KS Sen. Roberts leading fight vs rationing czar Berwick

Kansas U. S. Senator Pat Roberts is taking on Obamacare– from challenging HHS head Sebelius to correct erroneous consumer health care information to protesting the President’s recess appointment of Medicare &  Medicaid [CMS] chief Donald Berwick.

Yesterday, Sen. Roberts presented a “sense of the Senate” resolution declaring the Berwick appointment “an abuse of power” and calling for Berwick to appear before the Senate Finance Committee to answer questions.

The Senate Finance committee has not scheduled hearings to examine Berwick’s many controversial comments in support of rationing health care, including the philosophy that health care must necessarily redistribute wealth.  In a July 17 speech, Sen. Roberts explained why the installation of Berwick without the Constitutionally-prescribed Senate vetting was so egregious:

• Berwick will control one third of health care spending in the nation, covering over 100 million Americans.
• He must cut half a trillion dollars from Medicare, obviously limiting seniors’ choice.
• Every American’s care will be affected because Medicare sets the course for private insurers.

GOP Senators are strengthening their opposition to Berwick, particularly with the discovery that Berwick, himself, has guaranteed health insurance for life–without any threat of rationed care! His insurance comes from the tax-exempt corporation he founded (the Institute for Healthcare Improvement) from which Berwick was compensated with over $2 million last year.  Read more about these matters in a report from Lifenews.com.

Berwick

Sen. Roberts

When a number of critics (including National Right to Life) warned that Obamacare would bring the rationing of treatments, medications and research into new procedures, the president said to the American Medical Association (June 15, 2009) that this rationing charge was a “fear tactic.”

But those warnings of rationing and “death panels” [see NRLC video] ARE embodied in Berwick and must be fought.

TAKE ACTION: Contact Sen. Pat Roberts here with your words of encouragement for his leadership in exposing unacceptable administrative actions in health care.