10 Lumps Of Coal In The Health Care Bill

The December 23, 2009 Investor's Business Daily published an informative analysis by Betsy McCaughey discussion ten specific problems with the proposed Senate health care bill.

Here are some of the points she discusses in, "10 Lumps Of Coal In The Health Care Bill":

1. Higher premiums
2. A cost you can't afford and can't avoid
3. A one-size-fits-all health plan

I also wanted to highlight two points in particular, because they represent a hitherto-unprecedented degree of government interference in the doctor-patient relationship:

5. Government controls on your doctors' decisions:

The Senate bill bars doctors from participating in the private insurance system unless they implement whatever regulations the secretary of health and human services chooses to impose to "improve health care quality" (p. 149). That broad phrase encompasses everything in medicine.

This would be the first time in history that the federal government is given power over how doctors treat privately insured patients.

10. A tell-all relationship with every doctor you see

What happens in your doctor's office must be recorded in an electronic data base that can send the information to insurers and other medical offices (Senate bill, p. 62-66). Every doctor you see will have access to your medical history. See a psychiatrist? Your foot doctor will know about it.

(Read the full text of "10 Lumps Of Coal In The Health Care Bill".)

Advocates of individual rights (including the corollary privacy rights) should be deeply concerned.