Columnist George Will in the January 29 issue of the Washington Post first noted that “The stimulus legislation creates a council for Comparative Effectiveness Research. This is about medicine but not about healing the economy. The CER would identify (this is language from the draft report on the legislation) medical ‘items, procedures, and interventions’ that it deems insufficiently effective or excessively expensive. They ‘will no longer be prescribed’ by federal health programs….” Private insurers are expected to follow suit. The CER would dramatically advance government control—and rationing—of healthcare, and the natural health community will have to make its case to this governmental body.
There is deepening cause for concern regarding government involvement in healthcare as the stimulus legislation becomes law. There is abundant evidence that vested interests, which have become pervasive in every aspect of federal legislation, are pulling attention away from wellness, individual responsibility, and true innovation in healthcare. AAHF’s drive to reform the FDA stems from the fact that the FDA—which is truly our government’s involvement in medicine—is responsible for many flawed and destructive policies. The FDA:
• systematically obstructs medical science and innovation;
• forbids and censors the communication of legitimate, peer-reviewed scientific research;
• protects entrenched medical monopolies that pay the FDA’s bills and hire its employees;
• interferes with the rights of consumers to learn about good science (especially relating to food and supplements) that could prolong and save lives and promote health; and
• unnecessarily drives up the cost of healthcare to the point where employers can no longer afford to hire new employees (or even keep old ones), and the entire American economy is threatened.
Every American citizen who values health care freedom of choice must remain ever vigilant that the federal stimulus plan threatens to put a huge government footprint on their healthcare. Help us reform the FDA now!