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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=559483621-17082009>This message from the National Right to Life Committee
states in part:</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=559483621-17082009><FONT size=2></FONT></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=559483621-17082009><FONT size=2>Take the House bill provision reimbursing
Medicare physicians for "advance care planning" consultations with senior
citizens every five years, known as Section 1233. Many justifiably feared these
consultations would become not-so-subtle efforts to push them into agreeing to
reject "costly" life-saving medical treatment. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left>
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<TD><IMG height=315
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border=0></TD></TR>
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<TD>
<P align=center><I><B><FONT size=1>Pro-abortion Congressman <BR>Henry
Waxman (D-Ca.)</FONT></B></I></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P><FONT size=2>The word now is that, at least in the (yet to be finalized)
Senate Finance bill, this provision will be dropped. But even if this provision
is dropped entirely (which obviously is unknowable at this juncture), it is
essential that the concern it evoked---the fear of pressuring people into
turning down lifesaving treatment when they are most vulnerable--be seen as part
of a much larger issue: over-promising and under-funding from which rationing
will follow as surely as night follows day.</FONT></P></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=559483621-17082009>AND</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=559483621-17082009><FONT size=2></FONT></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=559483621-17082009><FONT size=2>If you're tuned into this channel, you
already know that the so-called "compromise," the Capps Amendment, was the work
of Henry Waxman, a pre-eminent pro-abortion champion in the House of
Representatives, and that it actually embodies the policy priorities of the
pro-abortion lobby -- such as authorizing the Obama Administration to cover
abortion on demand in the proposed big new federal health insurance program, the
"public plan," plus big new subsidies for private pro-abortion plans as
well.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left>
<P><FONT size=2>Don't be fooled. Unless there is unambiguous language that
explicitly prevents the bills from mandating coverage of abortions and prevents
subsidies for plans that cover abortion--language that pro-abortion Democrats
have vigorously rejected--all the guarantees that "health care reform" will not
expand abortion are not worth the paper they are written on. Without that
explicit clarifying language, the federal government will be running a
nationwide abortion-on-demand insurance plan.</FONT></P></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=4><SPAN
class=559483621-17082009><STRONG>Art</STRONG></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=559483621-17082009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> nrlc@nrlc.org [mailto:nrlc@nrlc.org]
<BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday, August 17, 2009 4:29 PM<BR><B>To:</B> Art
Kelly<BR><B>Subject:</B> The Most Dangerous Time<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<P> </P>
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<TD vAlign=top align=left width=99><B><I><FONT
face="Bookman Old Style" size=4>National</I><FONT
face="Bookman Old Style" size=4> <FONT face="Bookman Old Style"
size=2><BR>Right to Life</B></FONT></FONT></FONT></TD>
<TD vAlign=bottom align=left>
<P><I><B><FONT face="Garamond Book" color=#000080
size=7> <FONT face=Georgia
color=#000080 size=7>Today's <BR>News &
Views</B></I></FONT></FONT></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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<P align=left><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" size=2><B>Today's News &
Views<BR>August 17, 2009</B></FONT></P><FONT
face="Trebuchet MS" size=2>
<P><FONT size=4><B>The Most Dangerous Time</B></FONT><FONT
size=2><BR><BR>By Dave Andrusko<BR><BR>Please send your comments to
</FONT><A href="mailto:daveandrusko@gmail.com"><FONT
size=2>daveandrusko@gmail.com</FONT></A></P>
<P><FONT size=2>For all those with serious reservations about the
form that "health care reform" has taken to date, how can we not be
happy that the Obama Administration seems to be signaling that at
least some stuff that was set in stone is crumbling? The experts on
staff--and NRLC is blessed with incredibly knowledgeable staff--will
winnow the wheat from the chaff, and clarify whether "changes" (if
they actually occur) will redound to the cause of unborn babies and
the medically dependent.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>My task here is simply to remind us that often the
most dangerous time, the moment most fraught with danger, is when
proponents of really wretched proposals announce (even if they don't
use the word) that they are "compromising." Why? Lots of reasons,
beginning with the long established practice of stealthily sliding
the same dreadful provisions in the back door. They simply "x" the
provision out in the front of the bill and write it back in near the
end. If I had a dollar for every time that has happened, I could
make a serious dent in the deficit.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>Another way the bad guys can ostensibly lose the
battle and win the war is to focus on one potential abuse, maybe
even making a nod toward abandoning it, but without addressing the
larger issue of which the individual abuse is only one component.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>Take the House bill provision reimbursing Medicare
physicians for "advance care planning" consultations with senior
citizens every five years, known as Section 1233. Many justifiably
feared these consultations would become not-so-subtle efforts to
push them into agreeing to reject "costly" life-saving medical
treatment. </FONT></P>
<TABLE id=table3 style="FLOAT: left" cellPadding=3 width="39%"
border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><IMG height=315
src="http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Aug09/Waxman.jpg"
width=216 border=0 NOSEND="1"></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>
<P align=center><I><B><FONT size=1>Pro-abortion Congressman
<BR>Henry Waxman
(D-Ca.)</FONT></B></I></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P><FONT size=2>The word now is that, at least in the (yet to be
finalized) Senate Finance bill, this provision will be dropped. But
even if this provision is dropped entirely (which obviously is
unknowable at this juncture), it is essential that the concern it
evoked---the fear of pressuring people into turning down lifesaving
treatment when they are most vulnerable--be seen as part of a much
larger issue: over-promising and under-funding from which rationing
will follow as surely as night follows day.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>(See the "Key Points on Health Care Rationing to
Make to Legislators" at the end of this edition.)</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>Just one other way (there are many more) by which
the bad guys can prevail even as they are supposedly shedding
objectionable parts of the various "health care reform" proposals:
our not doing our homework. We have to constantly keep up to date,
not just periodically check in, and we have to see the Big Picture,
not focus only on specific details, no matter how
troublesome.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>Switching to abortion, key pro-abortion lawmakers --
and their amplifiers in the mainstream media, who laughably
sometimes refer to what they do as "factchecking" -- have already
tried announcing that a great "compromise" has been reached on the
issue. If you are reading this you probably know enough not to rely
on the mainstream news media for your information about what is
happening in Congress. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>If you're tuned into this channel, you already know
that the so-called "compromise," the Capps Amendment, was the work
of Henry Waxman, a pre-eminent pro-abortion champion in the House of
Representatives, and that it actually embodies the policy priorities
of the pro-abortion lobby -- such as authorizing the Obama
Administration to cover abortion on demand in the proposed big new
federal health insurance program, the "public plan," plus big new
subsidies for private pro-abortion plans as well.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>Don't be fooled. Unless there is unambiguous
language that explicitly prevents the bills from mandating coverage
of abortions and prevents subsidies for plans that cover
abortion--language that pro-abortion Democrats have vigorously
rejected--all the guarantees that "health care reform" will not
expand abortion are not worth the paper they are written on. Without
that explicit clarifying language, the federal government will be
running a nationwide abortion-on-demand insurance plan.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>On abortion, keep up to date by visiting <A
href="http://www.nrlactioncenter.com">www.nrlactioncenter.com</A>.
To understand the dangers of health care rationing, go to <A
href="http://www.nrlc.org/HealthCareRationing/index.html">www.nrlc.org/HealthCareRationing/index.html</A>.</FONT></P>
<P><B><FONT size=2>Key Points on Health Care Rationing to Make to
Legislators</FONT></B></P>
<P><FONT size=2>1. 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.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>2. 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
lifesaving medical treatment, food, or fluids based on the patient's
age, disability, or "quality of life."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>3. Measures to promote living wills and other
advance care directives, like funding for "advance care planning"
consultations in Medicare, must not be used to pressure patients
into rejecting lifesaving treatment as a means of saving money, nor
provide for assisted suicide as an alternative.</FONT></P>
<P><B><A
href="http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/">http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/</A>
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