It is amazing that supporters of ObamaCare socialized medicine still try to insist that it does not amount to the federal government deciding what care patients will get.
Consider this. Kaiser Health News is the news service of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health care policy group that supports ObamaCare. A recent article by Kaiser Health News included this candid passage:
“[G]overnment advisers are preparing this week to wade into one of the most contentious questions the legislation raises: What benefits must insurers cover? … While the law outlines 10 broad categories of coverage … it leaves specifics to the government. … Patient advocates and industry lobbyists are drawing up wish lists for items they want covered, including autism therapy, obesity treatments, infertility treatments and unlimited chemotherapy visits.”
So in other words, Washington – heavily influenced by lobbyists whose objective may or may not be patients’ best interests nor our nation’s financial health – is going to dictate what will be covered by insurance.
“This is an invitation for all kinds of lobbying from every conceivable disease group and provider group in the country,” said Joe Antos, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute think tank.
Whatever you may think of that ugly process, it certainly is not a free-market medical system. Its supporters’ claims notwithstanding, ObamaCare is in fact government-run health care.