about time.....

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.