How the Stimulus Bill Could Kill You

AmericanThinker.com ^ | February 04, 2009 | Douglas O'Brien

[Man50D]

When you read through the nearly seven hundred pages of the House stimulus bill it is easy to begin dozing off after a few hundred billion dollars worth of run-of-the-mill wasteful government spending. One has to keep a keen eye out for the components of the bill that don't just steal your money, but that may actually do you great physical harm, if not kill you outright.

On page 151 of this legislative pork-fest is one of the clandestine nuggets of social policy manipulation that are peppered throughout the bill. Section 9201 of the stimulus package establishes the "Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research." This body, which would be made up of federal bureaucrats will "coordinate the conduct or support of comparative effectiveness and related health services research."

Sounds benign enough, but the man behind the Coordinating Council, Health and Human Services Secretary-designate (and tax cheat) Tom Daschle, was kind enough to explain the goal of this organization. It is to cut health care costs by preventing Americans from getting treatments that the government decides don't meet their standards for cost effectiveness. In his 2008 book on health care, he explained that such a council would, "lower overall spending by determining which medicines, treatments and procedures are most effective-and identifying those that do not justify their high price tags."

Once a panel of government experts decides what is and what is not cost-effective by their definition, the government will stop paying for treatments, medicines, therapies or devices that fall into the latter category. Initially, this will limit access to very expensive treatments for federal employees, veterans, the elderly, members of the military and their dependents and others who rely on the feds to pay for their health care. But since this would place nearly half of health care dollars off limits for such treatments, the demand for and further development of such treatments would likely dry up. And Daschle wants to expand the Coordinating Council's power even further, allowing the government to deny tax benefits for private insurance that covers treatments deemed too expensive by the Council. Thus, if a handful of government employees deem a therapy not cost effective, no health insurance will cover it and it will become virtually unobtainable to patients at any cost.

Mind you, they are not simply looking to exclude treatments that don't work, but to exclude treatments that are effective, but whose cost, in their opinion, does not justify their use. You, the patient, and your physician don't get a vote. This would make the federal government the single most important decision-maker regarding health care for every patient in America.

This is also another wonderful example within the stimulus bill of infantile economics. When something is new it is usually expensive, (think $3,000 VCR's back in the ‘70s). As supply increases, two important things happen. First, innovations take place that improve the product. Second, the cost comes down. If the feds step in and say, no, that new treatment is too expensive, it will never have the chance to become better, the supply will not increase and it won't become more cost-effective. It will just die on the shelf, and so will the patients who potentially could have benefited.

For example, scientists have found that proton beams can be used to destroy cancerous tumors by pinpointing the beam on a tumor diminishing the collateral damage to surrounding tissue that often accompanies conventional photon radiation treatment. Five facilities in the United States offer proton therapy at places like Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Texas. The five can treat a total of about 8,000 patients a year. Protons are most beneficial for children who can suffer severe developmental side-effects from radiation treatment. But the therapy is expensive, often running over $100,000 for a six-week course of treatment. But as new proton treatment facilities are built, improving the delivery of the therapy and increasing its supply, prices will decrease and quality will improve. But how will a panel of bureaucrats react to this situation? Will they allow insurance to cover a treatment that can be many times more expensive than conventional care and let it reach its full potential? Or will it be blackballed for future patients in the name of cost-containment?

Imagine the conversation: Parents are told that their daughter has a brain tumor. Doctors will immediately begin radiation treatment to destroy the tumor. But they also tell the parents that bombarding the child's brain with radiation will likely have developmental impacts. The doctors lament that there once was a better way to deal with this situation with a higher success rate and virtually no side effects, but some people in Washington decided it was too expensive and the centers that offered it closed and no one persisted in further developing the therapy.

Repeat this scenario time and time again and you will glimpse health care in the Age of Hope and Change. Emphasis will be shifted to prevention and management of chronic illness-an excellent idea and potentially very economically beneficial. But health care will be frozen in time. New treatments come on the market at very high costs and most often represent incremental improvements over existing care. That is how progress works and that is why we live longer lives than our great-grandparents. But that is exactly the kind of progress that Daschle and his Coordinating Council will be targeting in order to limit health care spending. It is a perfect example of the way socialized medicine rations care in the name of equality of access and proves the old Canadian axiom that, "national health care is wonderful, unless you get really sick."

Now, all this time, we have been told that Republicans were the ones who only saw health care in terms of dollars and sense and that the Democrats were champions of the needs of the ordinary people. The reality is the exact opposite. A market-based system promoted by many Republicans allows patients to control their care rather than bureaucrats and encourages innovations that save and prolong lives. Under this new health care order, it will be the express task of government employees to stand between you and your family and potentially life-saving care, all in the name of dollars and cents.

[Man50D]

Daschle is history but the bill remains.

Sounds benign enough, but the man behind the Coordinating Council, Health and Human Services Secretary-designate (and tax cheat) Tom Daschle, was kind enough to explain the goal of this organization. It is to cut health care costs by preventing Americans from getting treatments that the government decides don't meet their standards for cost effectiveness.

This is the crux of the bill, not economic improvement. Advance socialism by expanding the government.

[ritewingwarrior]

“coordinate the conduct or support of comparative effectiveness and related health services research.””

If Democrats want to lie to justify national healthcare, then they need a group of people who will swear to the lie.

What a farce.

[SisterK]

The “stimulus bill” mandates that our already degraded health care system is going to be hacked to pieces? Thanks but no thanks. Government sanctioned euthanasia next.

[allmost]

Seeing individual human beings as producers and not valuing their lives is the crux of the problem inherent in socialism. Stalin’s purges, the great leap forward, infanticide, etc., are all justifiable in world where people just don’t matter. The communist ‘ideals’ have a net opposite result. But, idiots still think it will work. This bureaucracy will kill people if allowed to advance it’s agenda. Reducing human pain, suffering, and life itself to numbers crunched behind a bureaucrats desk trying to fit ‘the budget’.

[autumnraine]

“Now, all this time, we have been told that Republicans were the ones who only saw health care in terms of dollars and sense”

Sense? Spell check fail? Maybe “cents”? haha

But this article is frightening. Everyone who is harping on “We have to get this stimulus package out immediately. Republicans are obstructionists” have probably not read one page of this bill.

[paulycy]

...such a council would, "lower overall spending by determining which medicines, treatments and procedures are most effective-and identifying those that do not justify their high price tags."

Isn't this the headline?

Wouldn't you rather your *doctor* made these decisions???

I recently went through a several month process of trying different medicines. We chose the less expensive medications first. They didn't work.

The only medication that worked was a big name, big pharma drug at an equally big price. But it worked for me and ONLY it worked for me. The others didn't.

Will the "council" look at some sort of chart of averages and decide that the cheaper alternatives are just as good? Probably. Except that they aren't. They're useless.

We're so screwed if this comes to pass.

So I say:

Hey Socialized Medicine Council
Examine This!!!

[frithguild]

But the therapy is expensive, often running over $100,000 for a six-week course of treatment. But as new proton treatment facilities are built, improving the delivery of the therapy and increasing its supply, prices will decrease and quality will improve. But how will a panel of bureaucrats react to this situation? Will they allow insurance to cover a treatment that can be many times more expensive than conventional care and let it reach its full potential? Or will it be blackballed for future patients in the name of cost-containment?

The first question that will be asked is how much ($) has the proponent of the new technology "supported" the party.

[Deetes]

He’s gone as the official head . 0bama will just have him in one of those unofficial - official jobs ..

[FReepaholic]

...Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research...

Otherwise known as FCCCERs.

[metmom]

In his 2008 book on health care, he explained that such a council would, "lower overall spending by determining which medicines, treatments and procedures are most effective-and identifying those that do not justify their high price tags."

Everything has a high price tag when new.

Give it time and more effective treatments will come out of the current ones and the cost will come down.

So much for promoting scientific research.

[griswold3]

Depends on whether you consider a ‘scientist’ or an ‘engineer’ worthy of making such determinations!

[neverdem]

So much for promoting scientific research.

"My administration will not deny facts -- we will be guided by them," Obama said, in an apparent dig at Bush aides accused of subverting science for ideological reasons.

On November 16, 2005, the Policy and Program Analysis Branch (PPAB) of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) convened a roundtable to examine what core policy issues the NHGRI should work on to help ensure that our greatly expanding knowledge of human genomics is translated into improved health care. The NHGRI Policy Roundtable brought together 19 representatives from government, research, advocacy, health care, insurance, industry, and academia.

One of the NHGRI's major goals is to enhance health care in the USA through the integration of genomic medicine into mainstream medical practice. Genomic medicine is a powerful way to tailor health care at the individual level by using patients' genomic information. By identifying the genetic factors associated with disease, it is possible to design more effective drugs; to prescribe the best treatment for each patient; to identify and monitor individuals at high risk from disease; and to avoid adverse drug reactions. Various NHGRI research programs are already helping to realize the promise of genomic medicine, but many important advances in genomic medicine will only occur if we effectively address matters of public policy.

All that money is wasted with Daschle's scheme.

[metmom]

"My administration will not deny facts -- we will be guided by them," Obama said, in an apparent dig at Bush aides accused of subverting science for ideological reasons.

And he's talking about global warming and facts in the same breath?

ROTFLMBO!

[SunkenCiv]

Section 9201 of the stimulus package establishes the "Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research." ...the man behind the Coordinating Council, Health and Human Services Secretary-designate (and tax cheat) Tom Daschle, was kind enough to explain the goal of this organization. It is to cut health care costs by preventing Americans from getting treatments that the government decides don't meet their standards for cost effectiveness. In his 2008 book on health care, he explained that such a council would, "lower overall spending by determining which medicines, treatments and procedures are most effective-and identifying those that do not justify their high price tags." Once a panel of government experts decides what is and what is not cost-effective by their definition, the government will stop paying for treatments, medicines, therapies or devices that fall into the latter category. Initially, this will limit access to very expensive treatments for federal employees, veterans, the elderly, members of the military and their dependents and others who rely on the feds to pay for their health care.

[itsahoot]

Government sanctioned secret euthanasia next.

[SisterK]

Watch your back. And as to your tagline: embracing world government with joyful consent and glaring ignorance.

[shielagolden]

Ronald Reagan - A Time for Choosing
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1777069922535499977