Liberal health care proposals may jeopardize the health and life of seniors.

Democratic leaders hope to pass legislation in both the House and Senate to totally revamp health care in the U.S. by the first few days of August, and to complete work on a compromise measure in the early fall to send to President Obama for his signature.

It is estimated that 15.3 % of the population, about 45.7 million people, do not have health insurance.

To solve this problem, proposals are being considered to require all businesses to provide insurance for their employees; or/and to require everyone to purchase their own health insurance.

Medicaid coverage would be expanded for families of four with incomes up to $33,000.  In addition, subsidies would be provided to families with incomes of up to $88,000 to help them pay premiums for the government-mandated insurance. 

In addition, Obama has sent a letter to two Senate committees demanding that any legislation include a government-run insurance program that would complete with private insurers.  Economists say this would force many private insurers out of business.

To finance this vast new entitlement, which could cost as much as $1.5 trillion over the next decade, the administration and congressional leaders are mulling taxes on the health care benefits which employees receive; or/and capping itemized deductions, including those for charities and home mortgage interest, at 28%.

Furthermore, Obama wants to reduce Medicare spending by $600 billion.  House Democrats have specifically said they want to cut Medicare payments for home health care, prescription drugs, and hospitals. 

And liberals want to radically control health care spending in general.

"We have to bring down the cost of health care," Obama senior advisor David Axelrod said on CNN.    The President himself said, "When it comes to health care spending, we are on an unstable course," and "If we are going to make people responsible for owning health insurance, we must make health care affordable."

This means heavy-handed government controls on what medical care can be utilized for what persons under what circumstances.

Betsy McCaughey, who played an extremely imporant role in defeating the orginal Clinton proposal for government-run medicine, reports that the framework for this has already been passed as part of the Stimulus Bill, which contained $20 billion for the creation of computer technology and a nationwide database to "guide" doctors' decisions on what is "cost effective" in the treatment of patients.

Obama appointed David Blumenthal to be the national coordinator of health information technology.  In his academic writings at Harvard Medical School, Blumenthal advocated limits on how much health care each person should receive.

Dick Morris, former advisor to President Bill Clinton, believes the first things that will be heavily restricted are diagnostic tests like MRIs and CT scans, antibiotics, and care for chronic back pain.

A Canadian-like sytem where the government rations health care could be deadly.

Dr. Lawrence Hunter of the Social Security Institute recounts how a 57-year old Alberta man living in constant pain was rejected for hip surgery.  The government bureaucracy declared he was "too old" to be treated.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article by Dr. David Gratzer, a physician, patients in Canada must wait for extended periods of time for practically any medical procedure or diagnostic test.  Even in emergency situations, only half of patients are treated in a timely manner.  Some towns hold lotteries to determine who gets to even see a doctor.

And yet, the Obama Adminstration and Democrats in Congress seem determined to implement a rationed-care system in the U.S.

An earlier Wall Street Journal article warned of a likely bait and switch tactic:  "First create vast new entittlements which can never be repealed, then later take the less popular step of rationing health care."