One More-and Big-Reason to Oppose the Stimulus

If you thought Tom Daschle’s healthcare plans would be gone with his resignation, think again.  He’s given us one more reason to oppose the stimulus.  It creates a new bureaucracy that will make sure your doctor is doing what the government deems appropriate.  This policy is right out of Daschle’s book on healthcare, Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis. 

Matt Kibbe, President of FreedomWorks, has an article describing the strategy that Daschle would use to nationalize healthcare.  In it, Kibbe explains that Daschle advocates purposely vague language in the bill that would create a healthcare board – which is what the stimulus bill does.  The board would be insulated from influence by voters, doctors, and the insurance companies once it was created because it would not be responsible to Congress in much the same way that the Paulson Treasury was not responsible to Congress on how to spend the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money.

Daschle wanted the board to prevent doctors from using methods that it deemed too costly or only sometimes effective even if doctors and patients mutually agree to the treatment.  That’s manifested itself through $1.1 billion for research comparing medical treatments in the stimulus bill.  Drug makers are fighting it, claiming that it’s the first step toward government rationing of healthcare.