what do you all think of this? (health provisions in the stimulus)

[Guest guest]

Commentary by Betsy McCaughey

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.â€

According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate

less like solo practitioners.â€

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.â€

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@...

Last Updated: February 9, 2009 00:01 EST

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