Undermine parental authority: Instead of empowering parents, President Barack Obama’s health care plan will chip away at the fundamental rights parents have in key health care decisions for their family by centralizing crucial health care decision making over plans and benefits in Washington.
Put federal bureaucrats in control of health care decisions: The president’s health agenda would result in a major transfer of regulatory authority over health insurance and the kinds of benefits and medical treatments that families get in their health coverage. This could also compromise the rights of families to secure the kind of health coverage that is compatible with their ethical, moral or religious convictions.
Add unknown costs to family budgets: Obama promised American families that under his health plan the average family would save $2,500. But independent analysis shows that less than 11 percent of American families would actually see that level of savings with the reforms proposed by the administration.
Families will be forced into a government-run plan: A key element of the Obama agenda is the creation of a public health plan. Independent analysis projects that as many as 119 million Americans could lose the coverage they have today. Employers would be incentivized to drop private coverage, regardless of individual preferences in the matter. The end result would be bureaucrats and politicians controlling health care choices and decisions, not families.
Bureaucrats will decide moral issues: As biomedical advances push us into ever-more murky ethical depths about everything from prenatal concerns to end-of-life decisions, the Obama health agenda would hand the moral compass over to anonymous bureaucrats to decide what questionable health benefits the government plan will cover. Taxpayer-funded abortions are just one of many potential problems.
Conscience options will be lost: Families need to be able to vote with their feet when it comes to abortion and other sensitive health care issues. They need the freedom to choose doctors and health plans that reflect their values. Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals need protections of their right of conscience so they can practice according to their convictions respecting life. Religious doctors, nurses, and hospitals are the front lines in providing the care families need, particularly in low-income and rural areas. In spite of this, Obama has already moved to overturn crucial federal protections of health care providers’ consciences. — From The Heritage Foundation
What families should demand instead of Obamacare
* Empower families to choose health care plan: Fix the inequities of the current federal tax law, which penalizes individuals and families who purchase health insurance outside their place of work. For those who wish to personally own and control their health policies, they should be able to do so without a crushing tax penalty.
* Protect family’ conscience in health care: Health care reform should empower Americans to choose plans that are affordable, high-quality and consistent with their ethical and religious convictions. Pursue reform at the state level in a decentralized environment to maximize choice so families can find health care plans they trust and that protect individual rights of conscience.
* Don’t bankrupt families: Health care reform should start with restructuring and redirecting existing health care spending to make it more effective. To address long-term health care costs, Congress must focus on fundamental reform of the tax treatment of health insurance and embark on real entitlement reform to relieve our children and grandchildren of crushing debt and taxation.
— From The Heritage Foundation
