National Healthcare. A Socialist, Commie, Dream! A Free Man’s Nightmare!A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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Editor’s note: Back in July, of 2007, I wrote the following missive. Of course, at the time none of us knew just how deeply into our private lives ObamaCare would eventually reach. Now that we have had a glimpse of the bill, it turns out I was far too conservative in my predictions.

What follows is the article I wrote in 2007. A ways down the page you will see a list of some of the freedoms we Americans will lose if ObamaCare actually passes into law in it’s current configuration. Notice how deeply into your personal life ObamaCare will reach. Your life, and that of every member of your family, will be an open book to the government.
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We are continuing to lose our privacy, here in America, at an ever-increasing speed. There is hardly a place in America one can go, these days, without being seen by someone’s security cameras. I recently stood in a parking lot of one of the Big Box stores and counted 22 cameras zeroed in on the parking area, and entrances, and exits, to the store. And that was just on the OUTSIDE, at the front, of the store!

And those red-light cameras? Don’t get me started on that!!!

If you think Big Brother’s snooping is bad now… just wait… it will get worse, a LOT worse, if we allow it.

If you think it’s bad now, wait until we have national health insurance. Our every move will be monitored, and we will be directed, by the government, in every facet of our lives.

Weigh too much? Lose weight… or the government won’t pay for your medical bills.

Drive too fast? Slow down or the government won’t pay for your medical bills if you’re in an accident.

Smoke? The government won’t pay for your medical bills, period.

Have more than (two) kids? Your medical bills will not be paid if you exceed the allowable limit on babies.

Pregnant with a third child and the government insists that you have an abortion, but you really want this third child? Well, either have an abortion, or that third child will have no medical coverage and the cost of the pregnancy, and delivery, will not be covered, either.

Didn’t finish High School? Your medical bills will not be covered if you do not get a High School Diploma.

Take the wrong courses in college? Well, if you didn’t check before you signed up for a course, and you signed-up for a course the government thinks is uncalled for, or that you do not need for your chosen occupation… then your medical bills will not be picked up by the National Healthcare.

Own a gun? Why, everyone knows there is an epidemic of deaths due to handguns in America. So it is a health issue. National Healthcare will not pay for your medical bills until you turn in your guns to the government!

Choose the wrong career, and you are on your own! No medical help from the government.
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As promised, listed immediately below are just a few of the freedoms we now enjoy - the loss of which I did not envisage when I wrote this piece back in 2007. Alongside each one is the page number of the bill where the actual reference to each particular item can be found - if you choose to look them up. Here goes:

• Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!
• Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!
• Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)
• Page 42: The “Health Choices Commissioner” will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.
• Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services.
• Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.
• Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.• Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (read: SEIU, UAW and ACORN)
• Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.
• Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans)
• Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: illegal aliens
• Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
• Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.
• Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No “judicial review” is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.
• Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages thereby reducing competition and quality of providers.
• Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives.
• Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families.
• Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll
• Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll
• Page 167: Any individual who doesn’t’ have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.
• Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them).
• Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.
• Page 203: “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax.” Yes, it really says that.
• Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected.”
• Page 241: Doctors: no matter what specialty you have, you’ll all be paid the same.
• Page 253: Government sets value of doctors’ time, their professional judgment, etc.
• Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries.
• Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.

• Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!
• Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.• Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.
• Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies!
• Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.
• Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on “community” input.
• Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., rationing.
• Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc.
• Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.
• Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (healthcare by phone).
• Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia?
• Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time.
• Page 425: Government provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death.
• Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends.• Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient’s health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.
• Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life.
• Page 469: Community-based Home Medical Services: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government intervenes in your marriage.
• Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.

(Read additional comments on this at Texas Fred's site HERE.)

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Get the picture? Almost total control. And you, and I, will have given that power to the government - or your employer. After a while, there won’t be much difference, anyway.

So, next time you hear someone calling for National Healthcare, remind them of all the freedom they will give up for that cradle to the grave care.

The founders of this country wanted us to live free - healthy, if we can manage it, but free, in any event. Today, it seems we are prepared to give our freedom up for a form of modern day Marxism - Socialized Medicine.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, “Socialized Medicine by any other name, would still stink!”

J. D. Longstreet

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