Nationalized Health Care Has Begun!

The debate has been raging in Washington for the better part of the past 6 months over the new pork filled stimulus bill that President Obama is championing.  The bill doesn’t contain much in the way of tax breaks and job creations in fact it does more to stimulate food stamps and grow government beaucracy than provide new jobs and tax breaks for working people.

That aside there is a terribly troublesome health provision slipped into the stimulus bill WITHOUT ANY DISCUSSION.  These provisions reflect the handiwork of Tom Daschle, until recently the nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department. (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.” 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).

This is how Washington see’s the issue.

So basically I have the right to pay for other peoples health care and the government has the right to choose if I get the appropriate care.  This is the inspiring change I’ve been hoping for.

So it begins.  The government will now be deciding if your treatment is worth it.  This is Madness.

What are we Canada?

Again if you missed it the first time, “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..”