If I worked on the editorial board of a “news” organization that was owned by a lunatic from South Korea
who is a convicted criminal whose cult has been justifiably accused of kidnapping beating, and enslaving its followers I would be very, very, very careful before I started comparing the people who support an improved national health care IT infrastructure to Hitler and suggesting that they advocate mass slaughter of sick people.
But then I don’t work for the Washington Times. But even a written comparison isn’t enough.
They actually put a picture of Adolf Hitler next to their “editorial”.
Hat tip to Neil Versel and others who are as disgusted as I am
Categories: Uncategorized
Mr. Holt, I felt the same way when I was listening to Rush Limbaugh talk about this earlier. This is a rehash of what many conspiracy buffs and Apocalyptic fans were doing in the years before that other massive global breakdown called Y2K. It does not matter that the first smart cards came to existance in the mid 1990s. It also doe snot matter that the places where smart cards do exist just happen ot be in countries which have some type of health care coverage of their citizens.
Last week I was scheduled to do an exam which involved injecting a contrast agent. It took as long as the 45 minute exam takes to find out that the patient had a history of renal failure, no Bun/Creatine results reported in the notes, make calls to the pts ordering MD to get the results, talk ot the Rad about the results and then cancelm the test. If some sort of two way system existed, maybe the exam would not have been able to be ordered if certain conditions existed and an alternative test was suggested. Red flags or a warning system would pop up which would require an official look into this. The problem is not the pt, the MD the offices or anyone, but a systemic one.
What I do object to in EMR is why this should cost 20 billion as someone needs to show me and others an actual breakdown.
I would also ask Mr. Holt and this site to present a short hisotry of the use of smart cards in Europe and Taiwan and document what did happen to medical error rates and how this has saved money and time. I do not need theories, we got enough theories from Connecticut and Wall Street bokerage houses about investment modesl to last us a lifetime.
I use a PACS system every hour and I can not see why or how we could live without it now. This is what I want to see and hear from other countries.
Finally, since we have a history of EMR and smart cards for the past decade in Europe and parts of Asia, why can’t an existing vendor or vendors be asked to just bid on this project and then see what we would actually get. I see no reason to reinvent the wheel when we have many companies in business with proven models.
You combat the moonbats by addressing the concerns and presenting real world results which I do not see with handing over 20 billion to unknown parties.
Folks, relax … the Wash Times’ sense of humor just takes a bit of getting used to.
Ummm…euthanasia? I’m sure this will disappoint the Chicken Littles out there, but here’s reality:
First, the comparative effectiveness funding authorization explicitly forbids any consideration of costs in the research it funds.
Second, even if–gasp!–CMS were to actually consider the costs as well as the effectiveness of treatments in determining coverage policies, this is _only_ about publicly-funded coverage (i.e. how my tax dollars…and yours…are spent).
Only the truly delusional harbor the fear that the gubmint will take away to spend your own money on whatever quacky, expensive, and ineffective therapy strikes your fancy. It’s you God-given right as a red-blooded, flag-waving, democracy-spreading American to waste your own money on anything you want, including proton beams, elective cardiac caths, and bioidentical hormones. Enjoy!
“Think of it, a centralized, federal database tracking your every visit to a health care provider – where you went, who you saw, what was diagnosed and what care was provided. Chilling.”
It’s called a “Smart Card” used by France (you know, the system that likes to be called the best in the world) and Taiwan + others probably. Yea, everyone wants reform but few want any control – that’ll work.
Maybe Limbaugh is afraid he’ll be caught again for illegal purchase/use of drugs. Doesn’t he advocate all drug dealers/users be put in jail – I guess not him.
Mr. Holt,
Please note that I do not accuse you of enthusiasm for mass euthanasia under a national health care system. I know that your preference is for the type of case-by-case death sentences handed down by the Orwellian organization NICE in your homeland.
It is this sort of government control over health care, life and death that The Washington Times and Rush Limbaugh object to.
Mr. Holt – Please note that I absolutely do not accuse you of enthusiasm for mass euthanasia under a national health care system. I know that your preference is for the case-by-case sort of death sentences handed down by the Orwellian organization NICE in your homeland.
It is precisely this type of government control over life and death that The Washington Times and Rush Limbaugh object to – and which you call “disgusting”.
Mr Browning. Hmm, while I’m happy to make ad hominen attacks on Moon, you and the Washington Times, if you can’t tell the difference between sensible and caring treatment of people at the end of life — which in most cases is preferred by patients, hence the rise of the hospice movement — and Nazi style mass euthanasia programs, your opinions are not worthy of notice, let alone attacks.
Careful, Holt – Are you not on record as a supporter of national-healthcare-induced euthanasia? (http://tinyurl.com/yabbor)
Also: Can’t you ever critique a Washington Times article based on its content rather than including your trademark ad-hominem attacks? It’s really no different from a conservative critique of the New York Times beginning with reference to the disgraceful Walter Duranty and the Time’s non-coverage of the Ukrainian holocaust. Nahhh! Didn’t think so!
There’s a lot more. . . I heard a 25 minute rant from Rush Limbaugh on Monday on the same topic: this universal national health records repository that would enable the federal government to determine if your doctor was practicing cost effective medicine or not and enabling some bureaucrat to deny YOU, the “dittoheads”, of the healthcare you need. It resurrected Dick Lamm’s 1970’s line about older people having a duty to die. It cited a Betsy McCaughy “analysis” of the stimulus bill, and crosswalked to Daschle’s book about comparative effectiveness. It is really scary to think that people listen to this stuff and accept it as gospel. It’s hard to imaging where to begin to unravel it, but this is REALLY about stopping the creation of a national health board. Black helicopters will shortly be landing on the hospital roof, you can be sure of that!
Unbelievable! It reads like a tone-deaf parody of an editorial as written by right-wing comment trolls. This actually appeared in their printed version?