Monday, November 5, 2012

Catron, DeMuth: America's Last Chance

David Catron reminds us that tomorrow is our "One Last Chance to Kill Obamacare".

In his latest American Spectator column, he notes:
It isn't possible to cover all of Obamacare's flaws in one column, but the point can be made by a brief summary of its worst provisions. Among these are mandates that restrict individual liberty and freedom of conscience, tax increases totaling more than $800 billion, the creation of perverse economic incentives that will kill millions of jobs, and the creation of a rationing board whose power will be virtually unchecked.
(Read the full text of "One Last Chance to Kill Obamacare" for more details.)

Christopher DeMuth makes a similar point in today's Wall Street Journal: "A Referendum on ObamaCare and Liberty":
If President Barack Obama is re-elected, ObamaCare's controls over doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical firms and other providers of medical care will be tightened, and the operations of private insurance companies will be progressively restricted. Everyone involved will know where the process is going—to a single-payer system or one with a few chosen insurers subject to national public-utility controls—and will negotiate the best possible accommodations to it. Within a few years, a new political equilibrium will be in place, making the system irreversible and subject to only marginal adjustment...

Which direction voters choose on Tuesday will have profound consequences for the cost, quality and availability of health care in America.
If Americans re-elect Obama to a second term, Jennifer Haberkorn at Politico notes "Post-election flood of 'Obamacare' rules expected".

I also anticipate that we'll soon see more explicit calls for overt medical rationing.  For details, see my 10/3/2012 Forbes piece: "Get Ready For Obamacare's Medical Rationing".

Tomorrow will be our only realistic chance to avoid this deadly endgame for American health care.  We'll find out soon what our country decides.

(Addendum: The biggest question mark in my mind is what happens if the GOP wins the White House and retains the House of Representatives, but fails to win control of the Senate.  In that case, a President Romney would likely be unable to repeal ObamaCare although he might conceivably be able to mitigate some of the worst effects.  But that's a topic for a future post)