Health News, in Today's News 04.05.10

Health News. It didn't take long for the cryptocracy to find a new health concern to scare the American public, after the cryptocracy's swine-flu fiasco. Today's Wall Street Journal has a page A3 major spread titled, "Risk of New Virus Probed".

The first paragraph: "An infectious virus linked to two diseases is drawing the attention of public-health officials, who are investigating the potential threat to the nation's blood supply."

And so here we go. There is no evidence that there is any danger. But the 'public-health officials' are sounding the alarm anyway.

It seems to be part of the cryptocracy's on-going efforts to intimidate the public to always have something to cause people to be fearful. When there is a health danger, the public has no ready means to combat it. Of necessity the public has to look to government agencies. And thus, the fear mechanism is a very handy little device to keep the public under control.

Some day the public will begin to see through such methods. But, until then we are at the mercy of the power-hungry.

Health Care, in Today's News 03.25.10

Health Care.  The Church leaders got exactly the change they had been crying about in the Obama-care legislation. They therefore look pretty silly now complaining that the legislation is flawed.

The Church leaders, for months, have given the impression that the legislation would be okay if funding for abortion was omitted. The Cryptocracy, not being stupid, realized they could use the Church's stance to get the legislation passed. All that was need was some parliamentary maneuver to give the impression of no funding for abortion. And thus the impression would be given that the Church would think the legislation is okay. And thus they utilized Michigan's Stupak to pull it off with an executive order banning funding (which can easily be reversed or even ignored).

The Church leaders were maneuvered right out of their pants. They were left with not much to say except to whine that the legislation was flawed. That complaint was probably worth a few laughs in the inner sanctums of health-care planners. 

All this could have been avoided if the Church leaders had not overlooked a few key points. Ignored was the overall issue of the legislation establishing a nationalized, bureaucratic, cost-cutting, profile driven method of health care. Ignored was the fact that the Church's creation - compassionate health care - was being submerged in a de-humanized system. Ignored was the overwhelming opinion of the American public that this legislation stinks.

And so, the Church leaders set themselves up for the Stupak-type maneuver. 

This story is a disgrace. Not only did the Church leaders fail to defend one of the great legacies of the Church, through their inept attempt to influence the legislation they also ended up bearing the central responsibility for the adoption of this law that will adversely affect the faithful and all Americans.

There are something like 65 million Catholics in the United States, all of whom would follow the lead of the leaders of the Church and Catholic organizations. Properly educated and organized, the Catholic faithful could (and should) have stopped the health-care attack.

The Church leaders' lack of back-bone and their failure to even understand what was at stake spells big trouble for the Church in coming times. Prayers are needed.

Economic Crisis, in Today's News 03.03.10

Economic Crisis. Today's Wall Street Journal has a headline (page C16) that perfectly expresses the current frustration of the Cryptocracy: "Congress Is Wasting a Good Crisis." [!!]

The Cryptocracy had precipitated the economic crisis in the hopes of creating an atmosphere where several changes to American public life could be stampeded through Congress to the great benefit of the owners of the country's wealth. 

They had a big 'to-do' list and some things were accomplished: the election of Obama, the government take-over of General Motors, a rationalization and consolidation of the banking industry, and a disciplining of the insurance industry. But a couple of big items are stuck in Congress: health care and a reorganization of financial regulation.

The Cryptocracy and their agents are now making a last-ditch effort to ensure that Congress passes legislation to enable a government take-over of health care and to enable an empowerment of the Federal Reserve as the chief enforcement agency. Time will tell if they are successful, but they rarely give in.

The WSJ headline, consciously or not, summarizes the situation as seen from Cryptocracy headquarters. Here the Cryptocracy had made a perfectly good crisis to change things around, and now these self-inflated goof-offs in Congress are mucking the whole thing up by their constant dickering over details.

The Cryptocracy intends to get its way. And they will eventually, until and unless a conscious opposition arises to their manipulations.

Health Care, in Today's News 02.25.10

Health Care. President Obama at his carefully contrived health care summit is quoted, "We cannot have another yearlong debate over this..."

Obama's remark well expresses his frustration with two dilemmas. First, he and his mentors realize that the longer it takes to complete health reform legislation, the poorer will be the result. 

The Cryptocracy who promoted Obama and created an economic crisis to ensure the passage of several of their big projects, has a high priority on health care reform, which is another way of saying governmental take-over of 1/6 of the American economy. This is such a big theft and will result in such a qualitative leap in Cryptocracy fortunes, that the Cryptocracy is in no mood to accept anything less.

The Cryptocracy craves this 'reform' so much that they are willing to sacrifice their latest man in the White House, Obama, and the Democratic control of Congress. They are not at all pleased with the plodding pace of Obama's attempt to pass the appropriate legislation which in the end may be defeated.

Thus Obama's quote on not taking another year. He meant every word of the quote because he knows that health care failure also means Obama failure in the eyes of the Cryptocracy.

Second, the Obama team is perfectly aware that to the extent that Obama's identification with health care continues over time, to the same extent his standing with the American public will plummet. Obama knows he must get this legislation moving or he can forget about a second term, and he can kiss the Democratic majority in Congress good-bye. 

If it were up to him, he would probably put off  health care reform to another day in order to save his career. But the Cryptocracy is insistent. He must achieve this take-over.

And so Obama set up his health care summit. The whole show had no purpose at all except to try to demonstrate to the public that Republican opposition will force him to proceed on his own without bi-partisan support.

Obama is scheduled to make an announcement next week where he will say that he must go ahead and that he needs the support of the public. It is dubious that the public will take the bait.

Health Care, in Today's News 02.23.10

Health Care. The main headline in today's Wall Street Journal reads: "Obama Renews Health Push."

It is easy to conclude that Obama and the Democrats are tone-deaf when they press ahead with their health care legislation against the overwhelming opposition of the American people.

But they are not tone-deaf. They are astute politicians that can read the tea-leaves as well as anyone. Their push on health care simply reflects the extremely high priority the Cryptocracy has put on health care reform.

The Cryptocracy has a plan for a government take-over of 1/6 of the American economy (the health care system), moving the profit-making out of private hands into their conglomerates. In the process the traditional compassionate health care now existing will be replaced by bureaucratic control, cost reduction, protocols, and death panels.

The Cryptocracy really, really wants this change. They want it so bad they are willing to sacrifice the second term of Obama and a loss of Democratic control of Congress. 

And so, Obama presses ahead against all odds in an effort that is guaranteed to further destroy his reputation and authority.

Three things to watch out for:

1. Treachery. Obama will make any kind of deal to win over some votes for his legislation. Will anyone take the bait? We'll see.

2. Second Chance for the Leaders of Catholicism. They flunked miserably the first test on health care reform by not opposing the whole rotten mess. Now the American public has made its opposition clear. Will this mean anything to the Catholic leaders? We'll see.

3. Contrived Event. If the Cryptocracy runs true to form, they will produce an event, crisis or scandal to try to stampede support for the legislation. This is their tried and true method of operation. For example, most recently they managed to get someone to fly with an explosive in his underwear, creating a crisis that could conveniently be solved with full-body scans of all travelers at airports.

The Cryptocracy means business. They intend to push until they get their way. In some ways the situation is analogous to pre-World War II. Then the American public was overwhelmingly opposed to the US entering the war. But the Cryptocracy pressed ahead in the face of opposition, created a crisis (Pearl Harbor), and finally got their way.

There is a big test coming up. Will there be anyone in public life who will step forward, tell the truth, and rally the public to stop this take-over that will drastically affect the lives of every American?

Health Care, in Today's News 02.14.10

Health Care. Paul Craig Roberts has written a column on the health care crisis that must be read. 

The column is titled "How Private Medicine in America Was Destroyed."

If only his awareness was broadly held in the population, a lot of the current problems would be solved.

Obama, in Today's News 01.23.10

Obama. The Wall Street Journal termed Obama's Elyria, Ohio speech as a sharpening of "his populist tone." This is a nice way of covering over Obama's extreme rhetoric. Only communists up to now have said things the way Obama did. 

Case in point: Obama: "I'm not going to have the insurance companies click their heals and watch their stocks skyrocket, because once again there's no control on what they do." Lenin or Castro could not have said it better.

One of the prime cryptocracy goals to be achieved during the economic crisis precipitated by the cryptocracy was to bring the economy under government control and to begin to institutionalize a planned economy. The idea is that planning and central control will reduce the risk to the cryptocracy's wealth production. Annoying things like competition for the wealth would also be eliminated.

To this end, Obama has sought to establish czars and oversight committees for various industries, the auto industry and General Motors most notably. He has promoted a thorough reorganization of financial regulation giving oversight powers to the Federal Reserve. He has tried to bring the banks and insurance companies under government control. His health care reform is designed to bring this wide-ranging industry under central planners and bureaucrats.

The truth of the matter is that all these efforts are only crawling along. With the exception of the government take-over of GM, all Obama's 'reforms' are foundering, which is none too pleasing to the cryptocracy. And thus is explained Obama's desperate rhetoric which reflects his and the cryptocracy's frustration with the lack of success.

Health care is the most obvious of the failures. His effort to install a new system of financial regulation is going nowhere. The banks have fought back and tried to get the yoke of government control off their necks. His effort to control salaries and bonuses in the financial world has had only meek success.

There is an ominous side to this situation. The cryptocracy made the economic crisis possible in order to create a political atmosphere where quick passage of the cryptocracy's aims through Congress could occur. But few cryptocracy proposals have managed to make it through Congress into law. As Obama was quoted in reference to the health reform, "The longer it takes, the uglier it gets."

This result is a problem for the cryptocracy. Their favored mode of bringing change is to create a crisis and then rush through their 'reforms.' But, it didn't work as well as they wanted this time. So what are they to do? The very worrisome reality is that they are undoubtedly concluding that it will take an even greater crisis to achieve their ends. They are therefore certainly now preparing an even worse crisis. 

When the cryptocracy will drop the next crisis on us is unknown, but be prepared.

Massachusetts, in Today's News 01.20.10

Massachusetts. The Catholic leaders and trade union leaders who could have stopped the atrocious health care legislation chose not to exercise their power and instead played footsie with the Congressional leaders. And so the population at large had no choice but to stop it themselves. And so they did in a massive unprecedented voter rebellion that was a referendum on the pending Obama-care legislation.

The Massachusetts Senate race results show clearly that the American people want nothing to do with the health care legislation. The prevailing sentiment seems to be to dump the entire thing.

Can the Catholic leaders recognize what the public is saying? Can they now get up the gumption to oppose the damn bill? Time will tell. But don't get your hopes up.

The health care legislation is not done yet. The cryptocracy must get through some minimal foot in the door to begin the transformation of health care practice from compassionate to government (read bureaucratic) control. So their employees in Congress will now begin to try to find some compromise between the Democrats and Republicans that has a chance of approval by both houses.

Watch out for the treachery ahead as various politicians and political leaders make deals to ensure some health care legislation passes.

Massachusetts, in Today's News 01.16.10

Massachusetts. With one of the more significant voter revolts now occurring in Massachusetts over essentially the health care legislation, one would think that the leaders of Catholicism would get the message that there is something fundamentally wrong with the legislation. 

It would seem that the voters of Massachusetts, which includes a high number of Catholics, are saying that it is not a matter of a few things being left out of Obama's health care proposal. They seem to be saying the whole thing ought to be tossed!!!

Is it possible for the Catholic leaders to not get this message? Their emphasis on including no funding for abortion and a few other items as the way to make the legislation acceptable, is way, way off, and has no echo in the population. Most people who think about these things want the entire legislation dropped, cancelled, thrown out.

The voter revolt has just begun. The Catholic leaders ought to get in step with what the faithful and the population are expressing.

Health Care, in Today's News 01.15.10

Health Care. How's this for unprincipled, selfish and short-sided politics? Union leaders yesterday agreed with Democrat negotiators to a deal where the unions' 'high-end health-insurance plans' would be exempt from taxation until 2018 under the proposed health care legislation. In return the unions agreed to support the bill.

What's wrong with this? For starters it means that non-union and middle class workers will pay now. So much for solidarity. 

The deal also means that union members in the future will be hit with the taxation. So much for the younger workers. 

Next, the deal forces the legislators to go hunting for the tax-revenue that the deal put off to 2018. The negotiators were (WSJ) "considering increasing the financial hit on drug makers, nursing homes and medical-device makers..."  Of course none of these targets will just take the hit; they will pass the expense on to their customers, which just happen to be the public including union members.

This sniveling deal-making is almost a new low for a already deeply compromised union movement. Instead of opposing unconditionally a bill that will adversely affect all union members, these 'leaders' play around, making nice to the legislators so as to appear reasonable. In the meantime, the average American will soon face a government-controlled, bureaucratic, cost-reduction, and protocol-driven system of health care. Gone will be the days where a person could expect to receive the health care he or she wanted, and in a timely fashion.

No wonder this legislation may be adopted when those who have the power to stop it (e.g. Catholic leaders, union leaders), do nothing.

Health Care, in Today's News 01.12.10

Heath Care. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement today which contains the following quote:

"Provisions against abortion and in favor of conscience protection, affordability, and immigrants' access to health care must be part of a fair and just health care reform bill, or the final bill must be opposed."

Is the reader therefore to take it that if these subjects are included the final bill it can be supported? That certainly is the implication. And that certainly is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Fully more than half the country is opposed to this awful legislation. Their opposition for the most part is against a costly bill that will institute a bureaucratic, government controlled, cost-control, rationing, protocol-laden method of medical care in place of the existing (although feebly) system of compassionate health care. The health care that Americans are used to and which was originally inspired by the thought of Jesus himself is directly endangered by this legislation.

The new system is designed to carry out the wishes of the cryptocracy to drastically cut the societal costs of health care. That means a whole new world of health care where cost restraint predominates resulting in a rationing of health care.

If passed the average person will be faced with a system where profiles dominate. That is, medical care is dispensed to those who fit the profile for the particular health care method. If one doesn't fit the profile, for age or weight or whatever reason, then he or she will have to pay extra for the care. Similarly, doctors who don't follow the profiles will be punished. The profiles will be dictated by faceless bureaucrats in the medicare establishment or from insurance companies. The decisions will be compassionless and extremely difficult to fight or appeal.

The bishops have been at working on the health care legislation for many months now, and still they can not see the most fundamental problem with the bill, a problem that is abundantly obvious to the average American. They are so anxious to be 'good guys' and 'to play the game' without rocking the boat, that they are on the verge of seeing the destruction of the system of medical care that was originally started by the Church itself, implementing the compassionate thoughts of Jesus.

The headline on an article describing the bishop efforts is "US Bishops Launch Massive Effort To Keep Abortion Out of Health Legislation." And just what is their massive effort? They propose that everyone send a letter to their congressman and senator!!!

One is compelled to wonder if they are kidding. Letter-writing is their last minute effort? These bishops couldn't lead the way down the street if they had to. Perhaps they might consider a national campaign of the rosary and prayer to appeal to God for help in stopping this terrible legislation. There are millions of American Catholics, and perhaps their political weight ought to be brought to bear on the situation. How?Through public manifestations of the faithfuls' heartfelt feelings. Through the direct lobbying efforts of every Catholic.  

In short, turn the creative energy of the faithful loose. Make clear to them that this legislation must not pass, and let them develop means to stop it.

Such efforts, of course, appear to be completely beyond the bishops' imaginative powers or their backbone. Whether they will ultimately support a legislation that overturns Catholic-inspired health care remains to be seen. The one good thing going in the situation is that the bishops' desired provisions most certainly will not appear in the legislation. So, in spite of themselves, the bishops may end up opposing the legislation. It would be for the wrong reasons, but at least they might oppose it.

 

Health Care, in Today's News 12.26.09

Health Care. The leadership of Catholicism in the United States should be held responsible for the passage of the catastrophic health care legislation. They could have stopped it and they didn't.

The Bishops and the leaders of Catholic organizations did not recognize that the legislation intended to replace compassionate health care, the great Catholic legacy, with a government-controlled, cost-cutting, rationing approach. The Catholic leaders had the power (support of the faithful) to stop the legislation. They failed to do anything to effectively preserve the overall health interests of the faithful and the rest of the population. The passage of the legislation was all the more easily assured with the Catholic voice thus neutralized. 

The selling point of the health care legislation is that it expands health coverage. But, this was only a selling point. The reality of the legislation is that it institutes a de-humanized, bureaucratic method of providing health care. 

The leaders of Catholicism primarily took the stance of insisting that the legislation not provide funding for abortion. This was noble and correct, but the problem is they gave the impression, intended or not, that if the abortion provisions were acceptable, then the legislation as a whole would be okay. But the legislation as a whole is retrograde and an assault on the basic health rights achieved by centuries of struggle, led primarily by the Catholic Church.

There are many, many things wrong with the legislation. Here are a few:

The Senate bill establishes an Independent Medicare Advisory Board, composed of permanent, unelected and, therefore, unaccountable members. This body is explicitly empowered (sections 3403 and 2021) to deny medical treatment based on cost considerations. This Board will greatly expand the rationing practices that already have been introduced into medical treatment.

Section 6301 of the Senate bill creates new comparative effectiveness research programs. Such programs have been used in other countries (United Kingdom) as rationing commissions. Medicare's ability to refuse medical claims will be strongly enhanced by this provision.

In short, the legislation sets up a system where the government will be a permanent participant in doctor-patient relations. And as the participant with the money, it will have the decisive voice and vote. It's vote will be directed by cost-cutting above all else.

The legislation lays the basis for developing profiles for every medical treatment method or procedure. Such profiles will introduce a whole new world of health care. For example, if one does not meet the profile (because of age, weight, or another factor) the treatment can be denied. If the person still wants the treatment, he or she will have to pay for it. Similarly, if a doctor provides or recommends a treatment outside the profile, he or she will be subject to penalties, including reduced medicare payments.

This legislation is truly diabolic. The legislation represents the cryptocracy's dream to drastically cut societal medical costs by minimally providing medical treatment and to provide treatment in a completely mechanical (and therefore cost-predictive) manner. The great achievement of the Church in beginning and developing compassionate health care for all will finally be displaced, to the great joy of the Christ-hating cryptocracy.

Many, many statements by Church leaders on the health care legislation passed over this desk in the past few months. Not one of them addressed the fundamental issue of compassionate versus cost-control approaches to health care. The Church leaders appear to have been totally and naively taken in by the hype that the legislation would expand coverage. They then limited their intervention to the abortion issue (and a few others, such as conscience provisions). 

The Church leaders failure to recognize what was occurring will have lasting and permanent negative effects on the faithful. 

The great crime is that the Church leaders have the power to stop the legislation if they would only use it. There are 67 million Catholics in the United States. This is an organized grouping that is larger than any other in the country. Moreover, the great majority of Catholics would follow their leaders in action if asked to do it.

The Church leaders should have simply said "NO!" to the legislation. They then should have backed up their resolution by mobilizing the faithful in campaigns of lobbying, prayer, and even direct action. Especially prayer to God for help in stopping something that must be an abomination to our compassionate God, would have been effective. Sixty-seven million people could stop anything if they are properly educated and led. Yet this great force for the betterment of humanity was left dormant by the Catholic leaders.

There have been many dark days in the Catholic Church in the last few decades. Time and experience will show that the failure of the Church leaders to defend a great legacy of Catholicism, compassionate health care, will be among the very darkest days.

Health Care, in Today's News 11.10.09

Health Care. Headline in today's Wall Street Journal (page A4): "Catholic Church Emerges as Key Player in Legislative Battle." The 'news' article is a puff piece on the Church leaders attempting to flatter them into becoming shills for the complete health care legislative package.

Unfortunately the stance the Church leaders have put themselves in lends itself to precisely this political maneuver. Spokesmen for Catholicism have in essence become a one-issue lobbying group on the abortion issue in the health care debate. They have neglected to even try to comprehend the overall picture of what the health care legislation means, and instead have tried to bring their weight to bear on the abortion and a couple of other issues. And in so doing, they leave in silence the noble history and teaching of Jesus and the Church on compassion towards all.

No one doubts that the Church leaders influence on abortion has been a commendable undertaking, but by concentrating on the issue without regard to the context of what the cryptocracy is trying to do with this legislation, the Church leaders let themselves be positioned to support the legislation in return for an amendment on no abortion spending.

The key quote in the WSJ article is, "They [the Catholic leaders] actually wanted to pass the bill. That's why they had status. Other groups that had similar views on abortion weren't interested in passing the bill," Representative Mike Doyle (D, Pa).

In other words, 'you support our bill and we will give you a little on abortion and complement you.'

But to repeat for the umpteenth time: this legislation is designed to kill the idea of compassionate health care and replace it with government-control under cost-cutting guidelines. 

The Church brought Jesus' teaching to the world on compassion toward those who are ill. The Church founded the first hospitals. These hospitals treated all regardless of circumstance and 'cost-effectiveness'. These great institutions lived in a world where insurance protocols and medicare guidelines would have seemed barbaric, which they are.

The legislative leaders and the media are hyping their 'reform' as 'health-care for all.' But all their blather is just misdirection for what is really happening: a fundamental change in the way medical care is performed.

One wants to cry out when it is realized that the Church leaders actually take the legislative leaders at their word. Believing these thieves-called-legislators is always a mistake, but in the case of something as central as health care, believing what they say is a colossal mistake bordering on criminality. It certainly is a betrayal of the centuries of compassionate charity toward the ill by the Church.

Will the Church leaders take the cryptocracy bait and actually formally endorse the legislation? Time will tell. But, be prepared. They have certainly given the impression that that is precisely what they plan to do.

****

The Church leaders try to chalk up their support for health care for immigrants as continuing the Church teaching on compassion. Of course, such support is in keeping with the Church, but it falls so short of what is needed in this situation where the compassionate health care of all is jeopardized. 

Health Care, in Today's News 11.09.09

Health Care. The deed is not quite done yet. The health-care legislation still has to clear the Senate and a reconciliation with the approved House version. But, we are very close to the death of compassionate health care in the interests of government control and cost-cutting policies.

Thus, one of the great accomplishments of humanity stemming from the teaching of Jesus and the practice of the Church for centuries, is about to pass away.

Most astonishing in this development is the fact that those who ought to be defending the legacy of the Church do not have the faintest clue about the issues and the disastrous effects the legislation will have for the faithful and the rest of humanity.

Health Care, in Today's News 10.26.09

Health Care. Be prepared for a media deluge justifying the change in the medical world brought about by the upcoming legislation.

Today's Chicago Tribune carried two articles that indicate the drum beat has begun.

The first article was a major, major spread discussing how cancer and other screenings for seniors are costly and unnecessary. The argument goes that the screenings are for early detection of a cancer, but the elderly are already past the age where early detection is useful.

The second article reports that some ambulance services are raising fees for obese patients. The argument goes that it costs more to handle an overweight person, so why not charge for the extra cost.

Basic changes such as these are the intent of the proposed health care legislation. The idea is to transform medical care from a compassionate basis to one controlled by the government under cost-control guidelines. And so in these cases, for instance, who decides if a person is too old or too heavy? Why the government, of course, who will quickly establish 'best practices' guidelines to ensure compliance with their judgement.

It is simply astounding that the Church leaders and hierarchy don't have a clue about what the coming legislation proposes to do. The leaders are focused in on what the legislators say the legislation is: reform medical care, make medical care available to all, etc. But that is all misdirection, even if some worthy changes are made. The real aim of those behind this legislation is establish once and for all that cost-control and cost-reduction govern health care.

If they are successful health care will dramatically change for the faithful and everyone else. The elderly and the critically ill will feel the effect most quickly and most tragically. 

Pray for the dawn of insight in those who lead the Catholic world that they may see what is actually happening and do something about it. 

Health Care, in Today's News 10.19.09

Health Care. As the health care legislation moves toward adoption, "expert panels" remain a part of the package intended for vote.

"Expert panels" will provide 'guidelines' for doctors on what procedures to perform on a patient. The recommendations of these panels will inevitably be seen as 'best practices,' and would therefore be adopted as blueprints for which procedures health insurance should cover. A doctor who does not follow the guidelines could face reductions in their insurance and medicare payments. The goal of all this, of course, is to reduce costs. 

If adopted, expert panels will become a third party in every doctor-patient consultation. The third party will be the expert-panel guidelines, from which there can be no deviation without penalty. Thus, this third party is not an equal participant. The third party is the one with veto power, and moreover there is no appeal from the third party determinations.

More than anything else in the proposed legislation, expert panels signify a fundamental turning point in health care. Compassionate health care, the contribution of the Church to humanity, will be replaced with government control operating on a cost-cutting basis.

The proposed system is only good for the cryptocracy who will see a greater share of societal wealth go from health care to their pockets. Everyone else will suffer. Patients will be saddled with a blueprint plan for health recovery, and it will be extremely difficult to obtain alternate care. Doctors will be hamstrung by best practices which may or may not fit a particular problem. Doctors actually become like robots; all they have to do is identify a problem and the regulations take over. Any attempt to do something different would be punished. Society as a whole will find itself weighted down by yet another impersonal, inhuman massive bureaucracy attempting to control citizens' lives.

The change is not in the interest of anyone. Yet, there is no outcry against the expert-panel outrage. Every now and then someone will speak out, as in the Wall Street Journal today on the commentary page, "'Expert Panels' Won't Improve Health Care."  But where are the associations and organizations that represent professionals and patients? Their presence is noticeable by their absence.

And most outrageous of all is the silence of the leaders of the Church and Catholic organizations. Nothing has crossed the desk here presenting Catholic commentary on expert panels. We now face the likely possibility that one of the great legacies of the Church is set to slip into oblivion because no leader saw fit to oppose it. 

The Church leaders have the capability to stop the expert panels. The faithful are a large percentage of the public. If the faithful were motivated to take action against the expert panels, the cryptocracy and legislators would sit up and take notice. Even just a nation-wide campaign of prayer would shake the rafters.

Yet, the Church leaders don't even seem to recognize the problem. The change to expert panels is the central issue of the health care legislation. The Bishops, however, are concentrating on a number of other issues, all important. They seem to miss entirely that the compassionate care of the needy that Jesus' teaching brought about is under unprecedented challenge.

Moreover, the Bishops seem to be positioning themselves to approve the legislation if they receive a few crumbs from the legislators. If they do approve legislation that contains expert panels, it will be one of the greater disgraces in the history of the Church.

Health Care, in Today's News 10.15.09

Health Care. The Church Bishops have released another statement on the proposed Obama health care legislation. The Bishops commendably expressed their disappointment that the Senate Finance Committee passed its version of health reform legislation without resolving problems related to abortion funding, conscience rights, affordability and legal immigrants. The Bishops say they will oppose the law if it stands as written now.

One can only applaud the Bishops if they oppose the legislation, no matter what the reason. Let us hope they have the backbone to carry through. 

Health Care, in Today's News 10.08.09

Health Care. The Catholic News Agency reports that the US bishops sent an open letter today to Congress stating that they will "vigorously oppose" the health care bills unless they prevent taxpayer funds form paying for abortion, make care available for everyone and ensure that immigrants have access to the health system.

One can only applaud the long-overdue pledge to do something about the health care legislation. And the three objects of their resolution are worthy. And if the bishops were to prevail on Congress, the victory might effect changes in other parts of the legislation.

It is necessary to point out, however, that the bishops entirely miss the point of the present drive to reform health care. Obama and both parties are intent on transforming medical care from a compassionate basis to a cost-cutting, government-controlled basis. Such a change will be great for those who own the wealth of the country, but disastrous for everyone else.

No where do the bishops refer to this transcendent issue. Not only do they ignore it, they have given the impression over and over again that they would support the legislation if their three concerns are met. (By the way, the bishops did not include the right to conscience for medical workers in their central issues of concern in their open letter. Previous statements always included it. This omission is surely a step in the wrong direction.)

Here are two matters in the legislation that call out for the Church leaders to say something:

1). The proposed legislation calls for levying a fine on those who do not procure health care insurance coverage. The proposed fine may be as much as $3,000 per person!!! It doesn't take any imagination at all to see that this provision would affect the poorest, least advantaged people in the country. And surely, a good percentage of these are found among the faithful. Do the bishops have anything at all to say about this? Shouldn't they be shouting from the rooftops? They might say that their concern for affordable coverage for all covers the question of fines. Maybe so, but it is a little strained. The point is that the Congressional leaders are serious about imposing fines. And therefore the Church leaders should be serious about vigorously and expliciitly opposing the fines.

2). A number of proposals have been made for the legislation that involve evaluating doctors on their performance, on how many tests they order, etc. Those receiving the least rating would have their medicare payments reduced. Such provisions will encourage doctors to avoid seriously ill patients and other situations that may put them in a bad light. Again it is simple to see that the victims of this proposed provision will be found among the faithful, especially the elderly and those with chronic illnesses. Is it not reasonable that the faithful would expect their Church leaders to take a stand on this key issue? What is involved here is the beginning of the abolition of compassionate health care, the great contribution and legacy of the Catholic Church. It is a disgrace that the leaders are silent on something like this.

In general the Church leaders stance on the health care legislation has been off. They seem to frame everything in a stance of support to what they see as a "much-needed" reform of health care. The object seems to be that they can attain their goals by cooperating with the framers of the legislation. It won't work. These legislative leaders are carrying out their orders and they are nothing but intent; repeat intent. If the legislators get their way, the health care of Americans, including the faithful, will sharply decline. Such a reality ought to induce the Church leaders and bishops to oppose the thrust of the proposed legislation. Perhaps their open letter is a step in this direction. Let us hope.

Health Care, in Today's News 10.02.09

Health Care. During the acceptance of accreditation from the new US Ambassador to the Holy See, Pope Benedict made remarks on the issues being considered in the American health care debate.

The Pope highlighted the need for clear discernment on "issues touching the protection of human dignity and respect for the inalienable right to life from the moment of conception to natural death, as well as the protection of the right to conscientious objection on the part of heath care workers, and indeed all citizens."

The American Bishops at about the same time issued a statement on the health care debate that echoed the Pope's thought. Namely that the proposed legislation should not include language allowing for abortion and not allowing conscientious objections.

The Church leaders have repeated this position over and over again. It is obviously a correct thing to say. But, it entirely misses what is going on in the United States in the health care debate. Namely, that both political parties are agreed that the health industry needs to be brought under government control and run on a cost-reduction basis. This step will transform the practice of medicine that the Catholic Church brought into the world. We will go from compassionate health care to bureaucratic health care based on the cost-control dictates of the insurance companies and the government. 

In short, now is a moment of truth for the Church leaders. To remain silent on the key issue and development, as they are doing, will bring a significant reduction in health care to the faithful, and everyone else.

Just today doctors put forward a protest on an aspect of this very topic. The Wall Street Journal reports (page a5): "Doctors are trying to remove a provision in the Senate's latest health bill that would cut Medicare payments to those [doctors] who administer the most tests and treatments. The proposal...is one of several proposals...that could change how doctors are evaluated and paid. ...the provision is a blunt instrument that would discourage doctors from taking the sickest and oldest patients." One doctor said, "Those things are very imperfect, imprecise and they depend on data that often doesn't really reflect what's going on."

And what is this proposal based on? Cost-reduction, of course.

Do the Church leaders have a position on this type of change which is the central difficulty of the health care legislation?

The Church leaders' statements clearly give the impression that if abortion and conscientious objection are handled correctly and everyone has health coverage, then the legislation is okay. 

This stance is wrong, wrong, wrong!!! The Church leaders inability to see the fundamental question in the health care debate will have long-term negative effects on the faithful. One wants to scream at the Church leaders to try to wake them up!!! 

Health Care, in Today's News 09.22.09

Health Care. Here's the entirety of an article found in a number of newspapers: "The Obama administration warned insurance companies Monday they face possible legal action for allegedly trying to scare seniors with misleading information about the potential for lost benefits under health care legislation in Congress." [!!!!!]

If ever there was a sign that Obama and his health care legislation are on the ropes, this is it!

Obama pulled out all the stops in the last couple of weeks putting his political capital on the line. And the legislation is still going nowhere. 

So, now Obama is threatening legal action to get his way.

Any competent observer of politics will immediately see this threat as a sign of significant political weakness and desperation.

BTW, this threat has all the earmarks of the Rahm Emanuel school of politics.