Uncle Sam MD-Will NOT See You

15 Feb 2009

     Politicians, who are eternally seeking to expand their power, love the opportunities offered by war and economic crises. The economic "stimulus" package recently passed by both Houses of Congress is a good example of how politicians use fear to expand their power into areas that "we the people" would not normally approve. Specifically, using this legislation Uncle Sam has expropriated from citizens the ultimate right to control their healthcare. In prior legislation HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) passed during the Clinton Administration, the Federal government expropriated the right to regulate and have access to the medical records of all Americans (not just recipients of government provided healthcare). The right to regulate access to personal healthcare information has always been the purview of the States not the Federal government. It is noteworthy that when the Federal government, under Bill Clinton, encroached upon this reserved right, not a single State challenged the constitutionally of the Federal encroachment! Ah, behold the wonders of a living constitution. It is so alive and living that the original intent of the Constitution as explained by the Founding Fathers of these United States no longer has any real meaning.

     Obama's new legislation seeks to "stimulate" the economy by establishing regulatory authority over the healthcare of "every individual in the United States." As part of the stimulus package the Federal government will electronically monitor your medical treatment. A new Federal bureaucracy called the "National Coordinator of Health Information" has been created to "monitor," that is, spy, on physician/patient interaction. One of its duties will be to monitor your healthcare to make sure your physician is providing appropriate and cost effective care. The Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research, another new Federal bureaucracy that will certainly help stimulate the economy, will be responsible for making sure research dollars will not be spent seeking cures for "hopeless diagnoses" and will also limit use of "experimental treatments." This new Federal bureaucracy will seek to change the current medicare system of paying for treatment it deems "safe and effective" to a "cost effective standard."

     Could it be that Uncle Sam MD is insidiously approaching the point where he will simply declare that he can no longer afford to pay for healthcare of certain disposable citizens-such as the elderly, infants "too" premature to economically treat, or those suffering from a "hopeless diagnosis?" Is euthanasia the next step in socialized healthcare cost control? Oh yes! I know-that will never happen here-this is America! With this legislation America took not another step but a giant leap down the road to serfdom.

James R. Kennedy is the author of Reclaiming Liberty, co-author of The South Was Right! and other pro-liberty books. He holds a Masters in Health Administration from Tulane University and is Vice President of Risk Management for a Louisiana based Insurance Company.