Betsy McCaughey Hits Obama IMAC Again

July 27, 2009 (LPAC)—Betsy McCaughey, the former New York Lieutenant Governor and chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, continued her campaign against Obama's death bill in an interview with Paul Gigot reported on the Wall Street Journal's WSJ.com. She began by stressing that Obama's plan "is going to mean reductions in hip replacements, knee replacements, bypass surgery, angioplasty—the major procedures that have enabled this generation of the elderly to avoid disability, avoid deteriorating in nursing homes, and instead lead active lives."

Gigot asked how is this going to happen? To which McCaughey responded that doctors will have to comply. "Tucked into the stimulus package that was signed into law on Feb. 17 was a provision for computers to be in doctors' offices and hospitals at bedside—computers that would deliver protocols to doctors electronically on what the government deems cost-effective and appropriate care. And there will be penalties built-in for doctors who are not meaningful users of this system. In March, the president appointed Dr. David Blumenthal national coordinator of health information technology, and he's going to oversee ensuring that doctors obey these protocols. In fact, on April 9 in The New England Journal of Medicine, he wrote an article describing how he's going to do it. And he said he does anticipate some push-back, some rebellion from doctors who don't like losing their autonomy over what's good for their patients."

In response to Gigot's next question, "Won't Congress push back?" McCaughey responded: "Well, that's why Peter Orszag ... went to Congress earlier this week and asked for permission to really remove those decisions from Congress. He asked Congress to delegate the authority to make these decisions about what Medicare covers and how doctors are paid instead to a body outside of Congress, either MedPAC—a body that already exists, an advisory board—or a council created within the White House."

Gigot then asked: "Why shouldn't we turn this away from these political types in Congress and give it to a panel of experts?"

McCaughey: "Well, Congress is accountable, and seniors would certainly raise a lot of fury if suddenly they could not avoid the crippling effects of arthritis by getting a knee replacement. And the fact is that the president likened this proposal to a base-closing commission so it would be immune from those popular impacts.

"But the fact is, I don't believe we can count on the doctors that would be appointed to this to make the right decisions because, for example, the doctors that the president has already chosen to be his chief health advisers are ardent advocates of limiting care for the elderly. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, for example—brother of the president's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel—highly educated man who has written extensively on his views that the elderly should get less care, that Americans are too enamored with high-tech care, and that people who have incurable illnesses—and he uses specifically the example of dementia—should not be guaranteed health care because they no longer contribute to society. These are views that most of us don't share."

Asked by Gigot, "Why wouldn't the American Association of Retired Persons oppose this if what you say is in fact going to happen?"

McCaughey responded: "Paul, I am shocked at the AARP's behavior, and frankly to me they've betrayed seniors. I'm amazed that seniors continue to pay their dues to AARP."