The Associated Press has an article which begins with a statement that “The national Republican Party has mailed a fundraising appeal suggesting Democrats might use an overhaul of the health care system to deny medical treatment to Republicans.”  The apparent suggestion comes from a question on a questionnaire which asked if people are concerned about the possibility that “GOP voters might be discriminated against for medical treatment in a Democrat-imposed health care rationing system.”  An RNC spokesman has apparently dismissed the statement as having been “inartfully worded,” but the question actually touches on a concern that I’ve expressed privately for several weeks.

One of the major considerations of the health care plans being worked through congress is a significant consolidation of information.  From the various reports I’ve read over the past few months, the government is planning to build a database which includes not only health history information, but also financial data, social security records, and various other things.  Campaign law requires the disclosure of names of “significant” campaign contributors, and it is probably not too hard an exercise for a party to identify most of their minor contributors as well.  Many states also require partisan registration for voting in primaries; which, while some people cross party lines, most people register straight up with how they usually vote.

If the voter rolls and campaign contribution lists are connected to the health care database, even if the connection is informal, it is difficult to ignore the abuses that would be possible.  Imagine how powerful it would be for a power hungry leader to declare that only people who vote for him get power.  With politics being essentially a power game, it would be only a matter of time before someone starts using health care as a tool to help their friends and subtly dispose of their enemies.  It may not be Obama, or his successor, or any President in our lifetime, but once a power is given, someone will figure out how to use it.  (And, by the way, that “someone” might be a Republican.)

Whether or not the survey question was properly worded, the issue it raises is real and significant.  Nobody is saying that Obama will only give health care to Democrats, but someone, someday, might.  That possibility alone makes the question worth asking.  We must be sure that health care cannot be rationed to partisan advantage.