Dear friend,
Last week I shared with you the disturbing fact the White House wants total control of the nation’s health care system so they can ration your access to medical procedures.
Well, it’s already happening in Oregon.
Sarah McIntosh reports in this month’s “Health Care News” “the Oregon Health Services Commission has drawn up a formal procedure for rationing health care services available to recipients of taxpayer-subsidized coverage.”
McIntosh reports, “the commission listed 680 common medical procedures and treatments and ranked them in order of priority. Beginning in 2009, the commission will reimburse physicians only for procedures and treatments ranking in the top 503 of 680. This means a Medicaid recipient in need of a procedure the commission decided to rank 504th would be ineligible for the procedure.”
If you think that’s just a problem for poor Oregonians, you’re wrong. That is precisely what the Obama administration promised to do to all Americans in an April 19 Meet The Press appearance by White House advisor Lawrence Summers.
Claiming health care is becoming more expensive; not because government regulations drives up costs, but because too many people get health care, Summers flatly stated the White House wants to begin “coordinating” your doctor’s decisions so they cut the cost of health care by 30% by simply denying people possibly life-saving procedures.
Along with their plan to invade the health care market with taxpayer-subsidized insurance and prohibit any private health insurance plan not rubber-stamped by the government, the intent is the eradication of private health insurance and total control of health care. Illinois Democrat Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky even openly admitted that in a speech to cheering left-wing activists that was captured on tape.
Once Obama gets control of health care, you will have no choice in your health coverage. You will be forced to accept rationed care.
The March 27 Wall Street Journal calls it “the Bay State bait and switch,” referring to Massachusetts, where Republican Governor Mitt Romney launched the government health care invasion.
“First, create vast new entitlements that can never be repealed, then later take the less popular step of rationing care when it’s their last hope to save the federal [government’s fiscal situation.]…The real lesson of Massachusetts is that reform proponents won’t tell Americans the truth about what ‘universal coverage’ really means: Runaway costs followed by price controls and bureaucratic rationing,” the Journal writes.
To quote Ted Knight in one of his greatest roles, “You’ll get nothing, and like it.”
It’s the same kind of rationed care you’ll find in nations like France and the United Kingdom, where waiting lists for lifesaving procedures are sometimes years-long, and the death rates from breast and prostate cancer are twice to three times higher than in the United States.
If you think you can count on Republicans to stop it, you’re wrong. In states like Utah, it’s the Republican governor expanding government-run health care. Here in Washington, The Politico newspaper reports that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is meeting with nearly a dozen Republicans to secure their support of Obama’s socialized medicine takeover.
And as the Wall Street Journal just showed us, they’re looking at a Republican governor – Mitt Romney – for their inspiration.
If Obama and the Republicans are successful, they will have not only nationalized one-seventh of the economy, but they will have made millions of Americans dependent on government for their very lives – and dependent on a system built on rationing and substandard care that requires drastically higher taxes to maintain.
Skyrocketing taxes, bigger government and more dependency are precisely why millions of Americans oppose the Obama health care scheme – and the Libertarian Party is the only party that represents them.
Only Libertarians can oppose the Obama health care scheme, because Republicans are just as guilty as Democrats. Their Medicare prescription drug entitlement, the biggest expansion of the welfare program since Lyndon Johnson created it, simply laid the pavement for Obama’s road to socialized medicine.
And only Libertarians believe in the real solution to rising health care costs – opening up the health insurance market, knocking down regulations that delay and drive up the costs of developing new medicines and treatments, and repealing protectionist regulations installed by connected lobbyists to force more competition into the system.
Government-run and rationed health care, responsible for skyrocketing taxes and higher death rates in other countries, is already here. You can thank both Democrats and Republicans for that.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can provide affordable health care to all. With your support, the Libertarian Party can continue to fight for a vibrant marketplace of affordable, quality care.
Sincerely,
Donny Ferguson
Libertarian National Committee
Director of Communications
PS – If you are receiving this email, and have not yet become a member of the Party and wish to do so, please click here to sign up to become a member of the only political party dedicated completely to cutting taxes and maximizing liberty. If you need to renew, please do so by clicking here.
PPS – If you have not yet contributed, please consider a donation right now of $25, $50, $100 or $1000 to the Libertarian Party. Your contribution will be used to grow the Party and expand the message of liberty. From ads to outreach, every dollar goes towards leading the liberty movement in its fight to restore the Constitution and maximize freedom.
