Send This Letter to Your Congressman and Senator: 9,000,000,000,000 Ways to Balance the Budget

This is a letter that Dr. Coburn sent to all of his Senate colleagues on the 27th:

July 27, 2011

9,000,000,000,000
Ways to Balance the Budget

Dear Colleague,

Nearly everyone in Washington agrees we must reduce the deficit, but few offer any specifics as to how to do it. Last week, I released a report, BACK IN BLACK, outlining thousands of detailed budget options within every federal department and nearly every major program that, if taken together, would result in savings of more than $9 trillion over the next decade.

I do not expect anyone to agree with everything recommended in this report, but I expect everyone will find things with which they agree. With negotiations stalemated, I wanted to bring your attention to some very simple commonsense ideas I believe most of us—and most Americans—regardless of party or ideology could support that would save at least $355 billion.

End Unemployment Payments to Millionaires
Savings: $186 million over ten years
Nearly 3,000 households with incomes of $1 million or more were paid a total of $18.6 million in unemployment insurance benefits in 2008. Those earning $1 million a year do not need and should not qualify for unemployment compensation.

Stop Payments to Dead People
Savings: Over $1 billion over ten years.
Washington sent over $1 billion to more than 250,000 deceased individuals over the past decade. The federal government paid for dead people’s prescriptions and wheelchairs, subsidized their farms, helped pay their rent, and even chipped in for their heating and air conditioning bills. Some of these payments were fraud, some were incompetence, and some were intentionally required by law. Congress should end payments to the dead and federal agencies should ensure beneficiaries and participants of government payments are, in fact, alive.

Eliminate Duplication
Savings: At least $50 billion over ten years
In March, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report examining just 34 missions of the federal government and identified hundreds of duplicative and overlapping programs costing more than $215 billion a year. These included 47 separate job training programs, 88 economic development programs, 82 teacher quality programs, and 56 financial literacy programs. “Reducing or eliminating duplication, overlap, or fragmentation could potentially save billions of taxpayer dollars annually and help agencies provide more efficient and effective services,” GAO concluded. Another independent study identified at least 180 economic development programs within more than a dozen different agencies costing taxpayers about $17.9 billion annually. Duplication within the federal bureaucracy should be consolidated.

Eliminate Sweet Heart Deals for Government Contractors
Savings: At least $2 billion over ten years
The federal government pays over $500 billion annually to contractors. In 2009, $170 billion worth of contracts were awarded without competition. Competitive bidding for government contracts helps ensure the highest-quality services for the lowest cost, while no-bid contracts waste billions of dollars with little apparent benefit to anyone other than contractors. No bid contracts should be eliminated.

Collect Unpaid Taxes Owed by Federal Employees
Savings: $1 billion over ten years
Nearly 100,000 civilian federal employees were delinquent on their federal income taxes in 2008. These federal employees owe a total of $962 million in unpaid federal income taxes. The IRS should collect these overdue taxes.

Reduce Congress’ Spending on Itself
Savings: $3.82 billion over ten years
Since 2001, Congress has boosted its own budget by 55 percent. At the same time, the average American wage increased by only 23 percent. In real dollars, the budget of the House and Senate has grown by more than $1 billion over the last decade. Congress must lead by example and do more with less. Congress’ spending on itself should be reduced by at least 15 percent.

Stop Overpaying Drug Companies
Savings: $480 million over ten years
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) overpays pharmaceutical companies nearly a million dollars a week. According to the Government Accountability Office, drug companies were overpaid $3.9 million in a single month! HRSA should be required to routinely monitor prices to ensure taxpayers are not being overcharged and take immediate corrective action to recoup any excess payments.

Reduce Unnecessary Government Printing
Savings: $4.9 billion over ten years
Federal agencies – excluding the Department of Defense – spend nearly $1.3 billion a year on routine office printing. A third of this printing is unnecessary, according to an independent analysis. Agencies should put an end to this wasteful habit and administrative accounts of each department should be reduced accordingly.

Eliminate Unnecessary Printing of Congressional Documents
Savings: $312.2 million
In the digital age, printed copies of Congressional reports and other documents are as likely to grace a landfill as a bookshelf. In 2010, nearly $100 million was allocated for Congressional Printing and Binding account. A representative of the Government Printing Office (GPO) recently testified, “70 percent of the GPO’s funds are used to digitize legislation, schedules and other federal records, while 30 percent is used to print hard copies.” Reducing the Congressional Printing account by 30 percent would put an end to the wasteful practice of printing and distributing congressional documents that are almost immediately thrown away. The documents would still be available online and users could decide whether or not to print hard copies.

Get Rid of Unneeded Federal Properties
Savings: $15 billion over ten years
The federal government has over 63,000 buildings that are underutilized and not utilized at all. This number has increased by more than 12,000 from only two years ago. It costs over $1.2 billion every year to operate these properties. The federal government should dispose of all excess properties within five years. According to the Obama Administration, at least $15 billion could be saved if the federal government gets rid of its unneeded properties.

End Subsidy for Ethanol Blending
Savings: $2 billion one time savings
Ethanol producers reap the benefits of a vast array of government assistance, including tax credits, grants, loans, loan guarantees, federally-directed markets, and a federal minimum usage mandate. The Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit provides a 45-cent-per-gallon federal tax credit to producers who blend ethanol with gasoline. Ethanol-blended fuel is nearly a third less efficient than gasoline, has contributed to the increased price of corn, and can cause engine damage. Ethanol subsidies are outdated, duplicative, and have failed to meet the intended goals of greater energy independence with a cleaner fuel alternative. The ethanol tax credit should be eliminated immediately.

Reduce the Number of Limousines Owned by the Government
Savings: $115.5 million over ten years
In the past two years, the federal government’s limousine fleet has grown by 73 percent. The federal government had 238 limos in 2008 and that number reached 412 last year. The number of limos owned by the federal government should be reduced to its previous level.

Reduce Federal Vehicle Fleet
Savings: $5.6 billion over ten years
Federal agencies own or lease over 662,000 cars, vans, sport-utility vehicles, trucks, buses and other vehicles. Since 2006, the federal vehicle fleet has grown by five percent and the cost of maintaining and servicing those vehicles has grown over 25 percent, to $4.6 billion. These vehicles consume about a million gallons of fuel per day. The General Services Administration will purchase more than 100 more vehicles this year. Instead, the number of vehicles in the federal fleet should be reduced by at least 20 percent.

Reduce Junkets and Unnecessary Travel
Savings: $43.3 billion over ten years
The federal government spends $15 billion on travel every year. All travel that is not mission-critical should be ended.

Reduce Advertising by the Federal Government
Savings: $5.6 billion over ten years
The federal government spent almost $1 billion on advertising last year. While some advertising may be needed, much of it is wasteful and unnecessary and this amount should be cut in half.

Limit the Amount Spent to Host Government Conferences
Savings: $1 billion over ten years
The federal government spent at least $2 billion on conferences between 2000 and 2006. Some conferences may provide important venues for exchanging ideas or providing training. Others appear to be little more than government funded vacations at beachside resorts and other exotic destinations. Traveling to meetings and hosting conferences are, in large part, no longer necessary with the availability of teleconferencing. Total spending on conferences should not exceed $100 million annually and conferences should only be held when other options are not feasible.

Use Better Measure of Inflation to Determine Increases in Benefit Payments
Savings: Approximately $180 billion over ten years
Many government benefits are automatically increased for inflation every year, based on the consumer price index (CPI). For more than 15 years, many budget experts have agreed the current CPI mechanism outpaces actual inflationary growth, causing the cost of government programs to rise rapidly. The Bureau of Labor Statistics developed a more accurate measure of inflation, known as Chained CPI, which over the last ten years has grown at a slightly slower rate than the current measure for CPI. Congress should adopt the recommendation of the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to transition to Chained-CPI government wide to ensure this automatic spending increase is as accurate as possible to avoid uncontrolled automatic spending increases in federal programs.

Eliminate Hollywood Liaisons
Savings: $34.4 million over ten years
Many federal agencies have offices and programs to assist Hollywood movie producers and television execs, often with the goal of ensuring a positive portrayal of the federal government. The agencies have at least 14 employees costing $1.2 million. These should be eliminated.

Stop Purchasing Excess Land
Savings: $4.1 billion over ten years
The federal government has spent more than $430 million to purchase additional land since the start of the recent recession and more than $2.3 billion over the past decade. At the same time, the Department of the Interior maintenance backlog on public lands has surged to as high as $19.9 billion, resulting in serious risk to visitors and deteriorating conditions of important national treasures. The National Mall, for example, has been so neglected it has been called a national disgrace. Until the federal government can afford to take care of the land it already owns, it should be prohibited from purchasing additional land.

End Payments for Coal Cleanup When Projects Have Been Certified as Being Completed
Savings: $1.23 billion over ten years
The federal government continues to send funds intended for the cleanup up abandoned coal mines to several states and tribes that have already been certified as completing their work. The funds are unrestricted and have essentially become slush funds. These dollars should be used only for their intended purpose and directed to states with abandoned sites, with excess amounts should be returned.

Suspend the Automatic Pay Raise for Members of Congress
Savings: $6 million over three years
Members of Congress typically receive an automatic pay raise every year. Congress voted to freeze the salary of its member for the past two years at $174,000. The pay for members of Congress should be frozen for at least three more years.

Get the Department of Defense Out of Education and the Grocery Store Business
Savings: $19 billion over ten years
The Department of Defense currently operates hundreds of grocery stores and dozens of elementary schools in the United States. These grocery stores are in the same communities that have Wal-Mart, Costco, Safeway, and other choices for military personnel. Instead of paying our soldiers more money and allowing them to choose where to shop, we subsidize thousands of federal employees to work in grocery stores around the country. Similarly, the Department of Defense employs thousands of teachers in a unique school district called the Department of Defense Education Activity. Under the Pentagon’s management, taxpayers are spending more than $50,000 per student enrolled in these schools. The Pentagon should shut down its education bureaucracy, send much of this money to bolster local public schools, and return the rest for debt reduction.

Terminate HHS’s Community Economic Development Program
Savings: $38 million over ten years.
The mission of the Community Economic Development program (CED) duplicates 180 other government development programs, has a very low success rate, and does not fit within the mission or expertise of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). According to HHS’s most recent report to the Congress, only one out of five funded projects within the CED program were successful. Due to its lack of success, duplicative nature, and inappropriate placement within HHS, CED should be eliminated.

End Federal Subsidies to Wealthy Doctors and Hospitals for Health Information Technology
Savings: $15.6 billion over ten years.
The federal government mandates and subsidizes the use health information technology (IT) for doctors and hospitals, despite scant evidence doing so will lower costs. Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize the purchase of health IT by doctors and hospitals.

Stop Medicare Payments for Uncovered Services
Savings: $1.97 billion over ten years.
Medicare currently only pays for medically necessary chiropractic services, but a HHS Inspector General report found the program improperly spent $178 million on chiropractic services in 2006. Implementing and enforcing current policies, along with more careful reviews of documentation, could save taxpayers nearly $2 billion over a decade.
This list is just a handful of the savings options contained within BACK IN BLACK. I would encourage you to review the thousands of other recommendations. I would also be interested in hearing other debt reduction ideas you might have.

Sincerely,
Tom A. Coburn, M.D.
U.S. Senator

Review: The Debt Ceiling and Economic Crisis Debate Rages On

Obama Warns that the ‘World Is Watching’ As Boehner Says “No Blank Check”

Obama: 

Good evening. Tonight, I want to talk about the debate we've been having in Washington over the national debt - a debate that directly affects the lives of all Americans.

For the last decade, we have spent more money than we take in. In the year 2000, the government had a budget surplus. But instead of using it to pay off our debt, the money was spent on trillions of dollars in new tax cuts, while two wars and an expensive prescription drug program were simply added to our nation's credit card.

As a result, the deficit was on track to top $1 trillion the year I took office. To make matters worse, the recession meant that there was less money coming in, and it required us to spend even more - on tax cuts for middle-class families; on unemployment insurance; on aid to states so we could prevent more teachers and firefighters and police officers from being laid off. These emergency steps also added to the deficit.

Now, every family knows that a little credit card debt is manageable. But if we stay on the current path, our growing debt could cost us jobs and do serious damage to the economy. More of our tax dollars will go toward paying off the interest on our loans. Businesses will be less likely to open up shop and hire workers in a country that can't balance its books. (Yet it is Obama and his party who won’t support Cut Cap and Balance whose lynch pin is a balanced budget amendment… so go figure) Interest rates could climb for everyone who borrows money - the homeowner with a mortgage, the student with a college loan, the corner store that wants to expand. And we won't have enough money to make job-creating investments in things like education and infrastructure, or pay for vital programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Per Dick Morris, former Bill Clinton advisor, “No disrespect to the President (or the office) but Obama is lying!  There is enough money to pay the interest on our debt, social security, Medicare, Medicaid, the military and about 100 other things.  The things that wouldn’t get paid are things that most of us don’t care about… or is waste.” 

*BTW has anyone noticed that the FAA has been shut down for 4 days now? Has anyone noticed?  Planes are still flying.  Air traffic control and ground control are considered essential, as are safety inspectors.  The impasse has idled about 4000 government workers.  No one wants to see anyone lose their job but the funding for the FAA stopped but the world did not end.  And the world would not end if the TSA was cut back to using just those expensive machines we all paid for and some well-trained dogs and a few profilers.  (See and Hear Rest of Speech Below)

OBAMA SPEECH: TRANSCRIPT | VIDEO

We’d give you the Obama Plan Explained… like below by Rush, but Obama has offered no plan

The closest Obama got to a plan was a Speech suggesting the cutting of $4 Trillion over 10 years… no details and the CBO said they can’t score speeches (which Obama knew).

Boehner:

Good evening. I'm John Boehner. I serve as Speaker of the whole House -- of the members of both parties that you elect. These are difficult times in the life of our nation. Millions are looking for work, have been for some time, and the spending binge going on in Washington is a big part of the reason why.

Before I served in Congress, I ran a small business in Ohio. I was amazed at how different Washington DC operated than every business in America. Where most American business make the hard choices to pay their bills and live within their means, in Washington more spending and more debt is business as usual.

I've got news for Washington - those days are over. 

President Obama came to Congress in January and requested business as usual -- yet another routine increase in the national debt limit -- we in the House said 'not so fast.' Here was the president, asking for the largest debt increase in American history, on the heels of the largest spending binge in American history.  (See and Hear Rest of Speech Below)

BOEHNER  SPEECH: TRANSCRIPT | VIDEO

The Boehner Plan Explained
The Rush Limbaugh LIVE Radio Show Thread, Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The President, in his speech to the nation, urged a 'balanced approach' in the deal to raise the debt ceiling, while the House speaker responded that the GOP's negotiations have been been thwarted by the White House.

The President again delivered a campaign speech yesterday using words that his pollsters told him would appeal to Independents (which are abandoning in droves) and then he went on to his usual routine:  blame Bush, scare seniors and stir the class warfare pot.  Obama’s speech droned on with the usual themes for fifteen minutes and then he asked those uninformed Americans who were listening to his speech, but hadn’t been following the events or just in the MSM, to flood Congressional phones and tell them to find a compromise by Geithners artificially created and ever moving deadline that “He” could sign.

Boehner delivered a concise 5-minute speech that covered all his points, probably the best speech of his career.  He reiterated that the House of Representatives have already come up with 3-plans and passed Cut, Cap and Balance.  The Senate thanks to Harry Reid didn’t allow a debate or due consideration of that bill, but had no bill of their own, until now at the 11th hour.  And the President also had no bill and kept changing the demands on the so-called Grand Plan.  And the craziness that keeps getting thrown around by the Obama and the Democrats that the GOP is not willing to compromise is total insanity.  Raising the debt ceiling again is a huge compromise on the part of the GOP, especially tea party supported and elected freshman.  Boehner even agreed to tax increases as part of the Grand Plan deal between Boehner, Reid and Obama and then Obama kept demanding more, which ended those talks and the deal.

This writer watched, read and listened to everyone’s review and responses to these speeches for hours yesterday into the wee hours of the morning including AB Stoddard, Steve Hayes, Neil Cavuto, Charles Krauthammer, Dick Morris, Sean Hannity, Bob Beckel, Sam Youngman, Senator Tom Coburn, Congressman Jason Chavitz, Senator John Thune, Senator Jon Kyl, David Plouffe, Greta Van Susteren, Rick Klein, Senator Jim DeMint, Senator John Barrasso, Mary Katherine Hamm, Congressman Rob Andrews, Senator Joe Walsh, Bill O’Reilly, Peter Barnes, Senator Lindsey Graham, GOP Candidate Gary Johnson and the list goes on… plus dozens of online sources.  The overall agreement by all is that we need to do something to stop the problem… our ‘spending addiction’.  Raising or not raising the debt ceiling really isn’t the issue.  It was also pretty much agreed that the only way to hold Washington accountable is to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment and although that will take years, we need to start the process now!  49 of the 50 states have a balanced budget amendment.

Senator Tom Coburn, who is part of the Gang of Six who have a proposal on the table, said that the best option out there is the Cut, Cap and Balance Bill that was passed last week by the House of Representatives in a bi-partisan vote, but Harry Reid killed it in the Senate, not allowing a debate.  And of the 3 deals on the table right now, Senator Colburn agrees that Speaker Boehner’s short term fix bill is the best but that they need to keep working on this between now and January 2012 and a Balanced Budget Amendment must be part of the final bill.  We also need tax reform and must attack the entitlement programs.

It was also sadly agreed by almost everyone that Obama has one focus and one focus only and that is the election in 2012 and that is why he wants the Reid deal, which will kick this issue down the road again until after Election 2012, after he hopes and plans to be re-elected.  Everyone else interviewed, Democrats and Republicans, said we need to deal with the issues now!  It was also pointed out that S&P and Moody’s threat to downgrade the U.S. credit must not really be as serious as it has been made out to be or the stock market would not have gone up Monday, internationally and in the U.S.  But if we don’t control our spending and get started on a Balanced Budget Amendment, the issue will explode in 2012; Obama hopes not until after the election.

As Speaker Boehner, Senator Tom Colburn, Senator Jim DeMint, Senator Joe Walsh, Senator Jon Kyl and Senator Thune and Barrasso and Congressman Jason Chavetz all said we must do what is right for the country, not the next election!  And it will be painful for everyone if done right, but not as painful as it will be if we do nothing or wait.  They all also admitted that no one person will get everything they want and that included President Obama.  Americans and especially the federal government, which let us face it is us, will have to tighten their belt and sacrifice even more than they already have to save America for our kids and grandkids. So, we have the right at this point to ask the tough questions (like: how many federal government employees are really needed? How many government agencies have a glut of positions and employees who are overlapping others or are unnecessary to running their agency.  How many whole programs and departments are unnecessary?  Why did everyone on the White House staff just raises?) get honest answers, and then be heard and listened to.

So when you hear craziness like below, your antenna should go up!! 

Obama: "It's Tempting to BYPASS Congress and CHANGE THE RULES ON MY OWN" (See Video) These words should make each of us shutter!!  Ever wonder where Obama gets these ideas from?  His socialistic globalist friends, that’s where from, including Bill Clinton: Use the 14th Amendment to raise debt ceiling and deal with the courts later says Democratic Senator who agrees with Clinton that Obama should Usurp Congress’ power and start a constitutional court battle.  See Video What needs to happen if Obama even thinks about this is the start of the impeachment process!!  “Use the 14th Amendment and Deal with the Courts Later” says this old bastard who agrees with Progressive globalist Bill Clinton.

On Monday before Obama and Boehner’s speeches Judge Andrew Napolitano on the Five talked about the fact that Obama or any president does not have the power to cover financial debt, raise the debt ceiling or the power to cover any financial issues or debt by using an Executive Order. Obama quotes the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as his reference and justification for his threat to execute and sign an Executive Order (EO) to raise the debt ceiling if the Congress does not do what he wants. According to the Constitution under the wise concept of separation of powers, the House of Representatives holds the purse strings and the Congress must initiate and pass any and all bills regarding funding and finances. The President’s only power is negotiation and to veto the bills sent to him. The provisions in the 14th Amendment were written to deal with unique issues caused by the Civil War and the execution of the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves. The left keeps distorting the facts and the Constitution and wrongly applies the provisions to allow them to do whatever they want… not what is legal, Constitutional or what the American People want!!

And let us also consider, with the facts at hand, that what we (Americans) want or what America needs is probably ‘not’ raising the debt ceiling.  Kicking the can down the road will only make the pain worse or the problem beyond fixing.  Sounds like a globalist plan to me, opening the door to a new economic world order!

Wake-up and Stand-up America, while you still can!

h/t to the Fox Nation

Related:

Eat My Peas

Super Congress:  Echoes of Tyranny Rising

The Tea Party, Right About Everything!

Steve King on default: Obama could be impeached

Gone 

The Super Congress Will Be – Like the Federal Reserve – a Non-Constitutional Committee: “The Super Congress Amounts To An Institutionalization Of The Gang Structure That Exists Informally …”

Video:  Your Government Gone Wild (Brother Can You Spare a Trillion?)

Please make sure you know the facts and then call your Congressman, Senator and the White House

Tell them all that we need Cut, Cap and Balance passed and signed by the President!

The Capitol Hill switchboard is 202-224-3121  - Washington Phone Lines Should Never Be Idle!

BTW… Speaker Boehner’s website went down after his speech from all the congratulations and positive response to his plan and speech

By Marion Algier

British HealthCare - Don't Treat The Old!! - And Senator Coburn Warns Same For USA

Don't treat the old and unhealthy, say doctors

 Daily Telegraph (London)

Doctors are calling for NHS treatment to be withheld from patients who are too old or who lead unhealthy lives.

Smokers, heavy drinkers, the obese and the elderly should be barred from receiving some operations, according to doctors, with most saying the health service cannot afford to provide free care to everyone.

 Fertility treatment and "social" abortions are also on the list of procedures that many doctors say should not be funded by the state.  

The findings of a survey conducted by Doctor magazine sparked a fierce row last night, with the British Medical Association and campaign groups describing the recommendations from family and hospital doctors as "out rageous" and "disgraceful.

About one in 10 hospitals already deny some surgery to obese patients and smokers, with restrictions most common in hospitals battling debt.

Managers defend the policies because of the higher risk of complications on the operating table for unfit patients. But critics believe that patients are being denied care simply to save money.

The Government announced plans last week to offer fat people cash incentives to diet and exercise as part of a desperate strategy to steer Britain off a course that will otherwise see half the population dangerously overweight by 2050.

Obesity costs the British taxpayer £7 billion a year. Overweight people are more likely to contract diabetes, cancer and heart disease, and to require replacement joints or stomach-stapling operations.

Meanwhile, £1.7 billion is spent treating diseases caused by smoking, such as lung cancer, bronchitis and emphysema, with a similar sum spent by the NHS on alcohol problems. Cases of cirrhosis have tripled over the past decade.

Among the survey of 870 family and hospital doctors, almost 60 per cent said the NHS could not provide full healthcare to everyone and that some individuals should pay for services.

One in three said that elderly patients should not be given free treatment if it were unlikely to do them good for long. Half thought that smokers should be denied a heart bypass, while a quarter believed that the obese should be denied hip replacements.

Tony Calland, chairman of the BMA's ethics committee, said it would be "outrageous" to limit care on age grounds. Age Concern called the doctors' views "disgraceful".

Gordon Brown promised this month that a new NHS constitution would set out people's "responsibilities" as well as their rights, a move interpreted as meaning restric tions on patients who bring health problems on themselves. The only sanction threatened so far, however, is to send patients to the bottom of the waiting list if they miss appointments.

The survey found that medical professionals wanted to go much further in denying care to patients who do not look after their bodies.

Ninety-four per cent said that an alcoholic who refused to stop drinking should not be allowed a liver transplant, while one in five said taxpayers should not pay for "social abortions" and fertility treatment.

Paul Mason, a GP in Portland, Dorset, said there were good clinical reasons for denying surgery to some patients. "The issue is: how much responsibility do people take for their health?" he said.

"If an alcoholic is going to drink themselves to death then that is really sad, but if he gets the liver transplant that is denied to someone else who could have got the chance of life then that is a tragedy." He said the case of George Best, who drank himself to death in 2005, three years after a liver transplant, had damaged the argument that drinkers deserved a second chance.

However, Roger Williams, who carried out the 2002 transplant on the former footballer, said doctors could never be sure if an alcoholic would return to drinking, although most would expect a detailed psychological assessment of patients, who would be required to abstain for six months before surgery.

Prof Williams said: "Less than five per cent of alcoholics who have a transplant return to serious drinking. George was one of them. It is actually a pretty successful rate. I think the judgment these doctors are making is nothing to do with the clinical reasons for limiting such operations and purely a moral decision.

"

Katherine Murphy, from the Patients' Association, said it would be wrong to deny treatment because of a "lifestyle" factor. "The decision taken by the doctor has to be the best clinical one, and it has to be taken individually. It is morally wrong to deny care on any other grounds," she said.

Responding to the survey's findings on the treatment of the elderly, Dr Calland, of the BMA, said: "If a patient of 90 needs a hip operation they should get one. Yes, they might peg out any time, but it's not our job to play God."

By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent
Last Updated: 3:02PM BST 26 Sep 2008

Sen. Coburn: 'The Disease That Infects Washington' - http://video.newsmax.com/?assetId=V3687451 Oklahoma's Tom Coburn, one of two physicians currently serving in the U.S. Senate, tells Newsmax.TV that Sen. Arlen Specter's defection to the Democrats, just to be re-elected, is precisely what's wrong with our political system and the reason he has term-limited himself. He also explains why government-run health care as being pushed by Obama and the Democrats is not only prohibitively costly and ineffective, but results in the rationing of medical care to the elderly. Sen. Coburn also explains why he voted against Kathleen Sebelius's nomination to be Health and Human Services Secretary.

Related Articles: Obama's Attack on Medical Civil Liberties