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OBAMA HEALTH BILL WOULD DENY RIGHT TO USE OWN MONEY TO SAVE THE LIVES OF YOUR FAMILY (guest in DC or by phone)
President Obama’s new health care proposal, posted Monday morning, February 22, is more radical than the bills passed by the House and Senate in limiting the ability of all Americans, and especially senior citizens, to use their own money to obtain health insurance less likely to ration lifesaving medical treatment. It would end older Americans’ current right to add their own money on top of the government Medicare contribution to get such insurance, while empowering state and federal government officials to limit what could be spent on health insurance by Americans of any age.
As they prepare for a “summit” with Congressional Republicans, President Obama and the Democratic leadership of both the Senate and the House of Representatives are making clear that they are ready to use extraordinary parliamentary procedures to push through a massive restructuring of American health care. The latest version is arguably more extreme than its predecessors in threatening widespread limits on American’s ability to get medical care.
Conducting Talk Show interviews on this vital topic is attorney Burke Balch, director of National Right to Life Committee’s Powell Center for Medical Ethics and featured speaker of the DVD Special, “Healthcare for a Pro-life Perspective,” available at: www.CleanTV.com
Burke shares with your audience this comparison: It is as though a government, concerned about the high cost of restaurant food, imposed a price limit of $5 per meal, and then asserted that for those who like their restaurant food, nothing will force them to change their eating habits. The reality, of course, is that restaurants would be unable to afford to offer meals at prices below the cost of their ingredients. Consequently, about all restaurant-goers would be able to get would be fast food.
Similarly, when every premium increase is subject to veto by government officials, it means that instead of Americans making their own choices balancing the cost against the benefit in evaluating competing insurance plans, that decision will be taken out of their hands by bureaucrats whose principal duty is to hold health care spending down. Denial of lifesaving diagnostic tests and treatment would surely follow. This, he argues, is rationing, pure and simple.
NOTE: Talk Show hosts are requested to mention that the DVD Special, “Healthcare for a Pro-life Perspective,” is available at: www.CleanTV.com for a download fee of 99 cents. Thank you.
THE FOLLOWING BLOG POSTS MAY BE HELPFUL DURING SHOW PREP:
http://powellcenterformedicalethics.blogspot.com/2010/02/obama-proposal-threatens-to-deny-senior.html
http://powellcenterformedicalethics.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html
http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/Q&AonHealthCarePriceControls.pdf
ABOUT BURKE BALCH:
Burke J. Balch, J.D. currently serves as the Director of the Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics, associated with the National Right to Life Committee, specializing in euthanasia-related issues.
Prior to this Burke worked for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights as Attorney-Advisor, helping to create a report on the topic of denial of life-saving medical treatment to children with disabilities ("Baby Doe" cases).
Mr. Balch has also served as Chief Staff Counsel for the National Legal Center for the Medically Dependent and Disabled.
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