Do you know what's in the Stimulus bill?

We know what many of our elected representatives do not know, even though they signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, so that you and I can pay it. We know that there are five pages of exceptions to the prohibition on the sale of electronic health records or protected health information. We also know that the Stimulus package allocated $19 billion to establish centrally linked health data infrastructure to contain the health information of each American by 2014. And we know a new office is being set up to coordinate these records, called "National Coordinator for Health Care Information Technology."  
       
 President Barack Obama, when promoting the Stimulus Bill, said: "We'll computerize our health care system, at least, to save billions of dollars and countless lives as we reduce medical error." White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, Spending more on health information technology creates jobs, saves money, provides less burocracy and will save cost for small businessmen. Mr Gibbs stated: "If you go to the bank on the way home, and take out your ATM card, and take $25.00 out of your account to use this weekend, the transaction costs the bank, in many cases, half a penny. A medical transaction of your records from your doctor in Bethesda to an emergency room in Washington cost $10.00. The president believes, that by implementing health care technology, we can save billions of dollars in health care costs, we see skyrocketing every year."

Do we smell a rat in this plan? Or perhaps rationing of care? Or perhaps a denial of care? Do we see governmental protocols mandate in hospitals?

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