Even without the new health care law, the U.S. medical industry was already looking at a shortage of doctors in the coming years.  According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the United States will likely face a shortage of as many as 150,000 doctors in the next 15 years.

But that shortage does not even factor in the large number of doctors that are going to leave the industry because of the new health care law.

According to a survey published in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, nearly one-third of all practicing physicians in the United States may leave the medical profession because of the health care legislation that was just passed.

Perhaps the politicians in Washington should have listened to what the doctors had to say before they passed the health care bill.

But they didn't.

Now large number of doctors may start retiring in droves.

According to an IBD/TIPP poll of American doctors, the situation is even worse.  That survey indicated that 45 percent of U.S. doctors would consider shutting down their practices or retiring if the health care bill became law.

Just think about that.

That number is mind blowing.

Currently, there are about 960,000 doctors practicing medicine in the United States.  If a third of them DID decide to retire or quit when Obama's health care law is fully implemented, that would mean that 320,000 doctors would suddenly leave the U.S. health care system.

Now hopefully things will not be that bad in reality, but even if 100,000 doctors leave the system, it is going to cause a shortage of unprecedented magnitude.

But it is not just a shortage of doctors that we will all be facing.

The new health care law that was supposed to give all Americans much better health care is actually forcing the cancellation of at least 60 doctor-owned hospitals that were scheduled for opening according to the executive director of Physician Hospitals of America.

Why is that the case?

Well, it turns out that the new health care law singles out doctor-owned hospitals, making new physician-owned projects ineligible to receive federal payments for Medicare and Medicaid patients.

Without those payments, the new doctor-owned hospitals are not feasible.

The new health care bill has been the law of the land for just a few weeks and it has already forced the cancellation of at least 60 hospitals.

Isn't that just great?

What a wonderful new health care system we all have!

If we are not careful, we are going to destroy what was once the greatest health care system in the world.

What in the world is happening to America?

It is a sad day for the American people and it is a sad day for America. 

But at least there were a few brave members of Congress that fought to the bitter end.  One of them was U.S. Rep. John Boehner.  Boehner made an impassioned plea on the floor of the House in an effort to sway votes, but it was not enough.  However, this speech by Boehner on the floor of the House on the eve of the vote will go down in history as one of the most memorable moments of this entire health care debate.  You have got to check this out....

Do you think that we are being too dramatic?  Just watch the video posted below. Someone out there has taken the time to break down section after section of this nightmare bill and explain what it is going to mean for America and for each of us individually. We challenge anyone to watch this video and then try to explain to us how our lives are going to be better after this bill passes....

The truth is that we would be far better off if the entire U.S. Congress would simply go home and take the rest of the year off.

How in the world can they give us a health care "reform" bill that gives us fewer choices, higher taxes, health care rationing and unprecedented U.S. government control over everything?  And this thing is also going to cost trillions of dollars and put our nation even farther into debt?

We don't want it!

Isn't the fact that a Republican is on the verge of winning a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts (of all places) enough of a signal to the Democrats that they need to back way off?

The truth is that the American people would be far happier if this Congress would spend their days getting drunk and taking naps.  At least that way they would not be busy screwing up all of our lives.

That is the best that the American people can hope for out of this Congress - that they would do absolutely nothing. 

The picture below is of this Congress doing their best work....

4 Health Care Plan Templates

Many Americans who are supporting the health care reform bill are excited because they think that finally all Americans will get the health care coverage that they want.

But unless what all Americans "want" is contained in the four standardized U.S. government health plan templates that is most definitely not going to be the case.

You see, private health insurers will still be involved in offering health insurance under the new plan, but their health plans will be required to meet the standards set forth by the U.S. government templates. The New York Post puts it this way.....

Consumers must buy policies from their employers or through the exchanges — but, either way, their choice of coverage is limited to one of four basic insurance plans that the government sanctions.

Private insurers will still compete to offer policies but must model their coverage on one of these four templates. In short, the Senate bill explicitly standardizes health benefits and then establishes elaborate mechanisms (including subsidies and penalties) to pay for them.

According to an Associated Press breakdown of the Senate bill, the most basic of the health plan templates would pay about 60 percent of health care costs per year, while the most "advanced" of the health plan templates would pay about 90 percent.

The vast majority of Americans have not even noticed that their health care choices are about to be scaled way back, but the Wall Street Journal has.  In a scathing editorial, the lack of flexibility and choices in these "health plans" was pointed out....

Unnoticed by the press corps, the Congressional Budget Office argued recently that the Senate bill would so "substantially reduce flexibility in terms of the types, prices, and number of private sellers of health insurance" that companies like WellPoint might need to "be considered part of the federal budget."

But even among the four health plan templates there apparently is not that much of a difference.  The New York Post describes it this way.... 

While these four plans vary from low- to high-cost options, the benefits offered under them are pretty much the same. The difference between the cheaper and pricier plans is mostly the amount of cost sharing (e.g., you pay less for insurance if your co-pays are higher).

So what does this mean?

It means that everyone is going to end up with essentially the same health insurance.

2 Places To Get Health Coverage

The Senate health care reform bill also gives Americans just two places from which to acquire health care coverage.  Either they can get it from their employer, or they can buy it from one of 50 state-based insurance "exchanges".

Reuters has posted a breakdown of how these state-based insurance exchanges will work....

The proposed government-run insurance option would be dropped from the bill. Instead, the federal government would contract with insurers for two national or multi-state health insurance plans that would be offered through the new insurance exchanges. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which oversees health policies for 8 million federal workers and their families, would manage the public plans.

So what does this do to health insurance companies?

It fundamentally changes their nature.

The Wall Street Journal put it this way....

With formerly private insurers converted into public utilities, for instance, they'll inevitably be banned from selling products like health savings accounts that encourage more cost-conscious decisions.

1 Giant Socialist Mess

So where does this leave the American people?

It leaves them with a giant socialist mess of a health care system.

The American people are going to be furious when they learn about the minimal health care choices that they have under this new system.

Experienced U.S. doctors will leave or retire in massive numbers.  One recent poll found that 45 percent of American doctors said that they would quit or retire if Barack Obama's health care reform plan is adopted. 

If there is a mass exodus of doctors, it would absolutely cripple the health care system in America. 

The level of medical care in America will also probably experience a dramatic decline if the Senate plan is adopted.  Just ask veterans or those on Indian reservations how well U.S. government managed health care works. 

The truth is that whenever the U.S. government gets involved in health care it quickly becomes a nightmare.

But now that is what all Americans will have - government planned health care.

The new Wall Street Journal editorial about the Senate plan expressed amazement at "the hubris of an Administration that thinks it can substitute government planning for market forces in determining where the $33 trillion the U.S. will spend on medicine over the next decade should go."

The truth is that the U.S. government is replacing a capitalist health care system with a socialist one.

The American people are not going to like it, doctors are not going to like it, employers are not going to like paying for it and the U.S. government is going to drown in red ink trying to pay for it.

But the Democrats are going to ram it down our throats anyway.

The health care bill Barack Obama is trying to ram through Congress does virtually nothing to reduce the countless millions that doctors, lawyers, pharmaceutical companies and health insurance companies are greedily raking in. Instead, it seeks to find savings by pushing "efficiency" and by cutting out "unnecessary procedures". In other words, federal officials will decide what medical procedures are "cost effective" and which ones are not.

Meanwhile, Representative Michele Bachmann is warning that this health care reform bill will be “the largest middle-class tax increase in American history” and will represent a huge step towards socialized medicine.

And she is right.

But that is not stopping Barack Obama from using whatever scare tactics he can to get this bill rammed through....

But Barack Obama was actually partly right about something.

The truth is that the U.S. government is already basically bankrupt.  It has been caught in an accelerating debt spiral for decades and now things have totally gotten out of control.  Just consider the chart below....

And the reality is that the chart above does not really reflect a lot of the money that went to bail out the financial industry.  The truth is that things are even worse than the chart indicates.

The U.S. government is drowning in red ink, and now we are about to have the Democrats ruthlessly ramrod a health care bill that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars down the throats of the American taxpayers.

What a mess we have on our hands.

The children are cute and the performance of the song is actually quite delightful, but those are not the issues.

The issue here is that these school children are being used as pawns to promote Barack Obama's socialist health care agenda on national television.

Perhaps CNN was afraid that their pro-Obama bias was falling behind other networks and that they needed to take things to ridiculous new extremes.

To illustrate how ridiculous this is, just try to imagine CNN having a conservative group of school children on who are singing a song about how incredibly bad Obamacare is.

Would that ever happen?

Not in a million years.

We will gladly retract those words if CNN ever proves us wrong.

But they never will.

CNN has lost all remaining shreds of objectivity by putting stuff like this on the air.

Watch this video for yourself and let us know what you think.....

Just exactly HOW is Obamacare supposed to work without any doctors?

A new IBD/TIPP poll of American doctors is putting an entirely new spin on the health care debate.  Most people realize that there are way too few doctors to begin with, and if hundreds of thousands of them suddenly left the profession, what would that do to the state of health care in the United States?

This data flies in the face of bizarre claims by the White House that the majority of the medical profession is behind Obama's plan.

The reality is that the medical profession is disgusted by the prospect of Obamacare.

The scientific IBD/TIPP poll sampled 1,376 practicing physicians chosen at random throughout the United States.  If the poll numbers are accurate, then the implications are staggering.

Currently, there are about 800,000 doctors practicing medicine in the United States.  If 45 percent of them DID retire or quit when Obamacare is implemented, that would mean that 360,000 doctors would suddenly leave the health care system.

That would be a medical disaster of unprecedented magnitude.

So why are the doctors so upset?

Well, according to the poll, increased mandates, lower pay and less freedom to practice are some of the greatest concerns.

Doctors don't want the government to tell them how to practice medicine.

Doctors don't want the government to limit them and their patients to treatment options that are "efficient" and "cost effective".

Doctors don't want to work more hours seeing more patients for lower pay.

Doctors don't want the government to tell them who they are going to see and how much they are going to get paid for seeing them.

Doctors don't want computerized systems that tell them what drugs and treatments the government thinks are "appropriate" for their patients.

Doctors don't want layer after bureaucratic layer of government officials enforcing new rules, watching everything that they do, and burdening them with mountains of paperwork.

If Obama is under some delusion that America's doctors are going to put up with all of this nonsense, then he is in for a rude awakening. 

The truth is that Obamacare would be an absolute disaster that the American medical system may never recover from.  Perhaps all of us should listen to what the doctors are saying before a mistake is made that all of us will regret.

First of all let's consider Sarah Palin's claim that Obamacare would create "death panels" that would make life and death decisions for the chronically ill. The following is a brief excerpt from Palin's Wall Street Journal article.....

Now look at one way Mr. Obama wants to eliminate inefficiency and waste: He's asked Congress to create an Independent Medicare Advisory Council—an unelected, largely unaccountable group of experts charged with containing Medicare costs. In an interview with the New York Times in April, the president suggested that such a group, working outside of "normal political channels," should guide decisions regarding that "huge driver of cost . . . the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives . . . ."

Sarah Palin is absolutely correct about this.  Barack Obama's health care reform package would not only allow unelected government bureaucrats to decide what treatments are the most "cost efficient", but it would also give them the power to decide whether it is "cost effective" to treat someone at the end of their life at all.

This is what happens in other nations (such as the U.K.) where health care decisions are placed in the hands of unaccountable government bureaucrats.  In the name of "cutting costs", Americans simply will not have the option of getting whatever health care they want whenever they want it any longer.  They will have to settle for whatever is "cost efficient".

Sarah Palin did not mince words in her article as she described the implications of Obamacare.....

Given such statements, is it any wonder that many of the sick and elderly are concerned that the Democrats' proposals will ultimately lead to rationing of their health care by—dare I say it—death panels? Establishment voices dismissed that phrase, but it rang true for many Americans.

When Obama uses terms like "controlling costs" and "improving efficiency" what he really is talking about is health care rationing and the loss of health care freedom.  Health care choices are to be curtailed for the good of American society in Obama's twisted vision of the future.

In fact, what most Americans do not realize is that a big step towards this kind of rationing was already passed in the economic stimulus bill.  That bill established "The Federal Coordinating Council For Comparative Effectiveness Research", and Obama has already appointed the 15 members of that council (including Rahm Emanuel's brother).  We reported on this very troubling development here:

http://thetruthwins.com/archives/health-care-rationing-and-death-panels

The New York Times described the purpose of this council this way.....

Under the legislation, researchers will receive $1.1 billion to compare drugs, medical devices, surgery and other ways of treating specific conditions.

Compare them for what purpose?

For the purpose of choosing what is most "cost effective" and "efficient" of course.  Ultimately the goal is to impose those "choices" on American citizens so that the entire health care system can "control costs".

Shifting gears, let's talk a look at U.S. Representative Joe Wilson's outburst.  He is being absolutely vilified in the mainstream media for yelling "You Lie" during Barack Obama's health care address to Congress.  Video of this incident is posted below..... 

First of all, it needs to be recognized that George W. Bush was treated in a similar manner by the Democrats and there was never any outrage in the liberal media.  So this is clearly blatant hypocrisy by the liberal media.

But setting that aside, was Joe Wilson right?

Was Barack Obama telling a lie?

Well, the truth is that last month, by a vote of 23 to 18, the House Ways and Means Committee defeated an amendment which would have explicitly excluded illegal aliens from the health care reform bill.

But why would such an amendment be necessary?

Last month the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan policy research arm of Congress, issued a report that indicated that without a citizenship verification system, illegal aliens would receive health care subsidies.

The executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, Mark Krikorian, told CNN that the CRS report "undermines the claims of the president and others that illegal immigrants would not be covered under the House version of the bill."

In addition, the reality is that illegal immigrants already receive free health care in emergency rooms throughout the United States.  As Newsweek explains..... 

Hospitals simply aren't allowed to refuse treatment in emergency situations, regardless of the patient's immigration status.

Due to the failed immigration policies of Clinton, Bush and now Obama we now have approximately 30 to 40 million illegal aliens absolutely swamping the health care system and driving many hospitals to the brink of bankruptcy.

Nothing in Barack Obama's health care plan does anything to fix this.

The truth is that it has now become clear that Barack Obama is a habitual liar.  Very, very few statements that he makes are 100 percent pure truth.  Instead of listening to his rhetoric, Americans need to read the health care bills for themselves as they are developed.

The reality is that the American health care system is about to be fundamentally changed, and if the American people do not want to wake up someday to an absolute health care nightmare they better urge their representatives to do something about it while they still can.

The website, "Organizing For America", is regularly used by Obama and his staff to rally his supporters to take action in support of the administration's agenda. For anyone in Obama's organization to equate conservatives, Republicans and opponents of Obamacare with al-Qaeda and other murderous terrorists is something to be taken very, very seriously.

After all, what happens to terrorists? Well, they are rounded up off the streets, detained in secret locations with no rights and they are tortured and abused for months or even years in an effort to extract information from them.

Is that what should happen to you for objecting to Obamacare?

The reality is that the inflammatory rhetoric by the left has gotten way, way, way out of control.

The same article below asks supporters to help "defeat anti-democratic forces of hate".

Anti-democratic forces of hate?

Are they serious?

Some may be tempted to ignore such hateful language, but as we saw all too often in the last century, very hateful political language by ruling government authorities often leads to violent and repressive actions by that same government.

So if you are against Obamacare, perhaps you should take a few minutes to consider what Barack Obama's organization is saying about you.....

When opponents of Obamacare are called "terrorists" by Obama's own organization, the reality is that the First Amendment is in jeopardy. 

If you do not think that government power cannot be used to repress political opposition in America than you have not been paying attention.  Already, the Pentagon has asked Congress to give the Secretary of Defense the authority to post nearly 400,000 U.S. military personnel throughout the United States in the event of an emergency or a major disaster.

And who defines what an "emergency" or a "major disaster" is?

Barack Obama.

Not only that, but throughout the presidential campaign Barack Obama spoke of the need for a civilian national security force that is just as strong and just as well funded as the U.S. military.

Does not such a scenario sound like a police state to you?

Are you ready for secret police and national security forces to patrol the streets outside of your home?

Are you ready to be labeled a "terrorist" for opposing the policies of the ruling administration?

The truth is that the America that we all knew if dying, and whether or not America can still be referred to as "the land of the free" is very much in question.

Some time ago, ABC News did an investigation of VA hospital conditions that uncovered the reality of "disastrous management and deficient care" at the 162 VA facilities throughout the United States.

The following are just some of the things that ABC News found during the course of their investigation.....

*Bathrooms filthy with what appeared to be human excrement

*Dirty linens from some patients mixed in with clean supplies

*Examining tables that had dried blood and medications still on them

*Equipment used to sterilize surgical instruments that had broken down

*Some patients were forced to beg for food and water

*Vets neglected so badly that they developed horrific bedsores and dangerous infections

Is this any way to treat our veterans?

Is this what we can expect under Obamacare?

So will there be long waits and rationing under Obamacare?  If it is anything like the vets are experiencing right now there will be.  Just consider what ABC News found about vet waits for health care.....

Veterans who responded to a survey by the American Legion in 2003 said it took an average of seven months to get a first appointment at a VA hospital. In some hospitals, patients have waited as long as two years.

Is that the kind of health care system that you want?

Do you think that you will be treated better or worse then military vets under Obamacare?

Not only do we find rationing in VA hospitals, but we also find the kind of "death counseling" that the Democrats have worked so hard to deny will happen under Obamacare.

Jim Towey, the president of Saint Vincent College, former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives and the founder of the nonprofit organization Aging with Dignity just wrote an extraordinary piece about this in the Wall Street Journal.  The following is an excerpt from that excellent article where he describes that death counseling that takes place at VA hospitals......

-----

Last year, bureaucrats at the VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care advocated a 52-page end-of-life planning document, "Your Life, Your Choices." It was first published in 1997 and later promoted as the VA's preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes. After the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues, the VA suspended its use. Unfortunately, under President Obama, the VA has now resuscitated "Your Life, Your Choices."

Who is the primary author of this workbook? Dr. Robert Pearlman, chief of ethics evaluation for the center, a man who in 1996 advocated for physician-assisted suicide in Vacco v. Quill before the U.S. Supreme Court and is known for his support of health-care rationing.

"Your Life, Your Choices" presents end-of-life choices in a way aimed at steering users toward predetermined conclusions, much like a political "push poll." For example, a worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own life would be "not worth living."

The circumstances listed include ones common among the elderly and disabled: living in a nursing home, being in a wheelchair and not being able to "shake the blues." There is a section which provocatively asks, "Have you ever heard anyone say, 'If I'm a vegetable, pull the plug'?" There also are guilt-inducing scenarios such as "I can no longer contribute to my family's well being," "I am a severe financial burden on my family" and that the vet's situation "causes severe emotional burden for my family."

When the government can steer vulnerable individuals to conclude for themselves that life is not worth living, who needs a death panel?

-----

But Democrats assure us that this type of thing will NOT happen to seniors under Obamacare.

Do you believe them?

Perhaps if they had not already lied over and over and over to the American people they might have a shred of credibility left.

The reality is that if we let the U.S. government take control of health care then our elderly will become very vulnerable.

The truth is that the U.S. government will abuse all of our seniors under Obamacare the way they are abusing our veterans right now if this "health care reform" package gets pushed through.

The two videos posted below show more examples of the incredibly poor conditions at VA hospitals around the U.S. 

This first video is of a news report which explains how cardiac alarm monitors were actually turned off at one VA hospital.....

This second video is another news report that examines that very unsanitary conditions at 3 other VA hospitals.....

If the U.S. government cannot even provide decent health care for military veterans, what in the world makes you think that they can do it for the entire population?