The broad powers of Obamacare's bureaucracy

More Americans are waking up to the invasive nature of the nation's 2010 health care reform act. But the dangers posed by the Democrats' health care grab should have been apparent from the start.

Mark Steyn observes:

As Philip Klein pointed out in the American Spectator two years ago, the Obamacare bill contained 700 references to the Secretary "shall," another 200 to the Secretary "may," and 139 to the Secretary "determines." So the Secretary may and shall determine pretty much anything she wants, as the Obamaphile rubes among the Catholic hierarchy are belatedly discovering. His Majesty King Barack "shall have full power and authority to visit, repress, redress, record, order, correct, restrain and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offenses, contempts and enormities whatsoever they be." In my latest book, I cite my personal favorite among the epic sweep of Commissar Sebelius' jurisdictional authority: 

"The Secretary shall develop oral healthcare components that shall include tooth-level surveillance."

In 2010, Nancy Pelosi told an audience that Congress would have to pass the health care bill to find out what's in it. She lied. 

The most damning parts of the bill is the power it bestows on an un-elected, unaccountable, agenda-driven  bureaucracy. And the Department of Health and Human Services is just beginning to roll out its health care decrees. 

Catholic Church objections to contraception mandates grab the headlines for now. But how many other costly and/or liberty-crushing mandates await us in the future under the guise of health care reform?