I posted this story on myspace about a week ago. That night Keith Olbermann had a story on this article. The video can be seen after the article. Let it be known that since Olbermann's bit on this post by McCaughey she has come out and challenged him to a debate. It hasn't happened yet, and probably won't, but if it does I'll post it here. Enjoy!
Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) — Republican Senators are
questioning whether President Barack Obama’s
stimulus bill contains the right mix of tax breaks
and cash infusions to jump-start the economy.
Tragically, no one from either party is objecting to
the health provisions slipped in without
discussion. These provisions reflect the handiwork
of Tom Daschle, until recently the nominee to
head the Health and Human Services Department.
Senators should read these provisions and vote
against them because they are dangerous to your
health. (Page numbers refer to H.R. 1 EH, pdf
version).
The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual
in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your
medical treatments will be tracked electronically
by a federal system. Having electronic medical
records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a
hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate
tests and errors.
But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy,
the National Coordinator of Health Information
Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure
your doctor is doing what the federal government
deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is
to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s
decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the
stimulus bill are virtually identical to what
Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical:
What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.”
According to Daschle, doctors have to give up
autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo
practitioners.”
Keeping doctors informed of the newest medical
findings is important, but enforcing uniformity
goes too far.
New Penalties
Hospitals and doctors that are not “meaningful
users” of the new system will face penalties.
“Meaningful user” isn’t defined in the bill. That
will be left to the HHS secretary, who will be
empowered to impose “more stringent measures
of meaningful use over time” (511, 518, 540-541)
What penalties will deter your doctor from going
beyond the electronically delivered protocols
when your condition is atypical or you need an
experimental treatment? The vagueness is
intentional. In his book, Daschle proposed an
appointed body with vast powers to make the
“tough” decisions elected politicians won’t make.
The stimulus bill does that, and calls it the Federal
Coordinating Council for Comparative
Effectiveness Research (190-192). The goal,
Daschle’s book explained, is to slow the
development and use of new medications and
technologies because they are driving up costs.
He praises Europeans for being more willing to
accept “hopeless diagnoses” and “forgo
experimental treatments,” and he chastises
Americans for expecting too much from the
health-care system.
Elderly Hardest Hit
Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain
free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the
conditions that come with age instead of treating
them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.
Medicare now pays for treatments deemed safe
and effective. The stimulus bill would change that
and apply a cost- effectiveness standard set by the
Federal Council (464).
The Federal Council is modeled after a U.K.
board discussed in Daschle’s book. This board
approves or rejects treatments using a formula
that divides the cost of the treatment by the
number of years the patient is likely to benefit.
Treatments for younger patients are more often
approved than treatments for diseases that affect
the elderly, such as osteoporosis.
In 2006, a U.K. health board decreed that elderly
patients with macular degeneration had to wait
until they went blind in one eye before they could
get a costly new drug to save the other eye. It
took almost three years of public protests before
the board reversed its decision.
Hidden Provisions
If the Obama administration’s economic stimulus
bill passes the Senate in its current form, seniors
in the U.S. will face similar rationing. Defenders
of the system say that individuals benefit in
younger years and sacrifice later.
The stimulus bill will affect every part of health
care, from medical and nursing education, to how
patients are treated and how much hospitals get
paid. The bill allocates more funding for this
bureaucracy than for the Army, Navy, Marines,
and Air Force combined (90-92, 174-177, 181).
Hiding health legislation in a stimulus bill is
intentional. Daschle supported the Clinton
administration’s health-care overhaul in 1994, and
attributed its failure to debate and delay. A year
ago, Daschle wrote that the next president should
act quickly before critics mount an opposition. “If
that means attaching a health-care plan to the
federal budget, so be it,” he said. “The issue is too
important to be stalled by Senate protocol.”
More Scrutiny Needed
On Friday, President Obama called it
“inexcusable and irresponsible” for senators to
delay passing the stimulus bill. In truth, this bill
needs more scrutiny.
The health-care industry is the largest employer in
the U.S. It produces almost 17 percent of the
nation’s gross domestic product. Yet the bill treats
health care the way European governments do: as
a cost problem instead of a growth industry.
Imagine limiting growth and innovation in the
electronics or auto industry during this downturn.
This stimulus is dangerous to your health and the
economy.
(Betsy McCaughey is former lieutenant governor
of New York and is an adjunct senior fellow at
the Hudson Institute. The opinions expressed are
her own.)
To contact the writer of this column: Betsy McCaughey at Betsymross@aol.com
And Olbermann's piece:
So there you have it.
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