-By Warner Todd Huston
Much was made of Governor Sarah Palin’s use of the term “government death panels” to lambaste Obamacare. Left-wingers and Democrats everywhere scoffed at the term and accused Palin of demagogy and even lying. But the fact is, government death panels of all sorts are inevitable once government takes over healthcare. In fact, once government takes over healthcare, all sorts of unscientific, non-health related nonsense creeps into your healthcare whether you like it or not and none of these decisions are made with your doctor’s advice or consent.
To understand this we have but to look to countries that already have government provided healthcare to see many incidents of the foolishness that is government control of medicine. Arbitrary decisions are made, people are told they are too old to bother with and treatments are too late to save the patient because of long wait times.
Worse, are the cases where government lackeys use non-medical criteria to replace medical considerations such as a recent case in Britain where a woman was told she can no longer get her healthcare because her travel distance makes her “carbon footprint” too big.
That’s right, in Westcliff-on-Sea, an elderly British woman was told she is not allowed to have her surgery because the travel distance from her home is not “green” enough.
Here we have a case of environmentalist extremists putting their so-called “green” agenda above the health of a person!
The British woman was told via letter that she was no longer wanted at the surgery center she was registered with.
The letter said: “Our greatest concern is for your health and convenience but also taking into consideration green travelling issues. Re: Carbon footprints and winter weather conditions, we feel it would be advisable for patients to register at surgeries nearer to where they live.
Obviously the government doctors did not feel their “greatest concern” was for the woman’s health. No, the government doctors actual concern was for enviro-wacko issues first and foremost.
Remember, America, when President Barack Obama lied and said “you can keep your doctor if you like your doctor”? This case in England is exhibit number one to make the lie to his statement.
You see, when government controls healthcare, government tells you what you will get, how you will get it, when you will get it… not to mention if you will get it. It is guaranteed that situations just like this British case will occur in the U.S. once Obamacare takes away all your options and rights in healthcare.
Your doctor will not be working for you. Your doctor will be working for the government and if the government says “green” issues are more important than your health, then green issues will take precedence over your health quite despite what you or any caring doctor want.
Obamacare, your healthcare, will become just another avenue for meddling government perfunctories to lord over people and institute their idiotic little ideas and medicine will be the last thing they care about. Ergo, your health will be a lower priority and that folks means defacto “death panels” are a reality.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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