A Preview of National Healthcare, Part III

A Preview of National Healthcare, Part III
By Howard Manser

Since President Barack H. Obama II has flaunted his admiration for Mahatma Gandhi, a quatrain of quotes from Gandhi is in order:

“There is no God higher than truth.”,

“Whenever you have truth it mast be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected.”,

“Truth is what the voice within tells you.”, and

“Truth never damages a cause that is just.”

So is it any wonder that during a recent and yet another health care speech, this time to a joint session of Congress, September 9, 2009, Mr. Obama assured us, among other fairytales, that healthcare reform will not include the coverage of “Illegal” Aliens. Well, was “Old” Joe Wilson (Congressman, R-SC) right?

One must examine the carefully crafted wording by Mr. Obama’s speechwriter, Jon Favreau.

Go into any public hospital’s emergency room, and there is a sign posted in English and other languages – in short stating care will not be denied. In 1986, Congress passed legislation commonly referred to as EMTALA (Federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, also known as the Patient Anti-Dumping Law) to address a growing concern that emergency care departments were refusing to treat patients based on their inability to pay. This law requires every emergency care department to provide a minimal level of care to all who present themselves, regardless of their ability to pay. After their exam is fully complete and initial treatment provided, patients may be referred to an outpatient clinic or their primary care physician. Incidently, this law also applies to American citizens. But perhaps the intent of this law has become somewhat conveluted in the past 23 years.
1. Who is paying the bill? We are, along with a collection of local, state, federal, and voluntary agencies. On the average, hospitals lose only l-2% annually to unpaid unfunded costs, which of course will be recovered the next year through increased fees and charges to private consumers and insurance companies. The government can simply reduce compensation or refuse to pay these costs. If they become the single-payer, then rationing is inevitable.

2. Consider the “anchor” baby. Anchor babies are children born in the United States to a person, not a citizen. The term refers to the supposed role of the child, as a U.S. citizen, in facilitating immigration through family reunification under the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. The baby automatically becomes a legal U.S. citizen and as such may at some point in time petition to gain legal residency and eventual citizenship for mama, papa, family and relatives; all who will become eligible for universal (call it what you want) government healthcare.

3. Amnesty. Coming to a country near you is more “Immigration Reform”. Planned by this administration to occur well before the 2010 and 2012 elections, legislation is being sponsored in the U.S. Senate by Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer (D-NY} and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). Imagine that, two visionary Senators from two hopelessly bankrupt states paving the way for the rest of the nation.

Once legalized these “undocumented” illegal aliens will qualify for a Smörgåsbord of benefits from a variety of governmental assistance including: housing, loans and grants, educational opportunities, welfare, food stamps and healthcare. Many of these “bennies” are already in place and have contributed significantly to the deficit budgets of states such as California, New York and more than a few in between. So what is left for the “illegal” aliens? Day one, a voter registration card probably facilitated through and organization like ACORN or one of its separate affiliate organizations and then a union card for the “breadwinner” through the SEIU, AFL-CIO, UAW, or Teamsters.

4. So did the President lie? His hurry up must have it now apparition of universal healthcare would not become effective until 2013, allowing him to lobby (like FDR) for another term to finish the job, to realize Ted Kennedy’s dream, and to create a revitalized colonial America.

My Thoughts on Healthcare are these …

To the President and Members of the U.S. Senate and U.S House of Representatives:

If a final healthcare plan is not for you, then it is not for me!

And if it further centralizes government, lacks fiscal responsibility, limits my choices, and/or penalizes my freedoms, take it elsewhere.

Finally, to Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC), I leave you with these thoughts, again from Gandhi, “Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth” and “You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing there will be no result.”





September 13, 2009