Obama Proposes Health Care Death Panels

Yes, I know we’re not supposed use the term “death panels,” but when we’re talking about giving the federal government the authority to control how much health care we can get what other term is there, really?
After all, access to health care (depending on the situation) can be a life or death proposition. In Great Britain the government controls access to health care and roughly 70,000 British citizens per year are forced to get health care in other countries because their government can’t give them what they need (despite their paying taxes to fund it), and the World Health Organization estimates that 25,000 Britons die every year thanks to delays in their health care system.
So when I hear that Barack Obama wants to control what health insurance companies can charge customers in terms of premiums, thus limiting what they can pay out for our health care, I think “death panels.” Because that move limits our access to health care.

President Obama will propose on Monday giving the federal government new power to block excessive rate increases by health insurance companies, as he rolls out comprehensive legislation to revamp the nation’s health care system, White House officials said Sunday.
The president’s legislation aims to bridge differences between the bills adopted by the House and Senate late last year, and to frame his debate with Republicans over health policy at a televised meeting on Thursday.
By focusing on the effort to tighten regulation of insurance costs, a new element not included in either the House or Senate bills, Mr. Obama is seizing on outrage over recent premium increases of up to 39 percent announced by Anthem Blue Cross of California and moving to portray the Democrats’ health overhaul as a way to protect Americans from profiteering insurers.

Remember that roughly 85% of Americans get their health care through private insurance companies either with their own policies or with policies they’re signed up on through their employers. So when Obama proposes controlling premiums, he’s talking about forcing health insurance companies to ration care for 85% of Americans. And, granted, insurance companies already do that to some extent, but this is going to make it worse.
Because health care costs are going through the roof. And with rising costs must come rising premiums. If premiums don’t go up, private insurance companies must either ration our care (death panels) or go bankrupt.
I’m guessing Obama and the rest of the big government types want the insurance companies to go bankrupt thus forcing more people onto government health care and eventually a nationalized system.