The Senate version of the stimulus package has excised the House’s proposal for a $1.1 billion “Federal Coordinating Council on Comparative Effectiveness.”
1. The additional spending does not stimulate the economy. The money would be spent on consulting contracts for health care economists.
2. The way the money would be spent is neither transparent nor clearly defined. Indeed, nearly a half a billion dollars would be spent at the discretion of the HHS secretary without outside review, establishment of research goals or methodologies.
3. The rest of the money ($700 million) is a slush fund payoff to insurance companies and health plans. The group advising the government on which research organizations should get the money is made up mostly of HMOs, insurers and Medicaid directors. And the entities that would conduct the research are run by either by the health plans themselves or by consultants who work for them directly and who want the government to take over the job of deciding what technologies consumers should get and what doctors should get paid. This is a cost-based crowd.
Giving over a billion dollars for a small cadre of appointees who could dictate and determine medical practice and the future of the life sciences industry is a risky and unwise use of tax payer dollars under any circumstance. To suggest that it would stimulate the economy only adds insult to injury.
