast cancer survivor myself and concerned about potential cancer reoccurrence, the possibility that research for new drugs and technologies will be cut is a threat to all individuals. For a moment, let’s focus on members of Congress who propose these new laws. It is a fact that they receive the best health care plan possible, of course at taxpayer’s expense. With all the talk of cutting health care costs, it is interesting to note that health care coverage afforded members of congress has increased, not decreased. In a recent poll, congressional members were asked if they would switch to the public health care option from their current package. Their answers were clear and telling: No. Obviously, they understand how to take care of themselves. What’s best for them, however, doesn’t apply to the rest of us. Think about that.
 
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