Inkwell
My Heart Will Go On (If the End-of-Life Counselor Says It Can)
by Nicole Kurokawa
August 20, 2009, 4:27pm
Nat Hentoff, nationally renowned civil libertarian and longtime columnist with the Village Voice, has an excellent article on RealClearPolitics about why he is "finally scared of a White House administration." (Disclaimer: we were colleagues together at the Cato Institute.) Hentoff reminds us of several interesting remarks made by the President in the past few months:
Here is what Obama said in an April 28 New York Times interview (quoted in a Washington Times July 9 editorial) in which he describes a government end-of-life services guide for the citizenry as we get to a certain age, or are in a certain grave condition. Our government will undertake, he says, a "very difficult democratic conversation" about how "the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care" costs.
He has a great quote from Wesley J. Smith, author of Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America, reminding us that the devil's in the implementation - and not just the bill.
"Remember that legislation itself is only half the problem with Obamacare. Whatever bill passes, hundreds of bureaucrats in the federal agencies will have years to promulgate scores of regulations to govern the details of the law.
"This is where the real mischief could be done because most regulatory actions are effectuated beneath the public radar. It is thus essential, as just one example, that any end-of-life counseling provision in the final bill be specified to be purely voluntary ... and that the counseling be required by law to be neutral as to outcome. Otherwise, even if the legislation doesn't push in a specific direction - for instance, THE GOVERNMENT REFUSING TREATMENT - the regulations could." (Emphasis added.)
Not only do we have to be worried about the seen, but also the unseen? Sounds like Bastiat. Or a James Cameron movie.
11 Comments
Shari Katein | August 20, 2009, 7:38pm | #
The government will not refuse treatment. Only the patient can refuse treatment. Why is everything said being twisted to what you want to here. Keep your healthcare but give the people without healthcare a chance. The wish and a prayer insurance just does not pay the bills. Over 80% of bankruptcy comes from being unable to pay medical bills and we all pay then.
Gary Ezarik | August 20, 2009, 7:53pm | #
What do you propose should be done? All I hear if fear-mongering. Taxes will increase to those making more than $250k/year. If you have insurance won't you have the option to keep it?
I thought the House and Senate were debating various plans they formed. Obama gave a "wish list" of things he'd like included but did he demand them?
Give us some unbiased info free from fear. Give us some of your solutions.
d r | August 20, 2009, 7:58pm | #
I had someone tell me today at the Christian Book Store that if I supported health care reform and change in America then I wasn't a true American...and that I should leave their country. (Gotta love the right-winged Christians in America)
I was born in NJ,and worked almost every day of my life since I was 14 years old (I am now 58).
I have paid taxes, all of them, my entire life.
I have worked with American Military Families, Project Sanctuary, and many other organizations that involve humans helping humans.
I am out of work for the first time in my life without insurance, and have two masses growing on my kidneys. As it looks now, with the symptoms increasing, I may not be around to see my youngest graduate from HS in 2011.
To think that the US cannot figure out how to offer healthcare to all it's citizens is absurd. It is a matter of will, and a matter of choice.
But, America can spend millions bailing out Wall Street & Detroit, and engage in a war endeavor that is rife with fiscal mismanagement. Very telling regarding this country's real priorities.
Makes me wonder what my American citizenship is really worth? And that is NOT a rhetorical question.
What a gargantuan waste of time this "health insurance reform" bruhaha is.
Change will never come to America. Because for-profit healthcare and the triple digit profit making health insurance carrier conglomerates will not let it happen.
So, as was so vehemently suggested today by that person at the Christian Bookstore who told me to leave the US - the country of my birth, my mother's and father's birth, and their mother's and father's birth -
we are leaving.
DR
Denver, CO
JT | August 20, 2009, 8:38pm | #
Americans need health insurance and I don't want to be at the mercy of insurance companies anymore. They are greedy and just for themselves. My friend has NO insurance now, has a heart condition and no one will see her. And this is America?
I think it is selfish to twist the information on health reform. It is the first time some have had a little hope on getting the care they deserve.
Tamara | August 20, 2009, 11:35pm | #
dude this is complete crap. I am sorry but there is nothing in the bill (I have read it, and I research, something obviously not done here) and there is nothing like what is described. Gah it is people like you who are killing people like me. I am sick, but I have no way to get help...keep going guys you are KILLING women. NOT helping them
Sharon | August 21, 2009, 12:22am | #
I keep watching the ad on TV about how the woman survived breast cancer because she had health insurance, and we should all fear health care reform. I've had a lump in my breast for over a year now, but I don't have insurance. I can't afford to get it looked at by a doctor, and even if it is cancer (my grandmother died from breast cancer), I can't afford to get it checked. So basically, if it is cancer, it'll kill me. Oh, well, I was stupid enough not to work for a company than provides insurance, so for that, i guess I should die.
Maria | August 21, 2009, 12:44am | #
Your ad that is running about the women who survived breast cancer is fear mongering at its worst. My husband can not get health insurance because he has high blood pressure and high choleterol. We make it a priority to monitor by regular doctor visits and meds, but what happens if he can not control the ramifications and he ends up with the consequences of these conditions. We will be bankrupt...in our old age...all our hard earned savings gone....shame on you for not presenting positive options...but spending millions to perpetuate untruths.
Stefanie | August 21, 2009, 1:59am | #
I'm here because I saw your ad on TV. I'd like to know where you got the information about the women from Britain. Glenn Beck?
You're only trying to scare people and you have absolutely nothing to back up your wild claims.
geezer mom | August 21, 2009, 12:52pm | #
Sharon, sharon, sharon
You may not have to forego medical care. Find some doctors or nurses to help you, take along your children even your mother or grandmother to help you beg and plead your case, and yes you might have to resort to begging. Sign whatever you have to get care, and take one long last look at your life, because it will never be the same. You will definitely go bankrupt, your husband will probably leave you. Getting a divorce, even if he stays by you might not be a bad idea, so that your impending bankruptcy will not affect him as well. Sell your house to your parents if you can, and rent it from them. If you are going to lose your house, drain all the equity that you can, and give it to the hospital, as a good faith payment. Since you will be allowed to keep your car, keep it running as long as you can. As long as you still have a job and income, take it to a mechanic and get all the hoses, belts and tires changed, keep the old ones, since they are probably not worn out totally. Stock your pantry, if you have laid in a good food supply, it is like money in the bank during the upcoming hard times. Keep working as long as possible, drag your tired body to work after chemo and put in an appearance, if you get fired, you might be surprised how many of your co-workers will threaten to walk out if you get let go. Lastly if you haven’t maxed out your credit cards, buy as many of your Christmas presents as you can, because the rest of your life will be hard candy Christmases.
April | August 21, 2009, 3:59pm | #
None of the bills coming out of congress are promoting a government takeover of health care! Your TV commercial is misleading and irresponsible.
Many women do not have health insurance because, in our current system, they can not afford it. When a woman feels a lump, she is struck with incredible fear...not just fear of cancer, but fear of financial ruin.
Our country needs a public option. You do not have to take advantage of that public option and keep your current health insurance. However, you should NOT take that option away from millions of women who are uninsured.
If you are concerned about the health and rights of women, you will work with the president to create a program that will care for the needs of so many across our country who need care and are unable to afford that care.
The whole point of President Obama's push for health care reform is to take care of the very Americans who fall through our failing safety net...these Americans are usually women and children. President Obama is on a mission to keep other women from going through the terrible struggle that his own mother faced.
I will do everything in my power to opose your organization. My next email will be to my representative in congress, specifically addressing your TV ad.
Maddy | August 24, 2009, 10:15pm | #
Where was all of the complaining about out-of-control government spending, when Bush was bailing out banks, Wall Street, etc.? We have the highest tax rates of any industrialized nation, but no health care. And yes, the government, could deny procedures to those who are dying and others, but insurance companies are doing that all the time right now. We need this overhaul, our citizenry deserve education and healthcare ...