Obama Tries to Sneak Major Health Care Reform into the Stimulus Bill

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Obama Tries to Sneak Major Health Care Reform into the Stimulus Bill

Thursday, February 12, 2009

 

Byron Richards, CCN

 

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Under the cover of emergency economic legislation the front wave of an

entire new system of health care is being pushed on Americans. The

strategy for this ploy was once explained by Obama's former appointee

to head the Department of Health and Human Services, and now exposed

tax cheat, Senator Tom Daschle. Daschle spells out the plan on pages

196-197 of his book, Critical – What We Can Do About the Health Care

Crisis, " The next president should act immediately to capitalize on

the goodwill that greets any incoming administration. If that means

attaching a health-care plan to the federal budget, so be it. This

issue is too important to be stalled by Senate protocol. " In other

words, public debate should be avoided, forget about democracy – so

that Obama-care does not meet the same fate as Hillary-care.

 

In the last few days a debate on this issue has blown up on national

TV, talk radio, and the internet. It began with an article published

on Bloomberg titled, " Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan "

by Betsy McCaughey. McCaughey says the plan could be used to ration

care to the elderly, putting government, not doctors, in charge of

what care will be delivered. She has been interviewed on Lou Dobbs

and Glenn Beck. Fox News, the Drudge Report, and even Rush Limbaugh

have spread the news. Limbaugh warned his listening audience that

their patient privacy was at stake and that " Your medical treatments

will be tracked electronically by a federal system. " The bottom line

of their messages: quality of care and type of care will not be

determined by the doctor, but rather by a new system of cost

containment implemented by the federal government.

 

Democrats have found themselves on the defense. While getting grilled

on FOX news Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said, " There is nothing in this

legislation that interferes with a doctor making a decision, with the

patient, on what is appropriate care. What is in this legislation is

an effort to make sure we share information – generically,

appropriately – so doctors and medical providers can have the best

information, but there's nothing in this bill that compromises the

decision-making between the doctor and the patient. "

 

Democratic websites have attacked McCaughey, saying she is reading

more into the bill than is actually there. She has fired back, saying

the health-care language in the bill has nothing whatsoever to do with

new jobs and jump starting the economy. She says, " Americans deserve

an open and honest debate about creating a federal healthcare

infrastructure of this magnitude. These health provisions should be

removed from the stimulus bill and offered to Congress in separate

legislation. "

 

We even have Scott Gottlieb getting into the discussion, the former

second in command at the FDA, who during his time at the FDA advocated

the industry-friendly position that Americans should be exposed to

dangerous and expensive drug experiments and have no right to recourse

if they are injured. Now he says, " The bill will be used to create

guidelines to direct doctors' treatment of difficult, high-cost

medical problems. " His statement means that Big Pharma and Big Biotech

are really concerned that their future cash-cow experiments may not be

covered by the new plan.

 

Indeed, Big Pharma was really upset about parts of the plan that

called for spending government money to try and compare the

effectiveness of drugs, one to another. This provision has now been

changed based on intense lobbying over the past few days. Such a

provision would have been really bad news for Big Pharma, as it would

quickly be discovered that their drugs hardly work at all to produce

positive health outcomes, especially in preventive medicine. For a

more comprehensive understanding of Big Pharma in relation to the

health care handouts in this bill, read my article " Is Obama Bailing

Out Big Pharma's Bursting Bubble. "

 

The Hill website reported in early December that Senate Finance

Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) wanted health IT in the

stimulus bill to help avoid a fight on healthcare early in 2009 when

lawmakers were drafting broader healthcare legislation. " There are

going to be certain costs of healthcare reform — upfront costs. If I

can put some of those upfront costs in the so-called stimulus bill,

I'd rather put them there….We've got to create a very significant

upfront effort early on and keep the momentum going on healthcare, "

said Baucus, who added he was in regular contact with the Obama team,

Kennedy and other key lawmakers.

 

Several things are certain. Health IT has nothing to do with

meaningful stimulus for the economy. It is in the stimulus bill to

get its own financial stimulus, helping to jump start Obama-care

without any public debate.

 

The Scope of Obama's Health IT

 

In the 680 page House version of the stimulus bill (H.R.1.E.H., pdf

version), almost 200 pages are spent on Health IT (434-627). Right

away you can understand that this is a comprehensive piece of

legislation, taking up almost 1/3 of the bill. The legislation

establishes within the Department of Health and Human Services an

Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology,

which will be headed by a National Coordinator. This is like creating

a new FDA, meaning the size of this new branch of government will end

up quite large. It states various admirable purposes, such as

ensuring electronic health information is secure and that it is used

to better patient care. An overall goal is to have an electronic

health record for every American by 2014 (page 445).

 

This is not a passive IT system that is collecting data. It is

intended to be used as a tool to deploy a type of care it deems

appropriate based on government employees making policy-related health

decisions, with a stated purpose so the IT system " provides

appropriate information to help guide medical decisions at the time

and place of care. " (page 442)

 

Anybody reading this legislation quickly realizes that it is much more

than a health IT system. It is a new type of health care with a blank

check on expanding its regulatory powers to accomplish anything it

deems appropriate. For example, on page 447 it reads, " REPORT ON

ADDITIONAL FUNDING OR AUTHORITY NEEDED.—Not later than 12 months after

the date of the enactment of this title, the National Coordinator

shall submit to the appropriate committees of jurisdiction of the

House of Representatives and the Senate a report on any additional

funding or authority the Coordinator or the HIT Policy Committee or

HIT Standards Committee requires to evaluate and develop standards,

implementation specifications, and certification criteria, or to

achieve full participation of stakeholders in the adoption of a

nationwide health information technology infrastructure that allows

for the electronic use and exchange of health information. "

 

A short version of this is " the National Coordinator shall report on

any additional authority required to achieve full participation of

stakeholders. " In other words, everyone will play ball and or else the

National Coordinator must seek more power to be able to get everyone

in line.

 

The legislation makes it clear that this is not just about your

personal health. On page 455 it says, " the HIT Policy Committee may

consider the following additional areas: The appropriate uses of a

nation wide health information infrastructure, including for purposes

of biosurveillance and public health. " This approves the use of your

health information for military-related needs and other public health

measures (meaning did you get all your vaccinations? etc.). It is not

at all a stretch of the imagination to interpret this to mean that

your electronic health record will be used to ensure you are in

compliance with public health initiatives.

 

The legislation specifically mandates compliance by the private

sector, page 470: " SEC. 4112. APPLICATION TO PRIVATE ENTITIES. Each

agency (relating to promoting quality and efficient health care in

Federal government administered or sponsored health care programs)

shall require in contracts or agreements with health care providers,

health plans, or health insurance issuers that as each provider, plan,

or issuer implements, acquires, or upgrades health information

technology systems, it shall utilize, where available, health

information technology systems and products that meet standards and

implementation specifications. "

 

In other words, all health professionals are required to abide by the

standards of care that are determined in conjunction with the cost

containment and " best practices " ideas of the federal government,

whatever they may be. This means that the government is directly

telling doctors how to practice medicine, and even what kind of

medicine is allowed, contrary to what Senator Cardin told FOX news.

 

The theme and importance of conforming to the government's idea of

medical care is further spelled out in the section on the MEDICARE

PROGRAM - INCENTIVES FOR ELIGIBLE PROFESSIONALS. This section

introduces the term " meaningful user, " which is repeatedly used in the

context of a health professional who is conforming to whatever the IT

system tells them to do with their patients. It offers them bonuses

up to $15,000 per year to comply with the IT health guidelines. (page

513) This means your doctor's bonus could be more important than the

right decision for your health.

 

The goal is to get doctors in the loop and then force them to comply

with guidelines of care: " The Secretary shall seek to improve the use

of electronic health records and health care quality over time by

requiring more stringent measures of meaningful use. " (page 518) This

is an open-ended and vaguely defined approach that could mean almost

anything.

 

Freedom and Choice are Being Sacrificed

 

The price of this legislation cannot be measured in dollars. The

price of this legislation should be measured in your loss of freedom,

loss of privacy, and loss of choice relating to your own health. The

government will want your DNA in its database next. It will want a

chip in your arm to really keep track of you and your health. One

thing will lead to another.

 

This legislation represents a broad and sweeping change in the type of

care you will be able to receive. And that care will be set by the

government, by unelected bureaucrats with who knows what agenda.

 

If this is what Americans really want then it should be debated and

discussed openly on its merits. Freedom is not easily regained once

it is lost. Once upon a time the people of Germany had a truly

advanced health care system called the " freedom to cure. " It

encouraged alternative health practitioners to practice side by side

with medical doctors, offering true freedom of choice, all in the best

interests of the patient. That was a long time ago.

 

In the name of public health, those freedoms were set aside for the

rise of a socialist system. It was recognized that health freedom

fostered mental health and free thinking citizens, and those rights

were not compatible with socialism. Health freedom and general health

choice were obliterated in the name of the greater good. The

government had control. Even though Hitler was stopped, Germany has

never regained its health freedom and today has one of the most

repressive socialist health care systems on earth.

 

Certainly we want to do what we can to help Americans who are

struggling with health problems, especially when those problems were

not created by their own poor choices. It is simply not right to

sacrifice our identity as a free people to accomplish that objective.

 

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Emergency Call to Action

The only chance to stop sweeping health care reform, which is being

pushed through without any public debate, is to flood the Senate with

objection to the Health Care IT portion of the bill – demanding its

removal from the Stimulus bill. The Senate is expected to vote on

Friday. In addition to calling and faxing your own Senators, also let

the three Republican Senators who are supporting this legislation know

that you are opposed to Health IT, which is really major health care

reform, being included in the Stimulus bill. Simply say, " I adamantly

object to the Health IT provision in the Stimulus bill, which are

designed to drastically change health care and are not relevant to

stimulus. Americans deserve an open and honest debate on this very

important topic. These health IT provisions should be removed from the

Stimulus bill and offered to Congress in separate legislation. "

 

Contact Your Senators

Capitol Switchboard – (202) 224-3121

Or find your Senator's contact information online by clicking here

 

The Three Key Senators to Also Contact:

Collins, Susan M. - (R - ME)—Direct: (202) 224-2523, Fax: (202) 224-2693

Specter, Arlen - (R - PA)—Direct: (202) 224-4254, Fax: 202-228-1229

Snowe, Olympia J. - (R - ME)—Direct: (202) 224-5344, Fax: (202) 224-194