So, what does anyone care about Daschle’s plans for anything any more?
Well, he night be gone, but his ideas for health care are part of the aforementioned B.O. B.S. B.O. Bill.
Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan
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
“So far, everything’s OK”. (in the words of a man falling from the Empire State Building, as he passed the 50th floor.) Then it gets really messy:
One (emphasis added) 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).
NOTE: “…what the government deems appropriate and cost effective.” Not you and your doctor…THE GOVERNMENT. So much for any remnant of medical independence, but wait! It doesn’t stop there:
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…is to slow the development and use of new medications and technologies because they are driving up costs. He [Daschle] 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.
And the practical effect: Welcome to the U.K.! (or worse.)
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).
Like Hitler did with Mein Kampf, Daschle has published his own vision vision of this brave new world.
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…
In other words, once your usefulness to society is done, then you should welcome this 21st century version of the tribal elderly being cast out into the blizzard when their day is done. So much for compassionate care.
Herr Himmler, and his pet Dr. Mengele would have heartily approved of this scheme to cut out support of such “useless eaters” as the infirm elderly.
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€
Right to life? What’s that any more? Nothing…that question was settled by Roe v. Wade. This is merely an all too logical extension of that attitude. The Chief isn’t a Catholic, but Pope John Paul was spot on when he warned against a culture of death.
As the cartoon character “Pogo” observed: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
