The Far Right's All Out Offensive Against Medical Research

Opponents of fixing our broken health care system are at it again, attempting to use their same old scare tactics and falsehoods to kill a common-sense health care provision is the economic recovery package. Fortunately Congressional leaders have recognized these tactics for what they are and have wisely kept this provision in the legislation.

Under attack is a provision that is in the package that will help your doctor be better informed and more effective at the job they signed up to do in the first place - taking care of you and your family.

Comparative Effectiveness Research:

At issue is something called "Comparative Effectiveness Research" which basically means giving your doctor access to the latest research on what treatments and therapies work and which don't. This also helps doctors know which treatments are more expensive than others, and helps both patients and doctors decide if there is a cheaper treatment that is just as effective. As a doctor and the husband of a doctor, I know how important it is to have solid scientific research to make critical decisions for my patients.

This research will help doctors choose the best treatment for their patients' situation and help them make more informed choices rather than risk prescribing less effective or even potentially harmful treatments.

Essentially, in order to control costs and provide patients with better care as we reform health care, the Federal Government will fund and disseminate research that evaluates the effectiveness of different treatments and medicines. This research will give doctors and patients better choices, and most importantly better health care for their money.

This is a common sense idea that should have been put in place a long ago.

When I was practicing medicine, having greater access to scientific evidenced-based research would have been truly helpful in guiding me to make the best medical decisions for my patients.

If an inexpensive pill that has been around a long time works substantially better than a brand new, highly-advertised and thus far more expensive pill - doctors should have that information at hand when we prescribe medications to our patients. When I do something for a patient, I want the scientific research that tells me its the best course for my patient. But the far right, led by people like Rush Limabaugh, hopes to somehow convince Americans that more and better research is a bad thing.

Medicine is and should always be science based - not driven by ideology.

Mr. Limbaugh and his cohorts would have you believe that this research will be used to deny needed care to your great Aunt May and be run by the politburo. But the Bill passed by Congress states right up front that the Government can not make coverage decisions based on this research.

I was surprised to see Senator Coburn (R-Ok) who is also a doctor make a statement against medical research which in part stated "this bill lays the groundwork for a Soviet-style Federal Health Board that will put bureaucrats and politicians in charge of our nation's health care system." Sadly, it seems that Senator Coburn has his political hat on and not his white coat when he relies on Rush Limbaugh to "help" his patients.

This claptrap is really about the far right laying the ground work for a far greater and more sustained attack on the Democrats' attempt to fix our health care system. As we move forward with the American people to finally fulfill the promise of Harry Truman, who over sixty years ago suggested that every American ought to have a reasonable health care plan, we will rely on the voters to remind the right wing that change is what we promised, and change is what we will deliver.

Their opposition is about politics at its worst and their desire to make sure that the new administration and the Congress do not get a "win"

In these rough economic times, we have got to do better than the same old scare tactics and games for political gains. It's time to fix our health care system and it's time for common sense and honesty.

Comments

[follow the money]

http://www.truthout.org/article/logjam-war-contractor-fraud-suits


remember that story?
check that one out..

[PKSSK]

Gov Dean, most of us are unaware of the issues that prevent Pres Obama from tapping you for Health Sec, but all I can say is I hope he is making the decision based on what is good for the people of the US and not on a certain lobbyist group or individuals on his staff who are against you.

[SwampeastMike]

Thank you Dr. Dean. I wish more people--both in and out of the medical profession--would pay attention to your advice.

FAR too many doctors and patients think: new + expensive = better. The situation is made even worse when "somebody else" (be it good private insurance or government) pays the bill.

Patients seem to have forgotten that physicians PRACTICE the ART of medicine, instead thinking them more like omniscient robots following a perfectly described science. At the other end, far too many physicians seem to have the idea that their patients are complete idiots who, if truth be known, hope for a screw-up so they can sue.

I recently saved a family member's insurance company a few thousand by applying the "dictionary treatment" to a ganglion cyst--a treatment recommended to me years ago by my physician who said, "I can only tell you, I can't do it like my dad."

After a good quantity of fine brandy, my grandfather-in-law (urologist and former president of AMA) and I had a very deep conversation about the state of medical practice. What sticks in my mind more than anything was his lament that, "I used to just ask, 'Do you pee a good stream?'. Now I have to use a very expensive machine that doesn't really give me any more information."

[scooperss]

There should not be such a thing as a Health Insurance Co. When something is based on profit, it is NOT for the good of all mankind.
Where I used to live, southwest Virginia, there is an insurance company that is gaining ground on having an all-out monopoly.
They started with insurance, then bought out the local doctors, then bought all the local hospitals, then they bought a rescue squad.
I would guess that even the life alert helicopter used to transport the most serious to a bigger hospital belongs to them.

Some people might think that's grand. I don't.

The doctors that I used to see sold out to them and the last visit lasted 7 minutes, and with NO tests, cost $70 and that was 6 years ago.

Needless to say, that was THE LAST visit I will ever make to that particular doctor's office.

And this kind of situation would not be happening if someone/somewhere wasn't allowing it to happen by ignoring the problem.

[jalapeno]

I hope it gets fixed before I die !!

[Bernique]

"It's time to fix our health care system and it's time for common sense and honesty".

It's time to nominate Dr. Howard Dean as Secretary of Health and Human Services!

[Mugzi]

We certainly have to thank Dr. Dean for all his accomplishments, I hope this is only the beginning. This is much reform for all Americans to have health care and even though with health care is no guarantee they have the care they need. Health care should not be profit driven...and don't think if something is "non profit", it's non profit.

[Mugzi]

Right now our health care is in the hands of insurance companies, then deny necessary surgery even over the doctors professional opinion. Insurance companies are profit driven and until this is addressed we will continue to have inferior care for those who have insurance and no-care for those with pre existing issues. I'm hoping this the beginning of universal health care with health care reform.

[CitizenSteffie]

Well said Dr. Dean and thank you! You voice is needed in this discourse that we call democracy. You speak truth to power with confidence. I have admired your messages since you burst on the national political stage. It was your message of truth that reminded us that this is our country and we are responsible for its future. And, today you challenge the conservative opposition again; which reminds us again, what conservatives wish to conserve no longer exist. Keep reminding us that it is our responsibility to care for this county and to continue to work harder to move our country forward than conservatives work to move our country back.

[babyboomerorig]

Gov. Dean....wish you were the HHS Secretary. You have the means, by your personality alone, to get things done. I don't know whether you've declined a position or there's a problem between you and someone in the adminstration, but I'd love to see you have the ability to get something done.

We have a doctor who has no clue about my husband's TBI & Fibromyalgia. Also, in almost 6 years, he's checked his heart and lungs exactly 3 times...which could have contributed to his congestive heart failure attack 3 weeks ago. We need more information available to doctors with the click of a button, not 12000 page books that they have no time to read.

When my husband was in the hospital, he had a team of doctors, plus as much viable information as possible on a computer based information highway that aided in his treatment and having a stent put in. Without this, other decisions may have been made. I've lived the access these doctors had and can't say enough about it.

I'm also tired of people trying to take away any sort of medical treatment to those of us who aren't insured. I need meds and treatment, but can't get it because of my being 2 years away from Medicare, which my husband is on. A lot of us will die because we can't get the treatment we need. This is an unvelieveable state of affairs for the "richest country in the world". Richness doesn't mean money.

[OldHeathen]

nice enough to put me up are poor too. ( and head of house has a 4 year degree in business works 40hrs per week +. So, Something MUST be done. These are desperate times , perhaps Social Darwinism of the Far Right will have it's way with me at the not so ripe age of 45 , I wouldent be the first in my family to die young of untreated heart disease Grandpa was 59 in 1959. I guess I'd call him Grandpa, I don't know he was dead years before I was born. But I did pass on my genes , I too am a Grandpa as of 2008 , So this medical coverage is not just for you and me , but for our Children and Grandchildren as well. That being the case , Let's get this Correct.

[OldHeathen]

I lost my job in October, I lost my Health Insurance 3 weeks later. I'm trying to get help in a clinic because I'm out of my meds. My BP is running 190 over 110 since I've had three back surgerys and have a sholder injury and I've run out of pain meds the PAIN is Much worse and I'm loosing sleep. Clinic wants Co-Pays which are small, But with NO JOB and NO MONEY , and when I say NONE I Mean NONE. I can't make the Co_pays. Perhaps I'll have to wait till I have a Heart Attack to get help. I said this to the Clerk at the Clinic and she looked startled. (I'm taking Nitro I've had saved from last year , because with my BP meds I dident need Nitro.) But it's a fact. I have COPD It's hard to breath with out my inhailers and I'm eating things like cheese and white bread because the people who are

[JPHR]

If you consider health care expensive, try going without it for a while...
Access to health care saves you a lot of money down the road.

Such access to health care ought to be a human right in any society, which considers itself civilized.

The US health care spending is about twice of that in Western Europe and is still not able to provide the universal health care Western European citizens take for granted. So either the US is terribly inefficient or thoroughly corrupt. Probably both, but the vested predatory unregulated financial interest embodied by insurance companies and private health care organizations in combination with the US typical lack of oversight and regulation are the root cause of this outrage.

[RightsGuy]

Health insurance companies play a major role in our current healthcare crisis. These companies make huge profits and their CEOs make millions, while the rest of us face skyrocketing healthcare costs, impossible bureaucracy, and life-diminishing insurance denials.

HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY PROFITS IN 2007:

1. UnitedHealth Group -- $ 4.654 BILLION. UnitedHealth Group owns Oxford, PacifiCare, IBA, AmeriChoice, Evercare, Ovations, MAMSI and Ingenix, a healthcare data company

2. WellPoint -- $ 3.345 BILLION. Wellpoint owns BLUES across the US, including Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin, Empire HealthChoice Assurance, Healthy Alliance, and many others

3. Aetna Inc. -- $ 1.831 BILLION

4. CIGNA Corp -- $ 1.115 BILLION

5. Humana Inc. -- $ 834 million

6. Coventry Health Care -- $626 million. Coventry owns Altius, Carelink, Group Health Plan, HealthAmerica, OmniCare, WellPath, others

7. Health Net -- $ 194 million

The huge insurance company profits—BILLIONS EACH YEAR—could be used to provide quality healthcare for millions of people, and to pay physicians adequately for their work.

Get the insurance companies OUT of healthcare . The only solution is a NON-PROFIT SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE SYSTEM – and the single payer should not be an insurance company or a group of insurance companies.

The solution? The United States National Health Insurance Act, H.R. 676. You can read about it here: http://www.healthcare-now.org/hr-676/

FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://www.insurancecompanyrules.org/learn_more/the_roster/ and http://www.pnhp.org/

[babyboomerorig]

The insurance companies make money hand over fist because they continually deny life saving procedures to patients who desperately need them. They've done this since the HMO's were introduced in the 80's. My last child, born in '82, cost me a total out of pocket $3.75 for long distance phone calls to my family. I have no idea what the cost would be now.

We need a government sponsored health insurance for everybody, not just the rich and government employees.

[betrue2]

It's great to see the Dems finally responding in a coordinated and articulate manner to the Republican fear mongering and scapegoating onslaught. I mean, can anyone even remember when a Republican actually offered constructive comment rather than fear based hyperbole?

I really hope the Dems keep it up and break the ugly state of politics the Republicans have imposed on the American public.

Consider seeing Moore's highly informative 'Sicko' showing how other nations like Canada, England, France, and even Cuba (i.e., a developing world country) have successfully nationalized their medical
care systems, providing equivalent and often superior care than our "famed" medical industry. Also, checkout Al Gore's 'Assault on Reason' - an amazing read outlining in contextual history how the Bush/Chene­y/Limbaugh­/Fox/Evang­elical right essentially hijacked our government and continue to corrupt public debate in unprecedented ways.

Well done, Mr. 50 State Strategy Dean! Keep up the good work returning our government to the - well informed - people. Well done.

[laSerenissima2003]

Thank you Dr. Dean! You're absolutely right, "medicine ... should always be science based - not driven by ideology". Alarmingly, however, the rise conservative, right-wing politics has been accompanied by the rise of ideology-based science.