Obama’s Pro-Rationing Medicare Nominee Donald Berwick Criticized Further

Bioethics   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jun 10, 2010   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Obama’s Pro-Rationing Medicare Nominee Donald Berwick Criticized Further

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 10
, 2010

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.

 

Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com

Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report
Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.