More garbage in the stimulus

More garbage, and I use that term VERY intentionally, is coming out about the stimulus. This isn’t about a ‘bad apple spoiling a bunch’, it’s about a whole bushel of bad apples being crammed down our throat because “we need it”.

As an example (and a frightening one at that) of what I am talking about, you need to pay attention to the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research and the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, two new entities that would be created by the stimulus. The idea tracks with some of President Obama’s campaign promises, including making all medical records electronic. He mentioned that this would save HUGE amounts of money, which made me laugh at the time, now it makes me sick to my stomach. The missing piece is finally being revealed. Once your medical records are electronic, then the government can start looking at your condition and the treatments that you are receiving. Then the government panel can start regulating how conditions and patients are treated. The electronic system is actually a stepping stone to nationalized healthcare.

The Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research can use government funding like puppet strings to control what doctors can and can’t treat, and how they can treat it. They can also slow and limit the development of new treatments.

To get the full low down on what I am talking about, read this article that makes some great points about the healthcare provisions in the ‘stimulus’. What is being sold as the bill to save our economy, could cost you a lot more than just your wallet.

Here are the most interesting and frightening quotes:

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.

Are YOU willing to accept a "hopeless dianoses"? Wait I thought Americans voted for hope?

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).

Can't wait to hear that from my doctor, "we have this medicine that could help you live with a lot less pain, but it was determined that at your age, we wouldn't see enough benefit to our healthcare system." BTW, this applies to all treatments. For instance, in some countries things like pacemakers are rationed. If you aren't on the top of the list, you don't get one, even if it could drastically improve your quality of life. That's why Canadians are willing to come to the US and pay for treatments out of their own pockets! The government in Canada won't LET them pay for additional serves with their own money.

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.

Come on, you still have ONE that kind of works!

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).

I hope you are beginning to understand that this is not a stimulus package. It is a way to push through President Obama's agenda as quickly and with as little oversite and scrutiny as possible. Call your representatives and tell them NO STIMULUS IS BETTER THAN A PILE OF GARBAGE!

****** UPDATE: Chuck Schumer says that Americans don't care about all of the "porky things" in this bill. REALLY!!!!!