R U Freakin’ Kidding Me? Health Care bill aims to cripple freedom

I already knew that the so-called health care bill being rushed through Congress was a disaster and certainly a budget buster on par with nothing we’d seen before.  What I didn’t know was how seriously deranged this legislation is.  The New York Post reports:

PRESIDENT Obama promises that “if you like your health plan, you can keep it,” even after he reforms our health-care system. That’s untrue. The bills now before Congress would force you to switch to a managed-care plan with limits on your access to specialists and tests.

Two main bills are being rushed through Congress with the goal of combining them into a finished product by August. Under either, a new government bureaucracy will select health plans that it considers in your best interest, and you will have to enroll in one of these “qualified plans.” If you now get your plan through work, your employer has a five-year “grace period” to switch you into a qualified plan. If you buy your own insurance, you’ll have less time.

And as soon as anything changes in your contract — such as a change in copays or deductibles, which many insurers change every year — you’ll have to move into a qualified plan instead (House bill, p. 16-17).

So much for Obama’s promises and so much for the freedom to control your own health care.  But wait, it gets even worse:

When you file your taxes, if you can’t prove to the IRS that you are in a qualified plan, you’ll be fined thousands of dollars — as much as the average cost of a health plan for your family size — and then automatically enrolled in a randomly selected plan (House bill, p. 167-168).

So not only will you be forced onto the government plan, you’ll pay for the privilege through compulsory fines.  But the worst of it is the subtle plan to reduce costs by encouraging euthanasia.

One troubling provision of the House bill compels seniors to submit to a counseling session every five years (and more often if they become sick or go into a nursing home) about alternatives for end-of-life care (House bill, p. 425-430). The sessions cover highly sensitive matters such as whether to receive antibiotics and “the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration.”

This mandate invites abuse, and seniors could easily be pushed to refuse care. Do we really want government involved in such deeply personal issues?

This sounds innocent, but in fact it is hugely problematic.  It is easy to foresee a day when grandma will be counseled to “do what’s best” and “not be a burden on the family”  as the needle is left on the counter and the nurse quietly closes the door leaving grandma alone to sort herself out.  This is worse than a tax and spend issue.  This is nightmarish!

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