-By Kevin Roeten
Of course, the words ‘Death Panel’ weren’t in Obama’s 2000-word health care plan. The words socialism, aborting, taxing, and redistribution of earned money weren’t in there either. But most Americans know they’re in there.
Obama’s Universal HealthCare won’t give people the option to put people’s relatives to death. At least not yet. It is known by millions what will happen if government-run health care becomes a reality. First, people will be allowed (or the government will do it for them) to euthanize older folks, or generally anyone expected to die in less than six months.
If Universal Healthcare gets voted in, the Obama administration holds every ‘control’ button. With the unsustainably high budget deficit, the government will inevitably make cost-minded judgments about what procedures are ‘worth’ doing, and which are not.
A 2009 interview with Obamacare advocate David Leonhardt (NYT) was quite telling. He specifically mentioned “a very difficult democratic conversation” about the most expensive costs of Medicare. Specifically, those occur during the last 6 months of life.
Take a known comrade who is wheelchair bound with Multiple Sclerosis. He is approaching 55, with a fading memory, and the inability to hold a regular job. The MS is progressing, despite the need for ultra high cost medication. Throw in the need for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), doctor’s visits, and other medications. He is not considered a a valuable member of society.
He will be judged as one having few years left, if any. Continuing to spend money on his medications will be highly inefficient, and quite problematic with skyrocketing budget deficits. With increasing debt, it will be determined people with certain diseases like diabetes, extreme heart difficulties, Down Syndrome, liver disease, etc…, cannot be put on the public dole any longer. Money will not be spent on people that will only live shortly.
Bottom line, many procedures like heart transplants, liver dialysis, joint replacements, etc…, cannot and will not be afforded by government. Public money is no longer available. It then decides what is right, and what is necessary. The government must be dependent upon massive tax increases to finance universal medical coverage.
Why stop there? With an incredibly high deficit, those at risk must include the blind, the deaf, the senile, the retarded, or anyone with a significant neurological condition. Anyone dare say Third Reich?
The current deficit is so high, that ‘whittling it down’ is no longer feasible. At what point in time will proponents of Obamacare (Democrats, with next presidential election) decide certain medications can no longer be afforded? Most will believe certain procedures do not agree with meager Medicare allowances, since the patient has few years of life left anyway.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), fully a fifth of the us population will be over 65 in two decades. And whatever marvels of modern medicine await, the mortality rate will still be at 100%. The average woman had 6.0 children per the CIA World Factbook in 1960, but today the global average is only 2.9. A birth rate minimum of 2.1 is necessary for simple population replacement. Even UN data indicates by 2030, US birth rate will fall to a likely low variant of 1.72 children per woman.
At that point, the government will realize that even draconian methods of deficit reductions are more than necessary. Because the government would be in control of ~ 1/5 of our economy, it can literally decide who lives and who dies. The purported population explosion will only exacerbate that problem. Believing that over population actually exists, simply forces the solution of eliminating more people than ever.
More abortion, sterilization, and contraception are top on the list of government deemed responsibilities. What’s next, only having blond-haired male babies?
Not yet, but passing Universal Healthcare puts us almost there.
Government-run healthcare. With their deficit and socialistic agenda, they’ve got little devolving to do.
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Kevin Roeten has written columns for over 10 years, after being a Chemical Engineer with Dupont for 20. A devout Catholic and staunch conservative, he loves to marry the ‘third rail’ of religion and politics into many of his articles.
Kevin Roeten can be reached at roetenks@charter.net.