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September 22, 2009
White House Attacks Freedom of Speech in Effort to "Win" Health care Debates by Making Debate by the Other Side Illegal (Updated with video)
Topics: Political News and commentariesUPDATES BELOW.
In a blatant and frightening act attacking free speech in an effort to prevent criticism of Obamacare, in particular - the Baucus plan, the federal government is telling Humana to cease and desist from telling seniors about the planned cuts in Medicare Advantage.
The take-home message is clear: Seniors be warned, the government intends to attack your Medicare Advantage benefits in a very big way, and redistribute them to others. And the government will go to great lengths to prevent you from learning the truth.
David Henderson provides the details via excerpts from an AP news story:
Read it all, here (and be sure to read the comments, as well).The government is investigating a major insurance company for allegedly trying to scare seniors with a mailer warning they could lose important benefits under health care legislation in Congress.And the most chilling two paragraphs:In a warning letter to Humana, HHS said the government is concerned that the mailer "is misleading and confusing" partly because the company's lobbying campaign could be mistaken for an official communication about Medicare benefits.HHS ordered the company to immediately halt any such mailings, and remove any related materials from its Web site. In the letter, the government also said it may take other action against Humana, which is based in Louisville, Ky.One of the ways that governments try to "win" debates is to make debate by the other side illegal. This is what HHS is doing, at the behest of Senator Baucus.
Ed Morrissey makes an important point about the government's action:
Only a government afraid of its people and afraid of the truth would turn that kind of communication into a crime. Maybe HHS and the White House should spend a little time re-reading the First Amendment instead of attempting to intimidate people out of the political debate, especially the stakeholders.And clearly, the mere fact that the Obama administration believes it has the right to shut down descent, provides the American people all the more reason to be be concerned about the protection of their freedoms from the Obama agenda.
By the way, the Senate committee that Baucus chairs will vote this week on the sweeping health care plan that he's proposed to expand coverage and try to control costs. It would cut Medicare and Medicaid spending by about $500 billion over 10 years, but Baucus says that would lead to greater efficiency, not reduced benefits. Does anyone actually believe that you can expand coverage to millions more, cut $500 billion in funds, and not reduce benefits to those that are currently covered?
In other coverage: Dan Riehl writes:
Do these people even know the country they are supposed to be governing in? You can't just shut down speech because it disagrees with you. And when the government does it it's as danerous as can be. What an appalling abuse of power and intrusion of control into the private sector yet once again.And as the WSJ notes, this episode neatly shows how all U.S. health care will operate if Mr. Baucus's bill becomes law:
[...] For months Humana and the wider insurance lobby have been among ObamaCare's most prominent cheerleaders, with the exception of Advantage cuts and the public optionÃÆ'¢â‚¬"even though they'll be converted into government contractors in the business of fulfilling whatever Congress happens to dictate. The insurers are willing to give up their remaining business autonomy because Democrats intend to mandate that all consumers buy their productsÃÆ'¢â‚¬"but as with Advantage now, that means government will control the funds upon which the insurers' survival depends. They'll have no choice but to genuflect, or else the political class will pull out the tire irons.Not exactly a promising sign for our health care or the continued existence of the American way of life and freedoms we've grown up with!Humana merely made the mistake of trying to tell seniors the truth about what will happen to their coverage, and now CEO Michael McCallister had better hire a good team of lawyers. Mr. Baucus and the Obama Administration are out to make him an object lesson to the rest of the business class, and that means they won't stop until Humana cries uncle or is ruined.
UPDATE: Via The Patriot Room - Here is the video of McConnell slamming the Administration and Senators who oppose free speech. ABC will be airing a story on this tonight. The video is a must watch:
UPDATE 2: Here's ABC News On Sen. McConnell, Humana, Health Care, And Free Speech:
Other related: Obamacare Rightly Scares Seniors
Posted by Abdul at September 22, 2009 10:45 AM
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