Mike Stephens

The economic stimulus package has now been signed into law by President Obama. In addition to the funding allocated for healthcare IT in hospitals and physician offices, it calls for the establishment of a federal agency that would help coordinate research on comparative effectiveness which will determine which medical procedures, drugs and devices work better than others - to the tune of $1.1 billion.

In my last post, I discussed how Dr. Atul Gawande proposed that our country should “not swap our old system for a new one, but build a new system on the old one.”

In a recent blog post I shared my concern about President Obama’s proposal to expand healthcare insurance coverage at a time when the economic stimulus plan and TARP will result in historic federal deficit levels, leading to an even greater financial crisis. Now let’s address the different perspectives of others who have outlined what should be done to confront this challenge.

Recently, ABC News ran an op-ed piece, "The Great Health Care Bailout," in which Nortin M. Hadler, MD, noted that 'bailout' conjures up an act of desperation to keep a sinking boat afloat. In 'reforming' our sinking healthcare system we need assurances up front that we are not paying for a similar bailout in disguise."