The New Welfare State – video added

February 10, 2009 | Jim Vicevich | | ,

When new is old … and scary too. Two stories jumped out at me this morning and they are worth noting.First … Hugh Hewitt talked with South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford … the money would be nice, he told him … but it comes with strings. One of the strings … “loosen work requirements for WELFARE RECIPIENTS.”

Congressional Democrats are proposing to “stimulate” the economy by discouraging Americans from working, loosening welfare reform’s work requirements, and encouraging more Americans to become dependent on government programs.

But that’s not all … more disturbing is the provision concerning “electronic medical records.”

Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”

Make sure you read both. Stimulus … not exactly. The revival of the welfare state … exactly.

Update: Yesterday on Morning Joe, Joe, Mika and the gang discuss the Newsweek cover story “We are all socialists now”.  They kick the idea around like its some abstract. Amazingly they all start out agreeing that it is true … and then  close trying to cover their tracks. But no real concern or worry about the path we are headed down … and that worries me. Perhaps because they all make so much money they wouldn’t be on the crummy plan … planned.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yN_JSXwrI0

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Jim Vicevich

Jim is a veteran broadcaster and conservative/libertarian blogger with more than 25 years experience in TV and radio. Jim's was the long-term host of The Jim Vicevich Show on WTIC 1080 in Hartford from 2004 through 2019. Prior to radio, Jim worked as a business and financial reporter for NBC30 - the NBC owned TV station in Hartford - and as business editor at WFSB-TV in Hartford for 14 years while earning six Emmy nominations and three Telly Awards.

2 Comments

  1. Dimsdale on February 10, 2009 at 10:30 am

    Wanna bet that Tiny Tom Daschle will be working behind the scenes as a “consultant” of some sort?

    Daschle’s only experience in health care is being married to his health care lobbyist wife.



  2. mak on February 10, 2009 at 5:40 pm

    Robin Hood and his band of thieves = Obama and those who serve with him!?



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