Obama's choice to head Medicaide/ Medicare wants to distribute health and wealth
Recall, one of the few times Obama has been honest was his campaign era gaffe when he touted his desire to spread the wealth.
More recently, he hectored us (which he often does) that sometimes he thinks people just earn too much money. Now his OMB director denies that Obama pledged not to raise taxes on those earning less than $250,000. He says it was just a preference of Obama's (and now Obama himself just says he is agnostic on tax raises).
A few years ago, he expressed dismay that the Constitution was a roadblock to redistributing wealth. The stimulus plan rewarded union allies at the expense of the next two or more generations (and includes our own); the government bailout plan was a bailout of the UAW - and on and on it goes.
His policies show such a desire to spread the wealth (I prefer the term savings) - as do his personnel choices. The latest is Donald Berwick who will head the Medicaid/Medicare office and wants to not only redistribute health but also wealth.
'The decision is not whether or not we will ration care - the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open" is what Dr. Donald Berwick, President Obama's nominee to head the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, said in an interview published in Biotechnology Healthcare in June 2009.
The question is whether the Senate will confirm Berwick with open eyes.
And how will that care be rationed? It seems Berwick is a great fan of Britain's National Health Service, specifically its Orwellian-named National Institute for Clinical Excellence, or NICE. NICE is the body that decides what health treatments are available in Britain and who is worth receiving them.
In the 2009 interview, Berwick opined: "We can make a sensible social decision and say, 'Well, at this point, to have access to a particular additional benefit (new drug or medical intervention) is so expensive that our taxpayers have better use for those funds." Sounds like denial of care to us.
The desire to distribute the savings is a job requirement for all applicants in this administration.