Democrats Vote To Let Elderly Die In Name Of 'Stimulus'

Start Thinking Right ^ | February 10, 2009 | Michael Eden

[Michael Eden]

The so-called "stimulus" package was losing popular support on an almost daily basis until Barack Obama came out in a massive media barrage to support it. But one thing Obama never seems to mention is the fact that its passage will ration health care to the elderly.

Betsy McCaughey, former lieutenant governor of New York, has uncovered a few unpleasant outcomes for little Suzy's poor old Grandma if the Generational Theft Act gets passed. Tom Daschle may be gone, now that folks know that this erstwhile Secretary of Health and Human Services didn't bother to pay all his Medicare Taxes. But even though Daschle is gone, his influence has already been built in.

Page numbers in parentheses refer to H.R. 1 EH, pdf version.

Elderly Hardest Hit

Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.

Medicare now pays for treatments deemed safe and effective. The stimulus bill would change that and apply a cost- effectiveness standard set by the Federal Council (464).

The Federal Council is modeled after a U.K. board discussed in Daschle’s book. This board approves or rejects treatments using a formula that divides the cost of the treatment by the number of years the patient is likely to benefit. Treatments for younger patients are more often approved than treatments for diseases that affect the elderly, such as osteoporosis.

In 2006, a U.K. health board decreed that elderly patients with macular degeneration had to wait until they went blind in one eye before they could get a costly new drug to save the other eye. It took almost three years of public protests before the board reversed its decision.

Hidden Provisions

If the Obama administration’s economic stimulus bill passes the Senate in its current form, seniors in the U.S. will face similar rationing. Defenders of the system say that individuals benefit in younger years and sacrifice later.

The stimulus bill will affect every part of health care, from medical and nursing education, to how patients are treated and how much hospitals get paid. The bill allocates more funding for this bureaucracy than for the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force combined (90-92, 174-177, 181).

Hiding health legislation in a stimulus bill is intentional. Daschle supported the Clinton administration’s health-care overhaul in 1994, and attributed its failure to debate and delay. A year ago, Daschle wrote that the next president should act quickly before critics mount an opposition. “If that means attaching a health-care plan to the federal budget, so be it,” he said. “The issue is too important to be stalled by Senate protocol.”

McCaughey also says:

The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”

Of the digitizing and electronic filing of every single American, Rush Limbaugh has this:

Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Now, there are arguments back and forth about whether or not this is a good thing. The opportunity for the loss of privacy is huge here by digitizing and making everybody's health care records computerized, especially having a major federal database where everybody's health records are. Some people say this is a good thing because it will assist in treatment, particularly in emergencies.

That's what they used to sell this, but (laughs) ask Alex Rodriguez about privacy. There are 104 names on this list from 2003 of people who tested positive for steroids in a year it was legal. Only his name gets released of the 104. The players union was supposed to destroy the list, and they didn't. They had a reason for it, but they botched their philosophy. Their theory got confounded. So somebody who's got it in for Alex Rodriguez released his name to Sports Illustrated, four or five different people, and so now he's been tarnished with the steroids thing just as a lot of other players -- Barry Bonds and others -- have. This notion that privacy can exist particularly in a politicized Washington is a bit of a... I'm doubtful about it, but there are some people who like the idea. Anyway, this bill computerizes everybody's health records. Then after everybody health records are computerized, this new bureaucracy is created, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology.

It's ironicly fitting that Alex Rodriguez's privacy would be destroyed on the same day that the Senate debates a bill that would subject every single American to the same risk. But this isn't just about embarrasment.

Imagine this: the government, which is going to ration health care and make decisions on the basis of saving money, will have total access to your records. Is there not a gigantic conflict of interest here? If the government takes over health care, then this is every bit as serious of a problem as it would be for your insurance company to have full access to your genetic screening. Do you not see how someone with a genetic predisposition to a serious condition could be written out of coverage by the government before he or she is even aware of the potential health problem?

Several years ago, I watched a sermon by D. James Kennedy. He quoted Proverbs 8:36 - "But he who sins against me [God's wisdom] injures himself; All those who hate me love death" - and linked the logical mentality of abortion to that of euthenasia and the overall culture of death overtaking our society. In a chilling prediction, Kennedy said, "Watch out, Grandpa! Because the generation that survived abortion will come after you!"

And now it's time for Grandma and Grandpa to pay the piper. The same embrace of death as a solution to the myriad "crises" that resulted in the extermination of more than 50 million babies in the United States will soon result in the death by abandonment of medical resources . And, of course, it will simply be Grandma and Grandpa's moral duty to "die with dignity."

If you are a senior citizen or about to become one any time soon, realize that Democrat Senators are voting to let you die as part of their 'stimulus' package.

And if not, realize that Democrats are preparing to come after Grandma's and Grandpa's health care to bring down the cost burden of their socialized medicine.

[calex59]

Yes, it has to go back to the house, this has only passed the senate.

[calex59]

You didn’t read very well, then. It specifically mentions that the gov will decide who gets treatment based on age tables and life expectancy of certain diseases. This will not just ration health care to the elderly but to anyone who has a severe medical problem that the gov decides shouldn’t be treated. The bill doesn’t have to actually say rationing in order to achieve that goal.

[Michael Eden]

I noted that calex59 responded to you.

“Medicare now pays for treatments deemed safe and effective. The stimulus bill would change that and apply a cost- effectiveness standard set by the Federal Council (464).”

That’s page 464 of the pdf version link.

If you are looking for the keyword “rationing” you need to realize that liberals are great at creating language that masks their true intent.

[IrishCatholic]

Please tell me which version and what page rather than be snotty. What I read was the suggest Health Information Technology section as referred to.
There are different versions of the bill including the Senate version.
If you would like, copy and past that section here. Or, refer to the section number. That would be helpful. I was looking for the section to print it off. So if you know the section number, please let me know.

[Michael Eden]

rockinqsranch,

AARP to seniors is rather like the Anglican church to Christians. The former works toward a completely different agenda than the latter.

AARP is almost like a union for retired people who spent their whole damn lives in unions and couldn’t bear to leave.

[IrishCatholic]

Well, this is the problem. From Thomas it went to the GPO site (PDF)which has page 464 as Federal and private implementation of standards lines 1-24. It deals with the information technology standards.

Which is why I am confused as to the quote“Medicare now pays for treatments deemed safe and effective. The stimulus bill would change that and apply a cost- effectiveness standard set by the Federal Council (464).”

[Michael Eden]

IrishCatholic,

If you’re willing to rise up in outrage with the rest of us, I suggest we put all insults and all hard feelings aside and start networking politicians.

I provided the link/page in my response to you.

This is a catastrophe. My mom is going through cancer treatment right now, and she probably wouldn’t qualify for treatment under this damn plan. I’m willing to take the hand of anyone who will join with me and help oppose this.

[OneWingedShark]

Just as I predicted: once government has control of your health, they have control of your life, and therefore death as well.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad, but we all know, that Congress is exempt from its own laws... as seen with our President, our Treasurer... etc.

[Michael Eden]

I see what you mean. The damn bill is a gigantic maze from which here is no escape.

Let’s keep looking for it. And let’s hope by the time we find it it’s been yanked out.

[IrishCatholic]

I'm fully outraged. I just want to be accurate about what I am outraged about.
The link/page you referred to isn't matching what is being quoted here. Now, either I am looking at the wrong version, the wrong section, the wrong page number, or the wrong PDF version, page 464 is about the implementation of records information technology and not about health care implementation.

My father is in congestive heart failure and I am home for only a few hours before going back to the hospital. Under the coming plan he wouldn't receive care because it isn't cost efficient to keep him alive. He isn't a benefit to the state.
But, facts are stubborn things. I want to have,from the primary source, the actual documentation. SO, either the PDF version numbers are off, or the four times I have been to the bill have not matched the quotes. The page is from a section standardizing all health care reporting- making it easier to nationalize health care. It isn't what is being talked about here.

[Michael Eden]

Your a smart feller. I went to the Bloomberg article I cited and it IS the same link (I was checking to see if I’d messed something up).

When I clicked on the Thomas file, there were several options that were available. I’ll have to check them individually.

But, yeah, when I went to page 464, I did not see the language either. I used the Adobe search engine and tried to search for a few terms, and to no avail.

But you and I are in the same boat, not wanting to see our parents dying for lack of care.

I’m neither Irish nor Catholic, but that didn’t stop me from saying a prayer for your dad’s heart.

[IrishCatholic]

Thanks for the kind thought.
I will say a prayer for your mom’s swift recovery. I am off to the hospital now. I will check in the late hours if anyone finds the language quoted.
Good luck.

[Michael Eden]

Irish Catholic,
I hope you found your father feeling and doing better.

I have heard this story now several times on several programs. Apparently, the “rationing” (or whatever euphemism they are using)actually comes out of the language of the computerization of records. In other words, a government authority will be appointed IN that section to do monitoring and verifying based on statistics (age, likelihood of recovery, cost of treatment, etc).