George Rebane

Dr Donald Berwick is a radical socialist physician whose recess appointment and background is being hidden by the lame stream media, while the White House today is spinning lies by the bundle about the process that finally made him the functional head of Obamacare.  ‘Radical Socialist’??  Well yes, you get that from his own words on video, and even the liberal Boston Globe calls him that.  But don’t look for any of that on your usual lapdog outlets.

Today I recorded this little puff piece entitled ‘Recess Exposing Obamacare’ on KVMR-FM 89.5 for my bi-weekly commentary.  I had to soften it because, after all, it is a family radio station licensed by the FCC, but you’ll get the message.  My commentary follows:

Last year during the healthcare debate we heard a lot of claims about what Obamacare would deliver and how much it would cost.  Today almost everyone one of those claims has turned out to be a lie, and the news that is coming in from across the country, as people begin to understand what is in that legislation and what drastic measures companies are beginning to take, justifies at least one assessment that Speaker Pelosi made in her final pitch for its midnight passage – ‘We have to pass it before we will know what is in it.’

This week the President recess-appointed his long awaited head of Medicare, Donald Berwick, who is “in love” with the British National Health Service.  This move is of a piece with the general program of deception that continues with Obamacare.  Dr Berwick is an avowed devotee of socialized medicine and appears also to be a realist on how it must be practiced.  You will recall all the hoots and hollers last year from the progressive camp to shout down those of us who pointed out that Obamacare would immediately take American healthcare into socialism, and that its cost overruns mandated an early program of healthcare rationing.

Well, it turns out that Dr Berwick understands the necessity of rationing to contain costs and will begin implementing it sooner than later in Obamacare.  Even though Berwick and Obama have the same mindset on state dictated medicine, Obama knew that the man was toxic to the chances of his legislation passing if he were appointed prematurely and hauled in front of a congressional committee for his confirmation hearing.  Can you imagine Berwick having to contradict on camera the stream of lies that Democrats at all levels were flooding over the media? 

No, he had to stay on ice until the bill was safely signed into law, and Congress took its first little eleven day recess so he could be hustled in without having to tell us what is really in store for the country as the feds roll out Obamacare.  He will have his confirmation hearing early next year, after the elections are over and his revelations are moot.

But the interested voter doesn’t really have to get the facts from Berwick next winter.  The revelations are out here for all to see.  In the Wall Street Journal Joseph Rago writes,

President Obama said earlier this year that the health-care bill Congress passed three months ago is “essentially identical” to the Massachusetts universal coverage plan that then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed into law in 2006. No one but Mr. Romney disagrees.  As events are now unfolding, the Massachusetts plan couldn’t be a more damning indictment of ObamaCare. The state’s universal health-care prototype is growing more dysfunctional by the day, which is the inevitable result of a health system dominated by politics.

The costs of that plan are spiraling out of control and rationing is just one of the measures required to attempt containment.

To get a handle on some real numbers that Obamacare will deliver, all we have to do is look at Britain’s  experience.   Medical appointments are delayed, needed medicines are restricted or disallowed, procedures are postponed or completely denied.  If it costs more than $49,000 to extend your life for another year, you will be cut off at that amount.  And if you decide to pay for the overruns for treatment or medicines out of your own savings, you will be subject to the final solution of nationalized healthcare – you will be thrown out of the program completely.

The comparative survival rates for various diseases corroborate these grim reports.  In Britain and elsewhere in the world of socialized medicine, there sits the inevitable Chief Rationer to whom you are a faceless set of costs.  Obama did tell us that government will not come between you and your doctor, because at an appropriate time the government will simply remove your ability to see a doctor.  Dr. Donald Berwick, America’s Chief Rationer, will start making those decisions for you and me.

I’m George Rebane, and I expand these and other themes in my Union column, and on georgerebane.com.  The opinions here are mine and not necessarily shared by KVMR.  Thank you for listening.