Betsy McCaughey on the stimulus package and health care

…the public applauded without reading the fine print.

Betsy McCaughey and others have been ridiculed for their skepticism about the health care provisions hidden in the stimulus bill. What does she really have to say? As time permits I’ll be looking at some primary source material and posting my thoughts. For now, here’s part 1 of one of her recent talks.




In this section of her talk she mentions treatment protocols embedded in EMRs. She’s taken a lot of heat for that by those who have misinterpreted her remarks. Here she comes short of saying the government will use the national EMR to force doctors into compliance with certain treatment protocols. What she says instead is that the stimulus bill, with its vague language and the discretionary leeway it gives policymakers, empowers them to do that.

I actually think decision support embedded in the EMR, as I noted here, is a good idea, but I’m skeptical of any such “support” that comes from the government.