Obama’s autocratic tendencies become more obvious each day. Dr. Donald Berwick, nominated by Barack Obama to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is “romantic about” Britain’s socialized National Health System (NHS). In July 2008 he wrote an article published in the British Medical Journal, comparing the U.S. health care system unfavorably to the British system, and giving a list of 10 suggestions to the NHS. The first was this:
“Please don’t put your faith in market forces [emphasis in original]. It’s a popular idea: that Adam Smith’s invisible hand would do a better job of designing care than leaders with plans can. I find little evidence that market forces relying on consumers choosing among an array of products, with competitors fighting it out, leads to the healthcare system you want and need. In the U.S., competition is a major reason for our duplicative, supply driven, fragmented care system.”
In case Berwick hasn’t seen the reports on the NHS since the publication of his article, it’s deep in debt and delivering substandard service, with new critical reports published almost daily. Adam Smith’s invisible hand gave the U.S. the best medical care in the world. The people know this, which is why the vast majority reject ObamaCare, the American NHS wannabe.
Nevertheless, the administration wants to cram ObamaCare down our throats. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asked a federal judge to dismiss Virginia’s lawsuit alleging Congress overstepped its constitutional bounds with the new health care “reform” law by requiring people to buy health coverage or pay a fee. In making her motion, Sebelius argued Congress “acted well within its authority under the Commerce Clause.” This argument has been used ever since the Warren Court to continually expand the powers of the federal government into areas never intended by the Framers. Let’s hope that this is expeditiously decided in favor of original intent. Cases such as this demonstrate why we need an independent, co-equal judiciary, instead of one that will rubber stamp decisions of an autocratic executive and a complicit legislature.
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