Nat Henthoff: I am finally scared of a White House administration

[lblanchard]

All the old heads of LJ will recall Nat Henthoff as a fearless voice speaking truth to power for more than five decades -- notably at the Village Voice. Henthoff has been around the barn a few times and knows that the evil in a bill is rarely in the text but in the latitude it gives the bureaucrats. And Henthoff -- who stood up to the likes of J. Edgar Hoover -- is now afraid of the Obamacare bill. Skip it if you like, but I think all the Old Lefties on my f-list ought to read it:

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff081909.php3

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Under the British model, which Hentoff seems to find scary, the authorities have- in a few cases- refused to pay for very expensive drugs that might prolong (but not save) the lives of terminally ill patients. These decisions are always controversial- and in some cases (I can't cite examples) I believe the subsequent debate has caused the decision to be reversed. No-one has been pushing for euthanasia.

And, of course, the British system doesn't preclude people buying private health insurance, or paying for very expensive treatments out of their own pockets.

I've lived under the NHS all my life- and found it largely benign.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I think Hentoff needs to understand better how insurance companies work. See http://blog.cagle.com/2009/08/18/free-market-death-panels/ for an example of a real-life death panel.

[spartan1986.livejournal.com]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2009/08/britains_health_service_defend.html

At this point I wish they would just abolish ALL federal health care and I mean Medicare and Medicaid. It isn't that I "fear" them. They both already have in them ALL the provisions that some American's find so worrisome. I mean look at how many death panels have already been convened! No, I want them abolished because I will never benefit from them. They will go bankrupt long before I get old enough to use them. I am tired of throwing my tax dollars away to ensure a bunch of spoiled baby boomers get what they think they deserve. I think they deserve a quick kick in the pants but then again, I'm just a cynical Gen-X working my ass off every day to pay for their already enacted socialized medicine. They already got theirs so who cares about everyone else. See, Gen-X gets screwed again. Thanks a lot boomers!