Rasmussen reports that 75% of Americans want Obamacare repealed or changed.
January 6, 2011
RE: NRLC urges "yes" vote on H.R. 2 to repeal Obama health care law
Dear Member of Congress:
On behalf of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the nationwide federation of state right-to-life organizations, we urge you to vote in favor of the repeal of Public Law 111-148, the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," when repeal legislation (H.R. 2) comes before the House of Representatives on January 12.
As enacted, the PPACA contains multiple provisions authorizing federal subsidies for abortion, and additional provisions on which future abortion-expanding regulatory mandates may be based. Many of the abortion-subsidizing provisions of the legislation are detailed in an NRLC affidavit posted on our website here, and further documented in other materials posted here.
In addition, the PPACA contains multiple provisions that will, if fully implemented, result in
government-imposed rationing of lifesaving medical care. Among the most dangerous:
· The department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be empowered to impose so-called "quality and efficiency" measures on health care providers, based on recommendations by the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which is directed to force private health care spending below the rate of medical inflation. In many cases treatment that a doctor and patient deem needed or advisable to save that patient's life or preserve or improve the patient's health but which runs afoul of the imposed standards will be denied, even if the patient wants to pay for it.
· The law empowers HHS to prevent older Americans from making up with their own funds for the $555 billion the law cuts from Medicare by refusing to permit senior citizens the choice of private-fee-for-service plans whose premiums are sufficient to provide unrationed care but which HHS, in its unlimited discretion, disallows. The Obama health care law could thus lead to elimination of the only way that seniors will have to escape rationing -- by limiting their right to spend their own money to save their own lives.
· The law instructs and authorizes state bureaucrats to limit the value of the insurance policies that Americans may purchase. Not only will the exchanges exclude policies from competing in an exchange when government authorities do not agree with their premiums, but the exchanges will even exclude insurers whose plans outside the exchange offer consumers the ability to reduce the danger of treatment denial by spending what those government authorities claim to be an "excessive or unjustified" amount. This will create a "chilling effect," deterring insurers who hope to compete within the exchanges from offering adequately funded plans even outside of them, so that consumers will find it increasingly difficult to obtain health insurance that offers adequate and unrationed health care.
To summarize: The law is so riddled with provisions that violate right-to-life principles that it cannot simply be patched. It must be repealed, and any replacement legislation must contain all necessary safeguards for the right to life of the most vulnerable members of the human family.
NRLC intends to include the roll call on passage of H.R. 2 in our scorecard of key right-to-life roll calls of the 112th Congress.
If you have questions regarding the abortion-related aspects of the law that are not answered in the material referenced above, please contact the NRLC Federal Legislation Department at 202-626-8820 or at federallegislation@nrlc.org. If you have questions regarding the rationing issues associated with the law, please contact the NRLC Powell Center for Medical Ethics at 202-378-6683 or at MedEthics@nrlc.org.
Respectfully,
David N. O'Steen, Ph.D
NRLC Executive Director
Douglas Johnson
NRLC Legislative Director
Burke Balch, J.D.
Director
Powell Center for Medical Ethics
The vote will likely be late tomorrow, Jan 19th, so please call your Congressperson first thing in the morning. You might want to stress these points which were outlined in the letter.
1. You don't want bureaucrats in Washington (the Department of Health and Human Services, based on recommendations by the Independent Payment Advisory Board)to dictate what treatment your doctor or hospital can - and can't - give you through so-called "quality and efficiency measures."
2. In order to protect senior citizens' lives, we must ensure their right to get unrationed medical care under Medicare. As Medicare is slashed by billions of dollars, we must not deny older Americans the choice of adding their own money, if they wish, to get unrationed insurance - as the Obama health law would empower federal bureaucrats to do.
3. Consumers will be denied the choice of plans offered by insurers who allow their customers to spend what state bureaucrats deem an "excessive or unjustified" amount for their health insurance.
Don't keep us from spending our own money to save our own lives!
Congressman John W. Olver , 202-225-5335
Congressman Richard E. Neal, 202-225-5601
Congressman James P. McGovern, 202-225-6101
Congressman Barney Frank, 202-225-5931
Congressman Niki Tsongas, 202-225-3411
Congressman John F. Tierney, 202-225-8020
Congressman Edward J. Markey, 202-225-2836
Congressman Michael Capuano, 202-225-5111
Congressman Stephen F. Lynch, 202-225-8273
Congressman William D. Keating, 202-225-3111 Detailed information on these and other components that will result in rationing is available
here.
