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Health chat: Dr. Victory rips Obamacare during Bears Ears Patriots meeting

Dr. Victory rips Obamacare during Bears Ears Patriots meeting

Joe Moylan
Dr. Kelly Victory addresses more than 60 people Thursday at the latest Bears Ears Tea Party Patriots meeting at the Center of Craig. Victory discussed Obamacare and what she believes it could do to the American health care system.
Joe Moylan

Quotable

“For decades the standard of care has been to give women pap smears at age 21 or when they become sexually active, whichever comes first. Now a lot of (sexually active) women aged 17 or 18 or 19 are running the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease and not knowing about it for two, three or four years. This is brought to you by the party that claims we (the Republican Party) are waging a war on women’s health.”

Dr. Kelly Victory about physician guidelines currently in place because of Obamacare

Quotable

“For decades the standard of care has been to give women pap smears at age 21 or when they become sexually active, whichever comes first. Now a lot of (sexually active) women aged 17 or 18 or 19 are running the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease and not knowing about it for two, three or four years. This is brought to you by the party that claims we (the Republican Party) are waging a war on women’s health.”

Dr. Kelly Victory about physician guidelines currently in place because of Obamacare

Healthcare took center stage Thursday when the Bears Ears Tea Party Patriots played host to Dr. Kelly Victory at the Center of Craig, 601 Yampa Ave.



Victory holds a bachelor of sciences degree from Duke and Oxford universities, a masters in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois, and an MD from the University of North Carolina.

She also is a member of Gov. Mitt Romney’s healthcare policy team and is widely touted as an expert on American healthcare legislation.



On Thursday she spoke to more than 60 people about Obamacare, which was advertised by Congressional Democrats to accomplish two goals, provide Americans with universal healthcare and bend the cost curve.

Victory compared healthcare coverage to a three-legged stool, with each leg representing cost, quality and access.

“If you don’t keep them in line with each other the stool will fall over,” she said.

Victory addressed a host of issues surrounding Obamacare, including its excessive cost to taxpayers, which the Congressional Budget Office recently estimated to run in the neighborhood of $2.6 trillion between 2014 and 2023, but took particular offense to the idea of a universal health plan.

She cited single payer systems currently in place in Canada, Cuba, Ireland and England where health insurance is free, but access is limited.

“If you look at any single payer system, they are predicated on a fixed budget,” Victory said. “Once you fix the cost fees, quality and access are also fixed and limited…including access to the latest drugs and technologies because they are more expensive.

“I don’t know anyone who flies to Canada or Cuba or Ireland or England for medical care. When you talk to those people they say the healthcare is great because it’s free, but wait until they get sick. Those people who have money come here (when they need medical treatment).”

Though Obamacare does not take effect until 2014, the country has many hurdles to jump even if the legislation is repealed tomorrow, Victory said.

That’s due to a number of physician guidelines already in place, Victory said.

She cited one of those published recommendations entitled “Choosing Wisely,” which provides physicians with an understanding of how to manage preventative care options with limited resources.

One of the recommendations is to not perform pap smears on women younger than 21.

Pap smears, Victory noted, is the primary test for cervical cancer and also serves as a method to screen for sexually transmitted diseases.

“For decades the standard of care has been to give women pap smears at age 21 or when they become sexually active, whichever comes first,” Victory said. “Now a lot of (sexually active) women aged 17 or 18 or 19 are running the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease and not knowing about it for two, three or four years.

“This is brought to you by the party that claims we (the Republican Party) are waging a war on women’s health.”

At the end of the day Victory said the healthcare debate comes down to choosing between two different visions of America, one that encourages and rewards free market competition and another that relies on the government to impose taxes, mandates and subsidies.

“On Nov. 6 we’ll all get the opportunity to make that choice,” Victory said.

Joe Moylan can be reached at 875-1794 or jmoylan@craigdailypress.com.


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