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Obamacare contains many freedom-infringing measures, but the latest tidbit unearthed may be one of the most constitutionally offensive of them all, critics say.
Text from the law shared on the Health and Human Services (HHS) website appears to indicate American families which fall under the “high risk” category may be subject to undue targeting and home visits.
While a HHS release about the grants which fund the program states the home visits are voluntary, some attorneys and elected officials who have read the relative companion Obamacare text disagree about the possibility of denying entry to social services workers. The Health and Human Services program is called the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program.
A 2011 Obamacare-related Health and Human Services release noted that $224 million will be used to fund “evidence-based home visiting programs.” The stated goal of the federal program is to “help parents and children.”
Exactly what type of forced input Americans who fall into the high risk group will be receiving via the Obamacare mandate it not clear.
There is a way to effectively opt-out of the coming health care nightmare…
Types of United States citizens which fall into the Obamacare high risk category include:
- Families which include a tobacco user.
- Families where a mother is not yet 21.
- Families with members who are either currently serving or are veterans of the armed forces.
- Families with children who have low student achievement scores at school.
- Families which include a member with developmental delays or disabilities.
- Families with a history of substance abuse.
- Low income families.
The high-risk group will obviously encompass a sizeable portion of American families.
When the program was announced, Kathleen Sebelius, HHS secretary, applauded the idea.
“Home visiting programs play a critical role in the nation’s efforts to help children get off to a strong start,” she said. “Parenting is a tough job, and helping parents succeed pays big dividends in a child’s well-being and healthy development.”
HHS even included data it said showed home visits “can improve outcomes for children and families, including improving maternal and child health, reducing child maltreatment, increasing parental employment, and improving the rate at which children reach developmental milestones.”
George Sheldon, acting assistant secretary of the Administration for Children and Families within HHS, was quoted as saying, “Helping children and families thrive requires a multi-faceted approach and home visiting is a critical component that can strengthen families and put children on solid footing.”
The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) itself calls the visits voluntary. Others, though say they won’t be. Kent Masterson Brown, a constitutional attorney, said it is “not a voluntary program.”
“The eligible entity receiving the grant for performing the home visits is to identify the individuals to be visited and intervene so as to meet the improvement benchmarks,” Brown said. “A homeschooling family, for instance, may be subject to intervention in school readiness and social-emotional developmental indicators. A farm family may be subject to intervention in order to prevent child injuries. The sky is the limit. Intervention may be with any family for any reason. It may also result in the child or children being required to go to certain schools or taking certain medications and vaccines and even having more limited — or no — interaction with parents. The federal government will now set the standards for raising children and will enforce them by home visits.”
