I was going to write about the fact that the City of Phoenix has the 2nd highest kidnapping rate in the world.  (First place is held by Mexico City.)  And I'll try to remember to do that in a future blog.  Unfortunately, the stimulus and the hidden parts of it have overtaken illegal immigration as a topic.

The part of the 1,000 plus page stimulus bill that is of the most interest is "Comparative Effectiveness Research" or "rationing" for short.  The last time I remember rationing being mentioned was when my mother said they had rationing during WW II and that was of things like rubber, metal, gasoline and food.  Now we will ration health care.  Yes, if you are old, infirm or have cancer it's your duty to die, rather than being a burden on society.  After all everyone wants lower taxes and if the government has to pay for your care then taxes will be higher.

Under comparative effectiveness research the UK told people with macular degeneration that they had to lose vision in one eye before thy could get treatment to prevent blindness. 

C. Evert Koop, MD., a former pediatrician and Surgeon General under Ronald Reagan, became a quadriplegic in 1988.  Now 92, Koop said that under the UK plan he was nine years too old for the surgery that restored his limbs and gave him 21 more years of useful life.  In 1979, Koop predicted in a book with his co-author, the late Dr. Frances Schaefer,  that the government would begin deciding who would get life saving treatment and who wouldn't.  They were 30 years ahead of their time.  What Koop and Schaeffer didn't predict was the advent of a government agency that will, under the force of law, (your stimulus at work for you), decide who is eligible for health care and what treatment they will receive.

The health care section of the stimulus bill says that the Department of Health and Human Services will "provide research to help guide medical decisions at the time and place of care."  It provides for penalties to be assessed to physicians who "spend too much time" with individual patients.  The wording in the stimulus bill borrows heavily from Tom Daschle"s book, "Critical:  What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis."  Daschle"s book follows the rules of health care cost containment used in Western Europe. 

The term "deny health care to individuals" in Europe means the "duty to die."   The decision will be left in the hands of nameless, faceless bureaucrats who may think it is better for you to be blind or a quadriplegic than pay for your treatment.  What will happen to make it palatable will be the story of a 90 plus woman who is a burden to her family or a situation similar to Terry Schivo's.  Who wouldn't think Schvio was a burden, who wouldn't think the 90 plus women was a burden, who wouldn't applaud her decision to die or Schvio's death.  You can bet that someone on AIDS prevention cocktail won't be denied care and you can bet that the denials will fall disproportionately on middle class people who can pay part of their health care, but would be bankrupted by paying for all of it.

Be careful, it could be you next and it could be something as simple as pain relief or blindness prevention!

And you thought the stimulus bill was only about helping people who bought big houses and now can't pay the mortgage.

Is the water hot enough for you yet?