In the "stimulus" bill (H.R. 1 EH, pdf version) are several provisions that will affect your health care from now on. Details can be found in Title XXX -- Health Information Technology and Quality, Sections 3000 - 3010.
1. A federal system will be set up to track all of your medical treatments (pp. 445, 454, 479).
2. A new "National Coordinator of Health Information Technology" will monitor treatments to reduce costs and "guide" your doctor's decisions (pp. 442, 446).
3. If your hospital or doctor isn't a "meaningful user" of the new system, they will face penalties. "Meaningful user" is not defined in the legislation -- the Secretary of Health and Human Services will define what this is and can make this a more stringent definition over time. (pp. 511, 518, 540-541).
4. They will be able to charge providers a fee for this services (which I'm guessing we will end up paying).
A more detailed analysis can be found here and here.
If you don't like this, call or e-mail your Senators and Representative (see links in upper right hand corner). Even though the bill has passed the House and Senate, they have to change it to come up with one version, so they are still working on it.
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How dare they expect me to be happy about losing my right to decide what I need done for my health or not! I can't believe that it is a legal practice to be able to slip these kind of things into packages so that it can be lost in the confusion! I have used your information to email my senators and representative to express my viewpoint. Hopefully more will do the same so that we have a chance of having our opinions heard!
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