Yes They Can

During the debate over Obamacare, liberals mocked the idea that it would lead to government "Death Panels" which decide who receives life-saving medical care...and who doesn't.

Which is why Barack Obama just used his "recess appointment" power to hire the man who will institute those panels without needing to answer any troublesome confirmation questions.

Dr. Donald Berwick is the new Administrator over Medicare and Medicaid...and he's made it very clear that his goals for those vast programs are based on two main principles: rationing of healthcare and redistribution of wealth.

Berwick is practically orgasmic when describing Britain's National Health Service, which routinely tells patients to go home and die if life-saving treatment is considered too costly. "I am a romantic about the National Health Service," he says. "I love it." He then went on to call the denial-of-care service "such a seductress," which makes us wonder if the good doctor has been tapping into the Viagra samples.

But on a more serious note - in fact, a deadly serious note - Berwick says "The decision is not whether or not we will ration care—the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open." In other words, the government will be making the decisions about who lives and who dies. Not based on who you are, who you love and who loves you, what you've accomplished or hope to accomplish, or even whether or not you've earned enough to pay for care if it were available.

Instead, care will be given to those who are most cost-effective to heal. And if your longterm prospects aren't good (because you're already old, for instance) you're a bad investment. You will receive, in Obama's words "painkillers instead of pacemakers."

Berwick is equally clear that he dislikes the free market system, and sees "wealth redistribution" as an integral and even desirable component of the Obamacare system.

Let's be clear: Obamacare is driving up the costs of medical procedures...driving up the costs of insurance...and, with the appointment of Berwick, reducing or eliminating healthcare for many who currently have it.

This being the case, the goal of Obamacare is not, and never has been, about either cost control or medical care. It is, in its entirety, a policy solely created for the radical redistribution of wealth.

Dr. Marx will see you now. Leave your valuables on the table.