Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: Mia T
Found this little tidbit:
"One of the most terrifying features of the rejected HillaryCare proposal, through which the Clinton Administration attempted to seize the health care industry and nationalize 15 percent of our gross national product, was the section mandating the criminal prosecution of physicians for "bribery" and "fraud," which would have included the provision of health care services deemed "medically unnecessary" by federal officials. These enforcement provisions were intended to put the muscle of federal enforcement power at the service of the Clinton Administration’s philosophy of medical rationing.

As explained by Hillary Clinton in testimony to the Senate Finance Committee on September 30, 1994, the Administration’s socialized medicine plan would not deny treatment unless "it is not appropriate," meaning that in the view of government regulators, it "will not enhance or save the quality of life." What of doctors who took their Oath of Hippocrates seriously and sought to provide treatments not covered by the federal plan? Under HillaryCare, if doctors provided "unauthorized" treatment on a fee-for-service basis, they would have been subject to fines as large as $50,000, forfeiture of their property, and — in some cases — life imprisonment. When such horrific provisions received widespread publicity, the HillaryCare scheme was defeated — apparently. It is not widely understood that the Administration’s rejected plan to socialize health care merely amplified the statist trend presently undermining our health care system. That trend is best described as "corporate socialized medicine" — or, if one prefers, medical fascism.

Under the ethics of Hippocrates, physicians place the interest of the individual patient above that of the practitioner or society at large. But under corporate socialized medicine, or what is more commonly known as "managed competition," the physician is required to place cost considerations and the interest of third-party payers — such as insurance companies and Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) — above the concerns of the patient. This leads to the adoption of what Swiss physician-philosopher Ernest Truffer calls the "veterinary ethic," in which the human patient is treated like a pet and provided with the type of medical care determined by the "master" — in this case, the person or corporation responsible for paying the medical bills.

Even without the enactment of Hillary Clinton’s ghastly socialized medicine program, America’s health care system is in serious danger of being shackled with the worst aspects of HillaryCare — rationing of health care and the criminalization of transitional medicine. For the first time in the history of American medicine, physicians are being coaxed or coerced — depending on the stubbornness of the practitioner — into rationing health care by restricting their patients’ access to specialists or to specialized treatments."


30 posted on 04/14/2007 8:20:41 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (The most dangerous place in the world is between Hillary and the Oval Office)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: COBOL2Java
The Democrats have in the past proposed extending the Federal Employees' Health Benefits program, which covers federal and postal workers, to all Americans. This is a back-door attempt to cover all Americans with National Health Insurance. It would dilute (wreck) the plan, and costs would surely rise. The FEHB isn't a perfect plan, it isn't as generous as many private plans, but it's better than the dirt-cheap plans that many employers force upon their employees.

Just so you all know what's coming down the pike.

36 posted on 04/14/2007 8:59:46 AM PDT by Ciexyz (Is the American voter smarter than a fifth grader?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson