Friday, July 24, 2009
by Frank Beckmann in the Detroit News
On Monday, President Barack Obama hailed that Apollo 11 mission that landed on the moon for sparking “innovation, the drive, the entrepreneurship, the creativity, back here on Earth.”
How right he was. Our space program led to technological advancements like breast cancer detection, digital imaging, ocular screening for young children, laser angioplasty, ultrasound scanning, arteriosclerosis detection, portable X-ray devices, MRIs and bone analyzers.
But less than 60 hours later, the president lamented the use of such advancements during a press conference to push his scheme to nationalize health care.
Obama bemoaned a reliance on too many tests in the current health care system, ignoring the self-protective practices that medical professionals have had to adopt to defend themselves against predatory trial lawyers. He also ignored the millions of lives that have been improved and extended through medical treatments based on the use of such advanced technology, which makes our health care system the envy of the world.
Obama left a lot unsaid about Democratic health care proposals during his press conference.
He told us that Americans would be free to choose our insurance plan and doctor. He didn’t tell us that we would have to enter the government’s plan if we change jobs — under the threat of a federal fine for lack of compliance.
Obama also neglected to say his health care scheme will feature a government agency — already created in the stimulus bill as the “Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research” — to tell doctors, again under threat of fines, what care a patient is entitled to receive. That’s called health care rationing.
Seniors should be especially wary of this plan unless they are fond of end-of-life counseling, which the government would require every five years for those collecting Social Security. That’s on Page 425 of the health care bill in the House, but the president didn’t address that either.
Obama says nearly 50 million uninsured Americans will have full coverage if we are willing to socialize the health care system.
What he didn’t tell us is how much longer we will have to wait for care at offices, clinics and hospitals because that many more patients will require an immense increase in the number of medical professionals — doctors and nurses, who are already in short supply. He also didn’t disclose that Congress plans to exempt federal officials from the requirement of using the new health care system.
Obama claims health care is bankrupting the nation. What he didn’t say is the Commerce Department reports that the four priorities of medical, food, energy and housing represented 55.4 percent of consumer spending in 2007. The same categories represented a nearly identical 53.3 percent of spending in 1960.
The health care system in the United States is, like all in life, imperfect. But it is hardly broken to the point of needing a complete dismantling.
Obama accused Republicans of playing politics with this issue, but what he didn’t say is that he has a large Democratic majority in both the House and Senate to force this program on the nation without a single GOP vote.
If Obama gets his way, the American people should never forget who ignored less extreme options to create a massive new government bureaucracy that will determine nothing less than who is worthy of living and dying.
Frank Beckmann is host of “The Frank Beckmann Show” on WJR (760 AM) from 9 a.m. to noon Monday-Friday. His column appears on Friday. E-mail comments to letters@detnews.com.
