Republican Deceit About Health Care Will Not Work

August 17, 2009

Town hall meetings have been full of angry people shouting how Grandma will be forced to die because of Obama's health care proposals. The emotions are genuine and it shows that ignorance can be rude and angry. That negative energy will eventually come back to haunt Republicans who think only of short term political gains.

The proposed health care legislation provides for reimbursement to doctors after they provide end of life counseling upon request. Such counseling happens every day, probably thousands of times a day and it is a good thing because those decisions belong with individuals and families. Denying people the right to decide how they should die and to get their affairs in order is unconscionable.

Republicans have whipped up paranoia and emotions for one special interest group the health insurance companies. It doesn’t matter that there are no death panels or government mandated euthanasia. They just want people to believe it and this will build political momentum to kill the health care plan.

Eventually millions of Americans will realize they were intentionally fed a bunch of lies by Republicans and react, not at town hall meetings but in the voting booth. The emotional momentum they created will turn on them.