My Daily Domestic Diigolet 02/10/2009

• Bloomberg.com: OpinionAs if we needed another reason to hate this stupid stimulus bill!! If you have older parents, or if you yourself are over 65- be afraid – be very afraid because you are about to lose control of your own health care decisions. tags: politics
  • ragically, 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
• Moby-Dick: Study Help: Quiz – CliffsNotestags: homeschooling, literature

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