More on the DNC

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Those immortal words were written by Thomas Paine in 1776.

I’ve commented on the reaction of the DNC to the Conservative objections to Mr. Obama’s oncoming health care steamroller. While there are many things involved in the current bill, it essentially says that the government will assume responsibility for our medical care by providing “affordable” medical insurance to all of us, both legal citizens and illegal aliens alike. I will be the first to agree that we desperately need to overhaul the health care system we have today, but I seriously question the wisdom of handing everything to an entirely new mob of federal bureaucrats! For the most part this bill, and all the rest of the loony left health proposals, do nothing more that make the government into one gigantic HMO, with all the problems they have! And of course each and every one of us is expected to happily hand the government our right to decide whether we live or die.

One part of this assault on our rights states will be a government committee with the authority to determine what medical treatment or benefits you will receive. What this means is that your health care will be rationed. The Health Choice Commissar (Czar?) will select your benefits for you, leaving you with no choice or recourse. Things start to get interesting when we read that the income of medical care providers will be completely controlled by the government, irregardless of their specialty or professional competence, there will be no judicial revue of the program and nobody can sue the Government for price fixing. Talk about a sweetheart government monopoly!

And who is going to pay the nearly one trillion dollar bill for all this? We will naturally, with increased income and corporate taxes. Further, employers must automatically enroll employees and their families into the public plan. No one will have a choice with that. Any employer with a payroll in excess of $400 thousand and above who does not provide public health care “insurance” will pay an 8% tax on all their payroll, and business with a payroll below $400 thousand will be assessed an additional payroll tax of between 2 and 6 percent. Then too, any employee who doesn’t have a government accepted health plan will pay an additional income tax of 2 ½%. Health care will be provided to all aliens, legal or otherwise, without charge, and American taxpaying citizens will pick up the tab for that as well.

Even your children aren’t safe under this program, as Obamacare is also about the government's coming into homes and assuming parental rights. Under "home visitation programs for families with young children and families expecting children", government agents would provide parents with modeling, consulting, and coaching on parenting practices. The bill targets specific groups as well, wherein the state "shall identify and prioritize serving communities that are in high need of such services, especially communities with a high proportion of low-income families." With this I guess we can assume that low-income families know less about parenting than middle- and upper-class families.

Just to make sure you don’t cheat on the system, Health Care Administration bureaucrats will have access to all your financial and personal records. In addition, you will be issued a mandatory National Health Care ID card. (I just knew they’d find a way to slip that national ID bit through, and I’ll bet a nickel to a stale donut that RFID chips are soon to follow!) If you have only a couple of employees, they won’t miss you either, as the bill mandates that health care officials audit the books of all employers.

Contrary to the claims of so many left wing socialists in Washington, this plan does eliminate any private health insurance over time, in that it creates a Health Care Exchange intended to bring private plans under government control, and mandates that ALL benefit packages for private Health Care must be in the Exchange, and meet government standards. Mr. Obama publicly stated that ‘Tricare’ (the medical insurance for retired military personnel) and Veterans Administration health care would not be affected… yet both will soon be absorbed into the ObamaCare system, as well be Medicare.

A short study of medical care in the now defunct Soviet Union might make you think a bit more about all this. For the most part, Soviet Doctors were little better trained than are American paramedics today, little more than very high class first aid providers. This is not to disparage our paramedics, dedicated professionals that they are, but I really don’t think I’d want any of them doing brain surgery on one of my grandkids! In the USSR, the medical field had a hard time attracting high caliber people, because even their Doctors were paid less than common laborers! You might have noticed that whenever a soviet leader became seriously ill, they were not treated in the USSR, but rather they went to Europe or the United States for their health care! All this tells me that we’ll quite likely see a booming trade in black market medical services develop! And that is somewhat scary as well. With the rationing and cost analysis of ObamaCare bean counters, if you or a loved one becomes seriously ill or injured (and can’t afford a trip to a Mexican medical clinic), you might want to get your affairs in order posthaste. It’s pretty much the same if you’re over age fifty, and not a government VIP deserving of better than average care.

If this assault on our rights passes congress, welcome to the “United Socialist States of America”, and you can wave goodbye to a nation that once valued individual rights and freedom over “security” and “comfort”. For those who might want to look for themselves, the full text of the Universal Health Scare… err… Health Care Bill currently under consideration (HR 3200) can be found at http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090714/aahca.pdf . It consists of 1017 pages of government double talk. You might also want to drop a line to all of your congressional representatives, voicing your opposition to this entire plan. Mention also that you are a voter, and that if they fail to vote against this federal takeover of our lives, in any of its manifestations, come next election you will surely vote against them!