The "kill granny" Bill

The Senate's health care bill, called the Baucus Bill, robs the elderly to cover the uninsured--like snatching purses from old ladies! The House bills already cut future spending for Medicare by $500 billion over the next decade. The Baucus bill would slash a similar amount, just when 30 percent more people enter the program as baby boomers turn 65!

Our own Senator Cantwell inserted a devastating amendment into the Baucus bill. It gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services the power to define quality, cost effective care for each medical condition and penalize doctors who spend more on their patients. The law establishing Medicare in 1965 barred the federal government from interfering in doctors' treatment decisions. Slowly, Medicare regulations have begun unraveling that protection. Now the Cantwell amendment finishes the job.

This is the most extreme change to Medicare ever. It will mean that the only doctors left in Medicare will be those willing to ration care and practice cookbook medicine. The Baucus bill completes the framework for tying doctors' hands when treating the elderly.

The health reformers' plan to cut spending on patients 65 and older won't simply reduce end-of-life care, it will also eliminate care for patients who are perfectly capable of surviving their illness and going on with life.

These health care reform bills put forth by Congress will put an end to Medicare that we now have and will be the beginning of health care that will be rationed or denied because of bureaucratic rules and regulations and lack of funding.

Don't let this happen. Tell your Congressional representatives that you DO NOT WANT these health care reforms. Do it now - before it's too late!