When I saw the original video, I assumed that he was just over reacting due to what he heard on talk radio. However this interview gave me reason for pause. I am the parent of a handicapped child. My 22 year old son has multiple seizures every day, he takes several medications daily and has a learning disability. He is unable to live on his own. So while I believed the man was over reacting, I had complete empathy for the fear that every parent has who wonders who will care for my child after I'm gone. After watching this interview, I went and found the article in question.
"Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. He has already been appointed to two key positions: health-policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research."
"Emanuel bluntly admits that the cuts will not be pain-free. "Vague promises of savings from cutting waste, enhancing prevention and wellness, installing electronic medical records and improving quality are merely 'lipstick' cost control, more for show and public relations than for true change," he wrote last year (Health Affairs Feb. 27, 2008)."
"Emanuel, however, believes that "communitarianism" should guide decisions on who gets care. He says medical care should be reserved for the non-disabled, not given to those "who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens . . . An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia" (Hastings Center Report, Nov.-Dec. '96)."
OK, now you have my attention. Perhaps this gentleman has the right to be a little excited by what Democrats and the Obama administration have buried in this bill that no one has read. Betsy McCaughey closes the article with this paragraph:
"No one has leveled with the public about these dangerous views. Nor have most people heard about the arm-twisting, Chicago-style tactics being used to force support. In a Nov. 16, 2008, Health Care Watch column, Emanuel explained how business should be done: "Every favor to a constituency should be linked to support for the health-care reform agenda. If the automakers want a bailout, then they and their suppliers have to agree to support and lobby for the administration's health-reform effort." (Complete McCaughey article HERE.)
Again, it brings to surface the question: why is Obama and the Democrats is such a hurry to push this change through? Could there be a reason why they want to rush this through without providing a complete evaluation of the impact?
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