Last month an article authored by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel appeared in the Atlantic entitled “Why I Hope to Die at 75”. In it, he declares his intention, upon reaching that age, to refuse any and all medical attention - anything that would be for the purpose of prolonging his life. His reasoning: the vast majority of people over 75 do not contribute significantly to society but instead become a burden. In fact, according to Emanuel while “death is a loss…living too long is also a loss…no longer remembered as vibrant and engaged but as feeble, ineffectual, even pathetic”. Reminds me of the infamous words of Ebenezer Scrooge - “if they would rather die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population”.

Dr. Emanuel asserts, “My view does have important practical implications. One is personal and two involve policy”. Ah yes, policy. We need to have a policy as to how long people should live. The personal bit for him is that once he turns 75 he will refuse all healthcare. No colonoscopies, EKGs, blood tests, nothing. No medical interventions of any kind except for “comfort care” - in other words, hospice care from age 75 on. Regarding “policy”, first off he says that the goal of medicine should not be to extend life expectancy. Yes, he really says that. Regarding the second, he believes that more research is in order regarding the disabilities and chronic conditions of old age, “not on prolonging the dying process”. In other words, academics trump life itself.

Further, while on the one hand he says, “I am certainly not scorning or dismissing people who want to live on despite their physical and mental limitations”. Right, but on the other he says “Americans seem to be obsessed with exercising, doing mental puzzles, consuming various juice and protein concoctions, sticking to strict diets, and popping vitamins and supplements, all in a valiant effort to cheat death and prolong life as long as possible. This has become so pervasive that it now defines a cultural type: what I call the American immortal. I reject this aspiration. I think this manic desperation to endlessly extend life is misguided and potentially destructive. For many reasons, 75 is a pretty good age to aim to stop”.

He also says, “I am not advocating 75 as the official statistic of a complete, good life in order to save resources, ration health care, or address public-policy issues arising from the increases in life expectancy”. Of course not. Then why even bring it up?

I’ll tell you why. The reason lies in who Dr. Emanuel is. Although his ideas may sound like it, he’s not just some crackpot sounding off. He has an agenda. According to Wikipedia, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, is an American bioethicist and he’s a fellow at the Center for American Progress. Regarding that organization, Wikipedia describes it as “dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action, and as such features many prominent liberals and progressives in the United States”. Its founder and chairman is John Podesta, a mega powerful Washington DC lobbyist that served as chief of staff in the Clinton administration and subsequently headed the transition team for the current president when he first took office in early 2009.

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel whose brother is Rahm Emanuel, former Chief of Staff for President Obama, also served in the Obama administration as Special Advisor for Health Policy. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel is widely credited with being a primary architect of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. So there it is, the man who helped design Obamacare advocates for the age of 75 as the cutoff - the “official statistic” of a complete, good life.

Every once in a while the true nature of progressivism is revealed - in all its inhumanity. Once you reach a certain age, you’re not worth it anymore. Here in West Virginia we have one of the oldest demographics in the nation. Obamacare is also very unpopular here.

While the healthcare debate rages the ironies abound. Advocates for Obamacare assert that healthcare is a “right”. Apparently Dr. Emanuel doesn’t think so, if you’re beyond a certain age. In this case, I guess age discrimination is OK. Truth is, healthcare isn’t a right - rights don’t have price tags. And if it were a right, I suspect that Dr. Emanuel wouldn’t care so much about it.

While I don’t have a “right” to healthcare, I do have a right to deal with my healthcare as I see fit - privately - without government interference. To that end, Dr. Emanuel wrote an article that appeared in the New Republic last March under the headline: “Insurance Companies as We Know Them Are About to Die”. He apparently has a lot to say about dying. The last line of the article is “…be prepared to kiss your insurance company goodbye forever”. So much for, you can keep your insurance plan and you can keep your doctor. Progressivism apparently isn’t about keeping your word.

Supporters of Obamacare, and socialized medicine in general, are quick to decry and demonize insurance companies, pointing to examples where coverage has been denied. And yet, they believe that a government controlled healthcare system designed in part by someone who believes no one over 75 should receive healthcare, will make more humane decisions. They also believe that the government can make healthcare more efficient and cost effective. If you’re one of those people, and you’re over 75, keep a low profile. The government is quite capable of making insurance companies look good by comparison.

The government doesn’t need to please customers in order to stay in business. Once the government becomes involved in the healthcare arena, denial of coverage, is merely a matter of “public policy”. And because anything the government does implies force, it is coercive in nature.

Dr. Emanuel appears to have exposed the true agenda of Obamacare. It’s billed as “universal health care” but there’s more to it than that. There’s a quote from Thomas Jefferson that has been paraphrased a lot, but the original works just fine: “Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now”. Especially if that body is 75 years old.