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Politics : A US National Health Care System?
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To: Lane3 who wrote (8323)8/18/2009 9:43:32 AM
From: i-node  Read Replies (1) of 42652
 
>>> Seems to me that those knee replacements were worthwhile.

I don't even think anyone is talking about this kind of treatment being discontinued. I would hope.

Knee replacements cost a total of maybe 12B/year and they do an awful lot to enhance quality of life and reduce costs by virtue of increasing independence and keeping people out of nursing homes for longer.

It gets into a tricky area. Because knee replacements are recommended for younger people -- you need to be 60 to have one, since they may not last but 20 years. So, there is a 20 year window where they're typically done.

So what the author of the article is really saying is that we should gamble that 60 years olds are going to live long enough to warrant the surgery while 80 year olds are worth a roll of the dice, even though they may be healthy enough to live for 10 years or more.

Were I a physician I would be disgusted by this kind of talk because it seemingly runs counter to what their life's work is about.
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