Stimulus Bill - Health Care Provision

This is really scary.

Yesterday I listened to President Obama give his first press conference since entering office. He generally beat the bully-pulpit with his 8 minute speak and about 55 minutes of Q&A, supporting the passage of the proposed Stimulus bill.

He basically said, there is no reason not to pass this bill and those that don't want to are ones that want to do nothing.

There many be some that have this ideology, that is to do nothing and let the crisis work itself out.

I am not one of those.

I do believe like the majority opposed to the immediate passage of this bill, that more time is needed to see what exactly is in it.

With a read of this article, I bring to your attention why congress needs to vote NO on this stimulus bill, until we have a full understanding of it's contents.

Just one example of what's deep inside this bill is a provision for health care.

Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan: Betsy McCaughey
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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.

The elderly will be hit the hardest. And Catholic Hospitals will feel the hand of the government is regards to the abortion issue.