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Latest Version of Stimulus Bill Hits Elderly Hardest

The Federal Council is modeled after a U.K. board discussed in Tom Daschle's book, Critical. This British board approves or rejects treatments using a formula that divides the cost of treatment by the number of years a patient is likely to benefit. Treatments for younger patients are more often approved than treatments for the elderly, such as osteoporosis.

During the negotiations in Congress this week, some Senators tried to remove this provision in the Senate version of the stimulus bill. But the advocates of healthcare rationing are winning out. The dangerous provision has been reintroduced in this final Conference version.

Daschle, who had a big hand in writing this bill, says seniors should be more accepting of conditions that come with age instead of treating them. As the bill is currently written, the elderly will bear the brunt.

Call the Capitol at 202-224-3121 to say you want the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research and all other health provisions out of the bill. "If they're so good for us, let the administration introduce them in a separate bill that can be discussed publicly with time to consider the deadly consequences," says Betsy McCaughey.

Betsy McCaughey, Ph.D., is former Lt. Governor ofNew York State and Adjunct Fellow at the Hudson Institute, as well as Chairman/Founder of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, an independent, non-profit patient advocacy organization.

SOURCE Betsy McCaughey