Racial Preferences in the Democrats’ Health Care Bill
Allan J. Favish, American Thinker, July 21, 2009
{snip} Under the Democrats’ health care bill, if a medical school wants to increase its chances of receiving many different kinds of grants and contracts from the federal government, it should have a demonstrated record of training individuals who are from underrepresented minority groups. This is because the Democrats’ health care bill requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to give preference to the entities that have demonstrated such a record in the awarding of these contracts to medical schools and other institutions.
The bill does not state what would qualify as a “demonstrated record”, so we can expect medical schools and the other entities to do whatever they think they can get away with to train as many “individuals who are from underrepresented minority groups” as they think they might need to have a better “demonstrated record” in this regard then other entities competing for the grants and contracts. The Democrats’ health care bill creates a very significant financial incentive for medical schools and other entities to lower admission standards for “individuals who are from underrepresented minority groups” if that is what it takes to have the winning “demonstrated record”.
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On page 881-882 the bill states: “In awarding grants or contracts under this section, the Secretary shall give preference to entities that have a demonstrated record of the following: . . . Training individuals who are from underrepresented minority groups or disadvantaged backgrounds.”
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On page 884-885 the bill states: “In awarding grants and contracts . . . the Secretary shall give preference to entities that have a demonstrated record of training . . . individuals who are from underrepresented minority groups or disadvantaged backgrounds. . . .”
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Apart from the legality of such preferences under the U.S. Constitution and the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the unfairness to those who are not “individuals who are from underrepresented minority groups”, the Democrats’ policy will foster the racial preference climate that continues to stigmatize and demean those individuals who receive the preferences. {snip}
[Editor’s Note: The House’s “Bill to provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes.” can be downloaded as a PDF file here.]
