Stimulus = Health care control

[ericire12]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mccaughey&sid=aLzfDxfbwhzs

The worst part of the stimulus bill that just passed is that Big Govt now has its claws firmly into our health care system:

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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 bill allocates more funding for this bureaucracy than for the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force combined (90-92, 174-177, 181).

Be afraid, be very very afraid.

[Solus]

Holy Chit....

I wonder if the Komrads in the administration and congress will be subject to the same rationing as the plebes.

[CurrieS103]

Holy Chit....

I wonder if the Komrads in the administration and congress will be subject to the same rationing as the plebes.

Of course not   "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others"  (George Orwell, "Animal Farm", Published; 1945)

[ericire12]

Of course not   "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others"  (George Orwell, "Animal Farm", Published; 1945)

Not required reading at Harvard

[runstowin]

These problems don't pop up all of a sudden out of no where. My question is where was we the people when such things as the Health Education and Welfare Dept. was created, the FDA, the office of U.S. Surgeon General was created, etc.?
Intervention in the field of health by the Federal government has been going on for a long time, it is wrong in principle, but it has been consistently supported by both major political parties. We the people could have and should have said no a long time ago. When the federal government is allowed to set a precedent the battle is already lost or at least it will be an uphill fight, it is a little late to start whining now.

[Sponsor]

[1776 Rebel]

It is all about $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Has been since Lyndon Johnson at least. Doctors, insurance companies, hospitals, politicians etc etc etc....

[ericire12]

These problems don't pop up all of a sudden out of no where. My question is where was we the people when such things as the Health Education and Welfare Dept. was created, the FDA, the office of U.S. Surgeon General was created, etc.?
Intervention in the field of health by the Federal government has been going on for a long time, it is wrong in principle, but it has been consistently supported by both major political parties. We the people could have and should have said no a long time ago. When the federal government is allowed to set a precedent the battle is already lost or at least it will be an uphill fight, it is a little late to start whining now.

Hopefully, Obama and the Dems have cut their own throat on this one..... Rationing health care.... seniors will be outraged over this, if it gets the coverage it deserves....... hopefully this will be Obama's downfall and ensure that he will not get a second term.

[Rastus]

Hopefully, Obama and the Dems have cut their own throat on this one..... Rationing health care.... seniors will be outraged over this, if it gets the coverage it deserves....... hopefully this will be Obama's downfall and ensure that he will not get a second term.

I can see a worsening economy and cries that patriotic Americans have to tighten their belts and be good Americans....in which case the kool-aide drinkers who voted for BHO will follow the lemmings' clue and drag us along for the ride.

[ranger351w]

  So I guess that when you reach a certain age you are on your own and will be let out to die? What A great nation we are.
 Do the older people have to dig there own grave also? How old is old? who decides?

 How is this stimulus? 

[Thanos]

  So I guess that when you reach a certain age you are on your own and will be let out to die? What A great nation we are.
 Do the older people have to dig there own grave also? How old is old? who decides?

Remember Logan's Run?