Arlen Specter: Stimulus Disgrace

By Maggie M. Thornton

President Obama's stimulus bill just passed the Senate. A few hours before the vote, we began to get a glimpse of the dangerous health care provisions in this bill.

In President Barack Obama's first primetime press conference last night, he asked why Americans would not want our health care electronically monitored. After all, he said, nurses cannot even read the doctor's handwriting.

Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)

This is the lamest "reasoning" I think I've ever heard from a Presidential podium. The Democrat party...so extremely incensed about the privacy issues surrounding the War on Terror, would like to have unequivocal access to your health information, your treatments, your medications, your private conversations with your doctors.

But, really, this is the least of our health care problems now with Barack Obama as our president.

Bloomberg News is reporting that former Senator Tom Daschle has had a hefty hand in the health care portion of the stimulus bill.

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.”

You must read this report, and keep in mind that the Senate-House conference will begin now, and changes can still be made. If you live in Pennsylvania...well, just read the following concerning the Senator you continue to send back to Washington.

Senator Specter was one of three expected to vote for the stimulus bill. Of great importance is the fact that Senator Arlen Specter was UNAWARE of Bloomberg's assessment of these provisions.

Here is CNS News reporting on the Bloomberg report:

[Specter said] “If Bloomberg has pointed out a potential problem…there will be clarification to avoid having the government meddle in what doctors do.”

This completely irresponsible Senator laments the rush of the bill, but is unwilling to help his fellow Republicans slow things down:

Specter said one of the “big problems” with the stimulus bill is, “Why the rush? Why are we wedded to [a Feb. 13 deadline for passage]?” Specter noted that Congress never held hearings on the bill, and that has created problems.

This is one of a number of provisions that has popped up that we have to revise and be very careful about,” he said.

There should be a way for the Nation as whole to impeach Senators and Representative who are willing to sign away our personal freedom in the name of bi-partisanship. Specter's actions and support of this bill are so discouraging. He points out that he has made a "commitment" to the Democrats, and he is :

...not going to go back on my word and on a commitment.

Let me ask you, where are this man's loyalties - to his friends across the aisle or the country he is elected to represent? Just keep in mind that this Senator, Arlen Specter, knew nothing about these egregious health care provisions.

Here are just a few of the problems:

Bloomberg's Betsey McCaughey reports that the healthcare provisions are "virtually identical" to those outlined in former Senator Tom Daschle's recent book (which I will not name here), but it appears that many of Daschle's recommendations were taken from a British model. One example of that model is that the elderly with macular degeneration had to wait until all sight was gone from one eye before treatment on the second could begin.

(1) A new position within government is planned: a National Coordinator of Health Information Technology who will do the tracking of your medical conditions - AND

will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective

(2) The health care provisions in the stimulus bill affect "every individual in the United States.

(3) If you doctor does not join the electronic monotoring, he/she will be severly penalized. If you need experimental treatments, forget it.

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

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.

(4) If you are elderly, you will be culled out of Medicare payments for routine preventative care.
The stimulus bill changes Medicare's acceptance of treatments deemed safe and effective.
The idea: "individuals benefit in youger years and sacrifice later."

Beware America, your government has taken over your life.