"COMMUNITY MAKEOVER PLANS" Updated

The Senate's version of health care legislation, just approved by the HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee, is quite a doozie.

All I can say is HOW DARE THEY?!

In a section entitled "Community Transformation Grants" (pp. 382-387) of the Bill, they will be granting an as yet unnamed "national network of community-based organizations" to "promote healthy living".

And how will they do this, you ask?

According to CNSNews, not only will they be targeting our children with programs to increase healthy food choices at school, as well as physical activities (both of which I agree with - school food is gross, and most kids get P.E. once a week and no recess right now). They are also talking about education programs on nutrition and healthy lifestyles, as well as activities to prevent chronic diseases - whatever that is. As long as it doesn't entail teaching my 9 year old how to put a condom on a banana, it can't be too bad.

The part of the bill that really gets my goat and gives me a MAJOR case of Big Brother heebie-jeebies is this:

In a section entitled, “Community-Based Prevention Health Activities," the bill calls on grant recipients (community organizers) to measure weight loss, physical activity, smoking and other activities of people in the neighborhood."In carrying out subparagraph (A), the eligible entity shall, with respect to residents in the community, measure--"(i) decreases in weight;"(ii) increases in proper nutrition;"(iii) increases in physical activity;"(iv) decreases in tobacco use prevalence;"(v) other factors using community-specific data from the Behavioral Risk Surveillance Survey; and "(vi) other factors as determined by the Secretary [at HHS].” The proposed law further says that the CDC director “shall provide appropriate feedback and technical assistance to grantees to establish community makeover plans.”

This is truly frightening. This is the most blatant example of Nannystate micro managing Big Brother-ness I've ever heard of. I read about it, in books like 1984, but I figured that was just fiction. Apparently not.

So will we now have to line up weekly and get weighed and lectured? Are we going to have to submit our food diary? Or are they going to set up a snitch line for food cheats? Maybe a wrist monitor that tracks our caloric intake? Maybe they could just send a community organizer with us to do our grocery shopping each week, cook our meals and spoon feed them to us. Are they going to test us for tobacco products? Make sure we take our prescriptions? Will we have to wear pedometers or get notes from the gym that we did our required workouts?

Who the HELL do these people think they are?

It's not just at home and school that they will monitor us:

The language of the bill says, "Activities within the plan shall focus on (but not be limited to) ... (iv) assessing and implementing worksite wellness programming and incentives; (v) working to highlight healthy options at restaurants and other food venues; (vi) prioritizing strategies to reduce racial and ethnic disparities, including social determinants of health..."

This is a TOTALITARIAN STATE, hidden in the guise of health care reform.

I encourage you all to read the CNSNews article: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/52623

UPDATE: Here's how they are going to try to spin it. According to Page 385, section 4 paragraph A (emphasis mine):

(4) EVALUATION.—
19 (A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity shall
20 use amount provided under a grant under this
21 section to conduct activities to measure changes
22 in the prevalence of chronic disease risk factors
23 among community members participating in
24 preventive health activities

They will say this is only for "community members participating in preventive health activities", not for everyone.

But, if this really is single-payer in disguise (or public option or co-op or whatever they are calling it this week - I prefer Frank Luntz's "government option") won't we all be participants eventually? And isn't one of the supposed selling points of ObamaCare 'saving money through preventive health care', thus implying ALL will participate in preventive care? If all, perforce, are included in preventive care, all are then eligible for the stated measures, right?