It’s a tremendous leap from “[t]he national coordinator for health information technology shall undertake the development of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure that provides appropriate information to help guide medical decisions at the time and place of care” to “Barack Obama wants old people to die,” but leave it to Tennessee’s own Steve Gill to make the jump. And he’s been making that same jump for over a week now, ever since Rush Limbaugh picked up former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey false claim that provisions in the economic recovery act would allow the federal government to determine what is and is not “unnecessary care”:
But the bill goes much further on page 442. It explicitly says that the government will be delivering information to your doctor at bedside, quote, “to guide decisions at the time and place of careâ€â€”at the time and place of care. So, in fact, this is going be a two-way system. Your medical treatments will be stored in the medical database but the government will also be communicating with your doctor at the time and place of care.
Freddie and I talked about what a load of hooey this was on the show this morning – McCaughey left out one tiny, but crucial, word and oh, by the way, she gets paid by the very people who want to stop healthcare reform at any cost:
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But our Aunt B. (can we call you “our Aunt B.?) of the Tiny Cat Pants wrote in with another salient point:
I was listening to you on the way into work talking about the weirdness with the Republican talking point about the Dems wanting there to be some kind of live-chat between your doctor and Obama during your appointment in order to determine what kind of medical treatment you should get. And I loved it! But I just wanted to say that you missed, I think, the most obvious weird thing–the Republicans really do want half of us to have to okay our medical procedures with the government. You’re going to tell me that they wouldn’t love some system whereby when a woman wanted an abortion, the doctor had to text Rush Limbaugh and discuss her case with him to see how to procede? So, how come what’s good for the gander isn’t good for the goose?
Shhhhhh, Aunt B! Don’t give them any ideas! Come to think of it, maybe that’s what they’re afraid of? Monitored medical records might mean a whole mess of skeletons tumbling out of the closets of the “No Uterus” crowd, which would undoubtedly mess up their very deft use of abortion as a political football.
So, Rush, Steve, et. al, which is it? Medical privacy for everyone – including women – or not?
UPDATE: Another email from a loyal listener:
This is the dumbest argumnent I’ve ever heard. Evidence-based medicine is one of the most basic changes that we can make to fix the healthcare system. This isn’t: we’re going to tell you how to treat your patient. This is: we’re going to see what actually works and what doesnt’ and give you the results so that you can have the most effective information possible. Are they against the CDC?? This is so dumb. I want this opposition engraved on their tombstone so that for all of eternity they will be remembered as dumb.
Have the heard the one about the birth certificate?
UPDATE: Don’t forget to read about my Aunt B.’s powerful female bits. How powerful, you ask? So powerful that elected officials feel the need to regulate them.
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