Obama's Private Army is now law

**Editor’s note: In our ongoing effort to bring you the most reliable information we have added more information to the end of this article that we thought brings a more balanced approach to this subject. Though we are not fully sure what the intent is completely by the current administration’s setup of this portion of HR 3590, their actions do shed some doubt as to the benign-ness of their actions. However, we want to present both sides and be as accurate as possible in our reporting. **

The Ready Reserve Corp portion of HR 3590 that was just recently signed into law is a very small, obscure part of the overall health care reform law. What does it mean? Here Fox News discusses this with their judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano. This creates a 6,000 ready reserve army of health care service people.

After seeing the video posted above on Fox News, I thought I would dig up some more information on the Ready Reserve Corp (Civilian Health Care Army). What I found is just the beginning and needs to be brought to the light of day. I am just posting this for your knowledge at this point, with comments to follows – it starts on page 1337 of H.R. 3590:

Note that these officers are appointed by the President. Taking a look at the history that has already been established by these “Presidential Appointments” (read into that Czars) we have already seen that these appointments would most likely be with people that lean way to the left and have very radical agendas for transforming the United States away from what has made it the greatest country in the world. What would happen with those same types of people in charge of this National Health Care Army that operates strictly on US domestic soil?

Now, since this section of the health care bill only occupies just under three pages of the entire HR 3590 bill, it seems to be very open ended. The question arises – could this be part of what then Senator Obama stated on July 2, 2008?

Here’s Senator Barak Obama stating his call and need for a domestic army that is just as strong and well equipped as the normal army. He stated that:

“We can not continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded.”

The question really arises from his July 2, 2008 speech specifically what is he desiring here and what are the intents of this? Just as well funded and just as strong? Unfortunately at this point, only time will tell.

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April 13, 2001 Update:

In an ongoing effort to keep individuals updates on this issue, we came across more information on FactCheck.org regarding this “army”. Here’s what we found on FactCheck’s website:

Reference http://factcheck.org/2010/04/obamas-private-army/ for the complete article.

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Q: Did the new health care law give Obama a Nazi-like “private army” of 6,000 people?

A: No. Contrary to false Internet rumors, the new Ready Reserve Corps of doctors and other health workers will report to the surgeon general and be like the “ready reserves” in other uniformed services. They will be used during health emergencies.

FULL QUESTION

I just received an e-mail concerning a section of the new healthcare bill establishing a “ready reserve health corps” of 6,000. Some, Fox News, are saying this is an attempt to erode our freedoms. Should we run to our bunkers?

Obama Just Got His Private Army

Were you aware of the fact that the health care bill created a civilian army?

A Ready Reserve Corps for service in time of national emergency.
All commissioned officers shall be citizens of the United States and shall be appointed without regard to the civil-service laws (which means they will not be sworn to uphold the Constitution) and compensated without regard to the Classification Act 2 of 1923, as amended.

Remember when Obama said he wanted a “national security force”? Not the national guard, but a civilian one that has not sworn to uphold the Constitution?

FULL ANSWER

This e-mail features a prominent reference to something we’ve dealt with before: A July 2, 2008, speech in Colorado Springs by then-presidential candidate Barack Obama. Obama talked there about building up “a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as our military force. But the doomsayers left out the context: Obama was proposing strengthening the Peace Corps, Americorps, the USA Freedom Corps and the ranks of the State Department’s foreign service officers.

Despite our efforts, though, some people have been on the lookout for signs of Obama’s “national security force” ever since, and they think they have found it in section 5210 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the health care overhaul recently signed into law by the president. The blogosphere has been ablaze with postings, which, like the e-mail above, often contain references to Hitler, brownshirts, Nazism and the like.

The truth about the new Ready Reserve Corps is a lot less interesting than the conspiracy theories. Before the law was passed, the Public Health Service, unlike other elements of the government’s seven uniformed services, didn’t have a “ready reserve” – a cadre of individuals who could be called up involuntarily in times of need. What it had was a regular, full-time corps of 2,800 doctors, nurses, scientists and other medical professionals, which was the limit under law. It also had a reserve corps. But most of the individuals in the reserve corps, which was larger than the regular corps, were on extended active duty for the duration of their careers; in other words, they worked full-time, just like the regular corps, because they were needed, but the statutory cap prevented the service from bringing them into the regular corps.

The new law eliminates the personnel cap and brings the members of what used to be the reserve corps into the regular corps, which as a result now numbers about 6,600, according to an official at the Public Health Service who spoke to us on background.

And the law creates the ready reserve of individuals who can be called up for service by the U.S. surgeon general in times of need; the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is often used as an example of an incident that might trigger a call-up.

Officials at the PHS are in the process of developing regulations that will determine how the Ready Reserve Corps is populated, but the person we spoke to said there will be limits on how long individuals could serve on active duty. Those who are activated will be paid for the duration of their service, and the bill provides $12.5 million per year through 2014 for the Ready Reserve.

It’s unclear at this point how large the Ready Reserve will be, but a number in the neighborhood of several thousand has been mentioned. The PHS had been hoping to create the new team for several years, for reasons that may have been best described in a 2008 report, Blueprint for a Healthier America, published by a nonprofit group called the Trust for America’s Health to help guide the next administration and Congress:

Blueprint for a Healthier America: There are not sufficient numbers of public health professionals to respond during major health emergencies, and when Corps members are called away to respond to emergencies, it means their ongoing functions are often neglected. If a “Ready Reserve” program was created, retired members of the Corps could become reservists who could be deployed on short notice during emergencies, or could fill in at federal agencies when active members are needed during emergencies, to ensure ongoing functions are carried out. Reservists would be required to participate in an appropriate number of drills and training throughout the year. Members of the reserve could also help fill in to provide services for underserved communities where health problems are the greatest.

Jerry Farrell, executive director of the Commissioned Officers Association, told us that the Ready Reserve can help the PHS avoid situations such as what happened after Katrina, when so many members of the regular and reserve corps were dispatched to New Orleans and other areas hit by the 2005 hurricane that “the corps discovered, for instance, that they had deployed a whole surgical clinic of the Indian Health Service.”

Needless to say (we hope), there is absolutely no support for this chain e-mail’s speculation that uniformed members of the Public Health Service would be ordered to give “lethal injections (a.k.a. vaccinations) to ‘unworthy people.’ ”

–Viveca Novak

Sources

Hamburg, Richard. Deputy Director, Trust for America’s Health. Interview with FactCheck.org. 6 April 2010.

Trust for America’s Health. “Blueprint for a Healthier America.” October 2008.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Pub. L. No. 111-148. Enacted 23 March 2010.

Farrell, Jerry. Executive Director, Commissioned Officers Association. Interview with FactCheck.org. 6 April 2010.