Everyone should have a father like Robert Schindler, Sr. It would be the greatest gift imaginable.
Mr. Schindler did not aspire for celebrity, status, or importance. He merely loved his family exquisitely and unconditionally. None can forget what this unassuming and noble man endured in his family’s quest to save his daughter, Terri, from public death. The Schindler family surely labored together to save Terri, and it was Robert who supplied the rock-solid strength which fueled the super-human effort to protect Terri from her unspeakable death.
Robert may have believed he failed his daughter in her greatest time of need. But, in his quest for justice, Robert is and always will be a legend for life and humanity. Rest in peace, great and gentle man.
The structure and substance of Obamacare inevitably lead to the conclusion that rationing will eventually occur if Obamacare becomes law. Here are components which substantiate that conclusion:
The enormous cost of Obamacare alone without a revenue stream to cover the expenses will lead to health care rationing.
Obamacare does not prevent government use of concepts such as comparative effectiveness research using QALY (quality adjusted life years) to force or encourage the denial of lifesaving medical treatment based on the patient’s age, disability or “quality of life.”
The now-infamous end-of-life counseling provision, still a part of the House versions of Obamacare, could be used to pressure patients into rejecting lifesaving medical treatments to save money. As reported in a previous blog, the nation’s leading proponent of assisted suicide, Compassion and Choices, has taken responsibility for inclusion of this provision.
The Senate version of Obamacare gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services broad authority to issue regulations governing doctors, hospitals and other health care providers which could be used to require them to deny “ineffective” treatment to their patients.
The House version of Obamacare gives the Exchange Commissioner the ability to terminate health care plans. This authority could be used to facilitate the denial of treatment because a plan is providing treatment deemed “ineffective” by the Commissioner.
The Exchange Commissioner is given broad authority to determine what can be charged for health care. Eventually this leads to limiting what people are allowed to pay for medical treatment. Health insurance companies will ration lifesaving medical treatment as they are squeezed more and more tightly by the declining value of the premiums they take in.
Every country that has undertaken government-run health care eventually rations that care.
Older Americans and people with disabilities have good reason to fear Obamacare.
Jim Towey’s article, “The Death Book for Veterans” appeared in the Wall Street Journal on August 19, 2009. The article has caused quite a stir by exposing how the government is sending a “hurry up and die” message to elderly veterans and disabled soldiers.
Towey writes, “If President Obama wants to better understand why America’s discomfort with end-of-life discussions threatens to derail his health-care reform, he might begin with his own Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He will quickly discover how government bureaucrats are greasing the slippery slope that can start with cost containment but quickly become a systematic denial.”
Towey says that under the Obama Administration, the VA has brought back a”death initiative” which the Bush Administration had suspended. He describes in detail a 52 page workbook entitled Your Life, Your Choices: Planning for Future Medical Decisons” that Towey says “presents end-of-life choices in a way aimed at steering users toward predetermined conclusions, much like a political ‘push poll.’ For example a worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own life would be ‘not worth living.’”
Towey wonders how a disabled young soldier coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan would react to the following:
The circumstances listed include ones common among the elderly and disabled: living in a nursing home, being in a wheelchair and not being able to “’shake the blues.” One section asks, “Have you ever heard anyone say, ‘If I am a vegetable, pull the plug’? There are are also scenarios such as “I can no longer contribute to my family’s well being,” and “I am a severe financial burden on my family.”
The most frightening section is entitled, “What makes your life worth living?” A series of circumstances are listed and asks “if this factor by itself described you” would you find it “difficult but acceptable,” “worth living, but just barely,” “not worth living,” or “can’t answer now.”
But don’t just take Jim Towey’s word for it. Read the VA workbook for yourself at www.ethics.va.gov/TLYC/YLYC_First_edition_20001001.pdf
Time magazine, whose cover has been graced with photos of President Obama more times than we can count, has joined the Associated Press and the Fact Check website in concluding that Obamacare allows taxpayer-funded abortions.
“The health-care reform proposed by House Democrats, if enacted, would in fact mark a significant change in the Federal Government’s role in the financing of abortions,” says Time.
In attempting to finesse the issue, fool the public, and cry foul to right-to-life claims that Obamacare does not allow taxpayer-funded abortions, Obama says that the annual Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer-funding of abortions, is not overturned. Obama conveniently fails to add that the health care bills set up new federal subsidies. not covered by the Hyde Amendment, which will pay for abortions. And, because the Hyde Amendment is not a permanent law, it can be eliminated in the future.
Time sees through this ruse and rhetoric, explaining that citizens who sign up for the government-run program will pay dues to the Federal Government which will be put into a federal account and then be used to pay for abortions. “So, in effect, anyone who wanted to sign up for the public option, a federally funded and administered program, would find themselves paying for abortion coverage.”
Ultimately, however, Time concludes, “the new system differs markedly from the old federal policy of not involving the government in abortion services.”
Douglas Johnson of National Right to Life expands further: “Federal agencies receive funds from many sources, but once the government has the money and is writing the checks, they are are public funds, federal funds. And if they are spent on abortions, then that is government funding of abortion.”
If Obama truly wanted to ensure that government-funded abortions were not part of Obamacare, he could endorse the various amendments rejected by a majority of Democrats which would specifically exclude abortion. Don’t hold your breath on this one.
Kudos to Time for exposing Obama’s lack of truthfulness.
Poor President Obama — he can’t catch a break. He’s trying so very hard to convince the public that Obamacare will not “mean government funding of abortion.” That’s what Obama said on August 19 to thousands present on his highly-publicized conference call to faith-based people.
“Not true,” he said about government funding of abortion in Obamacare. “…these are fabrications that have been put out there…”
As reported in last week’s blog, the National Right to Life Committee immediately pounced on Obama’s remarks, stating that “President Obama today brazenly misrepresented the abortion-related component” of health care legislation.
Fact Check.org to the rescue. Their August 21 article Abortion: Which Side is Fabricating? concludes that “Despite what Obama said, the House bill would allow abortions to be covered by a federal plan and by federally subsidized private plans.”
Remember Candidate Obama who vigorously denied his four recorded votes as and Illinois State Senator against bills to protect infants who survive abortion attempts? Yesterday, the President brazenly told supporters in a conference call it is “untrue” that Obamacare bills would result in “government funding of abortions.”
Here is a statement attributed to Douglas Johnson, Legislative Director for National Right to Life:
Emboldened by the recently demonstrated superficiality of some organs of the news media, President Obama today brazenly misrepresented the abortion-related component of the health care legislation that his congressional allies and staff have crafted. As amended by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on July 30 (the Capps-Waxman Amendment), the bill backed by the White House (H.R. 3200) explicitly authorizes the government plan to cover all elective abortions. Obama apparently seeks to hide behind a technical distinction between tax funds and government-collected premiums. But these are merely two types of public funds, collected and spent by government agencies. The Obama-backed legislation makes it explicitly clear that no citizen would be allowed to enroll in the government plan unless he or she is willing to give the federal agency an extra amount calculated to cover the cost of all elective abortions — this would not be optional. The abortionists would bill the federal government and would be paid by the federal government. These are public funds, and this is government funding of abortion.
In 2007 Obama explicitly pledged to Planned Parenthood that the public plan will cover abortions. Some journalists have reported that Obama “backed off” of this commitment in an interview with Katie Couric of CBS News, broadcast July 21, but Obama actually carefully avoided stating his intentions — instead, he simply made an artful observation that “we also have a tradition of, in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government funded health care.”
It is true that there is such a tradition — which Obama has always opposed, and which the Obama-backed bill would shatter.
On August 13, NRLC released a detailed memo explaining the provisions of the pending bills that would affect abortion policy, with citations to primary sources. Many of the “factcheck” articles that have appeared in the news media in recent weeks reflect, at best, unsophisticated understandings of the provisions they purport to be explaining, and also give evidence of a weak understanding of Obama’s history on the policy issues involved.
With the turbulence surrounding Obamacare, will abortion get lost in the shuffle? Here is the scenario in the House of Representatives:
Three versions of Obamacare, H.R. 3200, passed by three different committees.
All mandate abortion in the government-operated plan and allow federal subsidies to flow to plans paid for by the government.
Three versions will be rolled into one, ready for floor action in September.
House Rule is being crafted to prohibit any amendments (like the abortion exclusion amendment) to be offered to H.R. 3200 for all House members to vote on.
NEEDED: 40 Democrats to join with all Republicans to defeat the rule allowing no amendments.
BIGGEST ENEMY: Apathy.
There are more than enough people in this country who do not want to pay for abortions. Who do not want to see the dramatic increase in abortion which will occur if Obamacare is passed unamended. If they do not act, Obamacare with mandated abortion will be a reality. A crushing blow will be dealt resulting in the biggest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade.
Wisconsin Right to Life has made it easy for people to act. At our webpage, no2Obamacare, one can find a video, petition, Action Alerts, in-depth information, and more. It is a must-see. It is time for a must-act.
On August 14, the Wisconsin Medical Society Council on Health Care Ethics defeated a resolution in support of the legalization of assisted suicide in Wisconsin. The vote was 13-5.
The Council meeting was not open to the public. Each side of the issue was allowed three people to testify at the Council meeting. Wisconsin Right to Life and the Wisconsin Catholic Conference worked diligently behind the scenes to recruit high quality professionals to submit written testimony to Council members. According to a Council member, from legal to medical to clinical to elder abuse to disability rights, testimony in opposition to the resolution was far superior to what proponents submitted.
The Council recommendation now goes to the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Medical Society. It is not clear what will take place next and WRTL will keep an eye on any further activity before the Society. To date, Senator Risser has not introduced his bill to legalize assisted suicide in Wisconsin as he does every legislative session. I’m sure he was hoping to have the backing of the Medical Society. Fortunately, that did not occur.
Comments by President Obama and administration officials caused a flurry of news reports to conclude over the weekend that the highly-discussed “public option” is being dropped from Obamacare. According to Politico, Democratic House officials are saying no — that there are 100+ House members who are opposed to reform without a “public option.”
The debate over the “public option,” not favored in the Senate but a must in the House, is setting up an internal conflict within the Democratic party and its constituent groups over the entire concept of health care reform. It is not clear what the outcome will be.
What continues to be clear, however, is that whatever form reform takes, abortion will be a part of the package unless an abortion exclusion amendment is adopted. The House leadership is setting rules which will not allow amendments to be debated or voted on. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) is setting up his own fight for a rule to allow the abortion exclusion amendment have its chance at passage buy the full House.
It is good news that the Senate Finance Committee has dropped the “end of life counseling” provision in its yet unseen version of health care reform. H.R. 3200, the House version supported by the Obama administration, still contains this provision.
Even if the House drops “end of life counseling,” there is inherent rationing built into both the House and Senate bills supported by Obama. Here is the National Right to Life Committee’s explanation as to why:
Unless there is sustainable, adequate financing, over-promising while under-funding health insurance for the uninsured will almost surely lead to rationing when, down the road, government has to face the shortfall.
The government must not be authorized, whether through “comparative effectiveness” research using “quality adjusted life years” or other measures, to compel or encourage denial of life-saving medical treatment, food, or fluids based on the patient’s age, disability, or “quality of life.”
Both H.R. 3200 and the Kennedy America’s Affordable Health Choices Act allow comparative effectiveness research to be used in making coverage decisions in ways that discriminate by denying or limiting health care based on age, present or predicted disability, or expected length of life. Neither of the bills protects people from use of a QALY, which is a standard that discounts the value of a period of life based on the patient’s present or predicted disability or quality of life.
Bottom line — if you are older or have a disability, these discriminatory standards can be applied to you and deny life-saving treatment that you want.
The average American — particularly those most at risk — understands this just by using their common sense. If there isn’t enough money (and there isn’t) and if the government is setting the standards (and they will), they will get the short end of the diminishing health care dollar. That’s why Americans are angry and scared — and rightly so.
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