Posted on 06/10/2010 4:07:21 PM PDT by wagglebee
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama's nominee to become the director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is receiving further criticism for his pro-rationing views. Donald Berwick has drawn criticism from pro-life groups and Republican lawmakers who may bring strong opposition to bear.
Now, in a column at WorldNetDaily, liberal writer Nat Hentoff warns that Berwick will implement the rationing policies in the Obama health care plan he and others have warned about repeatedly.
"Unlike Obama, Berwick is enthusiastically, openly candid in his support of Britain's socialistic National Health Service," he writes.
Hentoff points to the quote that is making the rounds, where in a 2008 speech to British physicians, Berwick said, "I am romantic about National Health Service. I love it (because it is) 'generous, hopeful, confident, joyous and just.'"
But that "just" National Health Care Service, as Hentoff explains, "decides which care can be too costly for the government to pay."
"Its real-time decider of life-or-death outcomes is the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)," he says.
Hentoff complains Berwick will become "our very own decider of how the Obama administration will lower our national debt by cutting inefficient health-care costs. declaring his ardent romantic attachment to the British system, he will, of course, be too busy to attend the funerals of the sacrificial Americans whose lives – not only those of the elderly – may thereby be cut short."
"Berwick will be involved in the government-controlled health of more than 100 million Americans and – notes Michael Tanner – 'Maybe those worries about death panels weren't so crazy after all,'" he continues.
Hentoff also chronicles a Berwick quote from a June 2009 interview for the magazine, Biotechnology Healthcare: "It's not a question of whether we will ration health care. It is whether we will ration with our eyes open."
He responds to Obama and his nominee, saying, "There are many reasons why it is vital for Americans to vote in the midterm elections – and, of course, in 2012, to prevent a second term for the most dangerous and incompetent president we have ever had."
"But for many Americans, it is particularly important this year to vote against supporters of Obamacare. The question for many voters should be whether, in the years ahead, they will be in condition to vote if they are on waiting lists for government-controlled health care," Hentoff writes.
"More of us are learning that during the Obama administration, it is essential to continually keep our eyes open on all it does," he concludes.
Here come the death panels.
Pro-Life Ping
Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
>> “Its real-time decider of life-or-death outcomes is ... NICE”
a Death Panel called NICE. How Orwellian.
These twisted Marxists are sick. Repeal the perverted legislation.
They’ll probably force us all onto a strict Soylent Green diet.
You'd think his Death Tsar would be former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm.
Lamm will probably be Berwick's chief enforcement officer; unconfirmed, of course. Kind of a silent, late night, doorknocker.
yitbos
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.