Letters to the Editor

Learn health care facts

Rose McDonald's Oct. 4 letter said we should stop health care distortions. I say all bills including amendments should be posted for 30 days for comment and review by the Congressional Budget Office for cost prior to voting.

Issues of coverage for abortions and illegal aliens should be resolved by amending bills with specific language to exclude abortions and require states to verify citizenship. Liberal Democrats refuse to do these things for obvious reasons.

The House health care bill, HR 3200, is 1,000 pages of legal mumbo-jumbo detailing a socialist takeover of our medical lives, not a simple plan to fix a few problems. The Capps amendment explicitly allows abortion coverage. The Hyde Amendment applies to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services appropriations but not funding authorized by health care bills and therefore will not curb abortions. Factcheck.org said "...it's likely that any new federal insurance plan would cover abortion unless Congress expressly prohibits that."

Sections 152 and 1714 allow coverage for illegal aliens, and the Space amendment deliberately leaves out a requirement to verify citizenship. Comparative effectiveness could be used for good or bad purposes. A Wall Street Journal article said it is generally a code for limiting care based on age using the quality-adjusted life years formula, which resulted in denying treatments to older patients in Britain.

The Advanced Care Planning Consultation section reads more mandatory than voluntary. It could be used for good or bad, but consider that one author is an advocate of assisted suicide. The Veterans Administration directed the use of a booklet written by an assisted suicide advocate. Congress proposed a $500 billion cut in the Medicare to pay for the new health plan. The CBO estimates only 1 percent will come from eliminating fraud. This leaves rationing.

Robert C. Lemke

Joliet