On Matters of Life and Death

By William L. Garvin

“The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.”                Pablo Casals



The Affordable Care Act was ramrodded through the Democrat-dominated House and Senate by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and other assorted liberal minions.  The typical Machiavellian chicanery was characterized by “the Louisiana Purchase” and the “Cornhusker Kickback.”  All this was necessary because prospects for passage of the largely unread and unpopular bill were razor thin.



Bart Stupak, the democrat from Michigan mounted an ephemeral challenge based on principle along with ten other followers.  Stupak argued that it would be a violation of the rights of many religious believers under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to force them to pay for abortions.  He had offered an amendment to Obamacare to that effect.   Under immense democrat pressure (as well as $578 million in earmarks and another $727,000 for an airport in his district), Stupak agreed to accept an Executive Order by the president that restated his amendment.  “All the safeguards we were looking for, the principle we fought for all these months, will be enforced through this Executive Order,” Stupak erroneously crowed.



Effective on August 1, Health and Human Services issued a mandate that all insurance plans must cover all FDA approved contraceptives including abortion-inducing drugs.  “I am perplexed and disappointed that, having negotiated the Executive Order with the president, not only does the HHS mandate violate the Executive Order but it also violates statutory law,” the too little, too late (and out-of-office) Stupak shamefacedly admits.



California has advanced the right-to-kill-your-baby ball even farther down the road.  Michelle Rouillard, the director of California’s Department of Managed Health Care dictated in a letter to seven insurance companies that “Abortion is a basic health care service” and therefore, all insurance policies sold in California must cover this life ending practice.  This effectively reverses their previous ruling and effectively eliminates the federal law, the conscientious objections and sincerely held beliefs of all those who believe life begins at conception.  Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has called this ruling “morally obscene.”  An argument can be made that this new dictate violates federal law which requires the forfeiture of federal funds if a state mandates abortion coverage.  Of course, it is HHS who rules on the forfeiture so the cycle of death is complete.



Well, not quite.  In 2009, Sarah Palin added “death panels” to the lexicon of the American healthcare debate.  She was incessantly mocked by media and her obsessed liberal detractors.  (Of course she was also mocked in 2008 for accurately predicting that Russia would be encouraged to invade Ukraine if Obama was elected!)  In fact, Politifact awarded “death panels” their “Lie of the Year.”  However, they did nothing to research or clarify the purpose of “end-of-life” counseling or the role and function of the non-elected, non-accountable Independent Payment Advisory Board.  Because of the public furor over the lack of transparency, the end-of -life counseling was dropped from Obamacare.  However, the AMA has recently created codes for end-of-life counseling and submitted them to Medicare and Medicaid Services for reimbursement.  A decision is expected this fall.



Burke Balch, the director of the Powell Center for Medical Ethics says many doctors believe in “hastening death for those deemed to have a ‘poor quality of life.’”  Remember that the stated purpose of Obamacare is “to reduce the growth in health care spending.”   Even Eugene Robinson, a dyed-in-the-wool Obama devotee has admitted “If the government says it has to control healthcare costs and then offers to pay doctors to give advice about hospice care, citizens are not delusional to conclude that the goal is to reduce end-of-life spending.”



Steve Rattner, a former Obama advisor, has said we need death panels.  “Well, maybe not death panels exactly, but unless we start allocating healthcare resources more prudently—rationing, by its proper name—the exploding cost of Medicare will swamp the federal budget.”  He then added that “The big money...is in reducing the cost of treating people in the last year of life.”



Too bad this President isn’t nearly as good in conducting his war on terror as he is in waging war on the unborn and the elderly among us.  Beware disabled...you may be next!