What Have We Got to Lose? Maybe a Lot.

Last week my husband sent me an email forward from one of his pilot friends. It looked alarming, but I brushed it off as “henny-penny stuff.” Then I received a similar email from a cousin who takes on extreme causes, and I blew that off. This morning I read: How About a Stimulus for Life, an editorial by Cal Thomas of the Tribune Media Services in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, and my heart began to pound. I followed up the editorial with a search of Thomas’ sources, which lead to further searches, and I decided it was time to act.

We all know that issues get buried in legislation, but this one requires everyone’s attention. Our government’s stimulus plan will create a new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology. This new Federal Council 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. (McCaughey, bloomberg.com)

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. The Federal Council is modeled after a U.K. board discussed in Tom Daschle’s 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” 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, such as osteoporosis. (McCaughey)

“The stimulus bill doesn’t direct the 15-member council to dictate coverage. But the council will make recommendations about what to study and coordinate research between three federal agencies: the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).” (Lite, Scientific American)

“Inevitably, this means the government will decide who gets life-saving treatment and who doesn’t. It is survival of the fittest in practice.” (Thomas)

“In a recent blog post at National Review, James Capretta, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center think tank in Washington, D.C., which is ‘dedicated to applying the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to critical issues of public policy,’ fretted over government's ability to handle the 'nuance and subtlety' of the comparisons, adding: ‘Centralized government control always leads to price controls, under-funding of institutional care, arbitrary restrictions on access to new drugs and technology, and a drying up of investment in medical innovation.’" (Capretta, National Review; Lite)

Dr. C. Everett Koop, former Surgeon General of the United States, is now 92. “In 1988 he had an ailment that left him a quadriplegic. Surgery restored the use of his limbs, but ‘if I’d lived in England, I would have been nine years too old to have the surgery that saved my life and gave me another 21 years,’” Koop stated. “Koop fears the United States is about to embrace English socialized medicine with government authorities deciding who lives and who dies. He says the idea of government second-guessing doctors sickens him.” (Thomas)

“In 2006, a U.K. health board decreed that elderly patients with macular degeneration had to wait until they went blind in one eye before they could get a costly new drug to save the other eye. It took almost three years of public protests before the board reversed its decision.” (McCaughey)

We are the people to be affected by this legislation.

While the entire health portion of the bill has some good points, and some health agencies are calling it “good” for their purposes, the issue this post addresses should be gone over with a fine-toothed comb. I’ve listed below the sources for this material and a web site for contacting our legislators. I urge everyone reading this to check it out further, pass it on, and to contact your senators and congressmen and let them know how you feel.

Donna

Contact Your Elected Officials: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml


Sources:

James Capretta, January 28, 2009, on National Review Online

Jordan Lite, February 17, 2009, on Scientific American Online

Betsy McCaughey, February 9, 2009, on Bloomberg.com

Cal Thomas, February 17, 2009, at Ft. Worth Star-Telegram