[Apologetics] Euthanasia, rationing, and abortion still big parts of Obamacare

Mon Aug 17 17:47:58 EDT 2009

This message from the National Right to Life Committee states in part:

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. 

Pro-abortion Congressman 
Henry Waxman (D-Ca.)

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.

AND

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.

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.

Art

________________________________

From: nrlc at nrlc.org [mailto:nrlc at nrlc.org] 
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 4:29 PM
To: Art Kelly
Subject: The Most Dangerous Time

 <http://www.nrlc.org/images/nrlogo2.gif> 	National 
Right to Life	       Today's 
News & Views

Today's News & Views
August 17, 2009

The Most Dangerous Time

By Dave Andrusko

Please send your comments to daveandrusko at gmail.com
<mailto:daveandrusko at gmail.com> 

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

Pro-abortion Congressman 
Henry Waxman (D-Ca.)

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.

(See the "Key Points on Health Care Rationing to Make to Legislators" at
the end of this edition.)

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.

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. 

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.

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.

On abortion, keep up to date by visiting www.nrlactioncenter.com. To
understand the dangers of health care rationing, go to 
www.nrlc.org/HealthCareRationing/index.html.

Key Points on Health Care Rationing to Make to Legislators

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.

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."

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.

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