Since its inception, Louisiana Right to Life has been equally concerned with protecting older people and people with disabilities from euthanasia as with protecting the unborn from abortion. We have recognized that involuntary denial of lifesaving medical treatment is a form of involuntary euthanasia, and therefore have opposed government rationing of health care.
In an April 28, 2009 New York Times interview, President Obama discussed having a “very difficult democratic conversation” about “those toward the end of their lives [who] are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here.” Some have proposed that because of this statement, his “final solution” to soaring health care costs could be euthanasia or assisted suicide. On March 23, 2010 President Obama signed into law an anti-life, unpopular healthcare restructuring plan, passed by the slimmest of margins. If the Obama Health Care Rationing Law is not repealed before its most dangerous provisions come into effect, the result will be the rationing denial of lifesaving medical treatment, and consequent premature and involuntary death, of an unknown but immense number of Americans.
See our “Life at Risk” video by clicking here.
Rationing is inevitable whenever the government controls medical spending. Repealing the Affordable Care Act is necessary. Through this law, rationing becomes a reality with Independent Payment Advisory Boards, Medicare and Exchange Limits, as well as government shared decision-making process. The ACA is extremely complex and is roughly 1000 pages in length (to read the actual law click here). However, what is not complex is comprehending how easy it is for health care to be rationed within the ACA. Health care advisors for the new law have proposed rationing based on a combination of factors including patient age, expected “quality adjusted life years,” and the patient’s “instrumental value” to “society.” Given that the government would be making (and paying for) these rationing decisions, value to “society” will become “value as determined by the government.” Below is a easy to understand flow-chart that explains how the Independent Payment Advisory Board’s “recommendations” become new standards of quality care:
There has been much written about how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (commonly called “Obamacare”). The ACA authorizes limits on the health care doctors and other can provide and on what private citizens may choose to pay, out of their own (nongovernmental) funds, for health care and health insurance.
For an more information please National Right to Life’s Rationing Under the Obama Health Law.
For a very informative video on the new health care law, please click here to watch the Determinators. This film was produced by experts in the field of healthcare who understand the ACA law and it’s impending ramifications.
