Bush's Parting Shot Undermines Health Care

Very little about the Bush administration could surprise me anymore, but I was completely disheartened when -- despite the written opposition from more than 200,000 Americans, 150 members of Congress, a bipartisan coalition of governors and attorneys general, the American Medical Association, and women's health organizations like Planned Parenthood -- the Department of Health and Human Services issued a last minute regulation that will undermine health care access at nearly 600,000 pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals across the country.

This sort of "take the drapes on your way out" approach is the final chapter of an administration that has prized political ideology over health care for their entire eight years -- and the rule issued yesterday, with little more than 30 days left in office, is the ultimate holiday gift to the extreme right.

Under this new rule, doctors and health care workers of all kinds can deny patients vital health care information and services, without the patient even knowing. No patient is exempt from the reach of this rule: sexual assault victims could be denied information about emergency contraception that could prevent unintended pregnancy, moms hoping to time their pregnancies can be denied contraception at their local pharmacy, young adults hoping to be tested for sexually transmitted infections could be denied treatment by health care employees who oppose premarital sex.

In short, this rule is likely to create total chaos in an already stressed health care system, and for low-income women and families, this rule may spell the end of the few available health care options. Essentially, any patient that utilizes health care at a provider that receives any federal funds will be subject to the luck of the draw in terms of what kinds of reproductive health care they are offered. This might seem far-fetched, until you realize that groups like Pharmacists for Life have campaigned nationally to have pharmacies refuse to provide women birth control prescribed by their physician.

If you had any doubt that this rule is about politics, not health care, just watch the high-fives among the far right. "This is a huge victory for religious freedom and the First Amendment," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

The bottom line in health care has always been that patients' health comes first; this regulation turns that basic tenet on its head. In fact, they failed to address the basic questions of patients' rights lodged by hundreds of thousands of Americans during that period.

For months, Planned Parenthood has spoken out against the proposed regulation. When a draft version of the rule was leaked last summer, we were the first out of the gate to point out the damage this regulation could do to women's health care. And, in the days and weeks to come, we will work with the new administration and Congress to overturn this disastrous rule. Our goal has always been to expand -- not limit -- patients' access to full health care information and services. If you want to help, please sign our petition.

And count your blessings that this administration is almost finished.

Cross-posted on RH Reality Check.

Comments

[agedcurmudgeon]

We can't really think that the is the "final chapter" in the Bush legacy .... he & his ilk will continue to effect our lives for a long time to come...

[borschtblue]

You never said what the ruling actually says/is. I imagine your opinions are closer to my own, however; there is no way to know. Why not post what the regulation says?

[WaitingforJanuary]

i would also like to see it too.

[deminmo]

Type in "White House". There should be something
about this direct from President Bush.

[kiki800]

i thought medical professionals were taught to "do no harm" rather than "deny thy patient" the medication they need. What if I need certain medication to stay well and get denied because someone doesn't want me to have this medication. When does it really end and why do these rules only affect women? Can men be denied Viagra or Levitra, can people be denied Nexium?

I'm all for taxing and regulating religions as well. If they're starting to make policies, then they no longer should get special tax credits.

[TheMediaRanger]

"I'm all for taxing and regulating religions as well. If they're starting to make policies, then they no longer should get special tax credits."

Nuh-uh. Once you start digging into their (sometimes very deep) pockets, they might have to actually go back into the business of faith, prayer, peace and tolerance. Those are inexpensive ideals, but in this country, it costs a bundle to influence policy.

[josephXY]

It might be useful to point out a book dealing with the membership claim of the religious right.
They are claiming far more than they actually have.
Here an article about it in Mother Jones:
The Myth of the Moral Majority
http://www.motherjones.com/arts/feature/2008/05/the-myth-of-the-moral-majority.html

[kimleehan]

One of my biggist gipes is the healthcare in the U.S. Did you know if you don't have insurance or if you are under insured and don't have the ability to pay for a organ transplant than you are not concederd a good candidate for organ transplant and your name will not be added onto the organ donors waiting list. All though you are not eligable to recieve a transplant, your organs may be donated for transplant in the event of your death, And now your going to tell me that the doctors don't even have to tell you that a transplant could save your life, because you don't qualify for transplant anyhow. Well you know what I say is don't donate your organs and make sure your family knows you don't want to donate your organs until there is universal healthcare. Lets see how the rich and over- insured feel when they have to go to a third world nation to get proper healthcare.

[deminmo]

Last February I broke my wrist, went to the
emergency room because I knew it was broken
and there was no other choice. I don't have
insurance. The first question asked was, "How
do you plan to pay for this?" After I was treated,
x-rayed and sent to bookkeeping, I had already
put over$500 on my credit card. Had it happened
this year, they might have said no because I had
no insurance. Who knows what this will affect?

[Mercy8 om]

Kind of puts the mental in fundamentalism. It's so funny to think that these guys see Islamic Fundamentalists as different than they are when in fact they are exactly the same except for the food they eat and the clothes that they wear. It seems odd that there are still flat earth believers around and yet here we have it. Anti-science, anti-intellectual, anti-human rights, anti-civil rights, anti-progress folks who feel that everyone should stay in the dark ages with them.

Maybe now some more moderate right wingers will be fed up enough with this oppression and join the ranks of people who are willing to allow everyone their own choices. Otherwise we are "going to hell in a handbasket" with the intellectual delete.

Please let's all send bush our shoes!!

[EricArthurBlair]

Just wait until this gets down to the level of mechanics who won't do maintenance on foreign cars (something I actually encountered once). When the fat cat Republicans can't get the Lexus, Beemer or Mercedes whacked into shape, that's when the real uproar will begin.

If this scenario sounds ridiculous to you, let me remind you that it has happened in the past, and it's no different that saying gay marriage leads to bestiality, polygamy and brother-sister incest.

[devanate]

It makes a little more sense with cars considering that mechanics specialize in certain brands. Asking a Chevy mechanic to work on a Lexus is like asking a pediatrist to do your brain surgery.

[haramagoti]

Sicko, the sequal

[nomo555]

OK If religious institutions want to continue to play in politics, let them. Maybe it's time we start to regulate religion. It's time to start to tax, license, regulate and treat religion as any other business.

[doublels]

ABSOLUTELY!!!

[NWMonkeyGirl]

I totally agree, well said. Let's stop pretending that religion isn't a business.

[theworldhasgonecrazy]

Let's see, against this measure were 150 out of over 500 members of Congress, and 200,000+ out of, oh let's say, 200 million US adults. Those aren't really overwhelming numbers. You didn't even bother to list the number of governors and attorneys general. If it were really a lot I think you would have mentioned it. And only two organizations came to mind? This is not an impressive list.

[doublels]

The numbers are hardly the point. This ruling has no merit even if 1 "official" type person was against it. It's abhorent and panders to the very far right. The government has no business telling pharmacists or cashiers or anyone else they can't provide birth control. I think Bush would take us back to the Dark Ages if he could.

[theworldhasgonecrazy]

But that should go both ways....the government shouldn't be able to tell pharmacists or cashiers or anyone else they MUST provide these services.

[Channel4NewsTeam]

Good point. The numbers are so low as to be offensive. However, since people perceive this as a "women's issue" they don't care. No real people are being harmed, so what's the problem, right? I've come to expect this treatment from the US public and elected politicians.

[JonathanDS2U]

This is another one Bush will win in the history books, when people someday realize that, by making it God's job to cure the sick, healthcare cost zero dollars.

[koffi]

Isn't it ironic that we have troops in the field in Afghanistan to remove the Taliban....and we establish our own brand of the Taliban right here at home.
Bring on religous intolerance, and call it a "moral issue". At what point do "We the People" get to defend ourselves?

[vippy]

Again, RELIGION ueber alles! How sickening, where are our priorities?

[LaurieR]

My pharmacist's job is not to run my life or guide my morals or make my health decisions for me. My pharmacist's job is to fill my prescription according to my doctor's instructions. I'm a vegetarian, but I would not get a job at McDonald's and then refuse to serve customers a hamburger. If I did, I'd be fired. And rightfully so.

[dessertsfirst]

Excellent point!

[digdeeper]

If I hear the words "religious freedom" many more times I will puke. Whose freedom I ask. There are many religions strewn across the world and just as many agnostics and atheists so where are all their freedoms.?
If you have the Christian right and the large corporations coming together and achieving power as has happened under the Bush era then the last thing you will have is freedom. They are so consumed with the pursuit of their own agendas that the average Joe in the street doesn't get a look in.
This latest restriction of women's rights is immoral, unethical and I think a case can be made that it is against the Constitution (not that Bush et al would worry too much about that). They ditched human rights long ago.