According to POLITICO today,
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/... the GOP really roughed up Governor Kathleen Sebelius. Kathleen Sebelius is President Obama's nomination for the position of Health and Human Services Secretary. She strongly supports healthcare reform and a public healthcare program. As I read the report from Capital Hill, I wondered was the GOP really all that bad?
Well, Governor Kathleen Sebelius is a very strong nomination and without minimizing her blemishes, the GOP focused on a two main obstacles. One is that she is closely associated with a doctor who performs late-term abortions and the other is that Governor Sebelius overlooked approximately $8,000 in taxes which she has admitted to and paid to the IRS. We already suspected the GOP would rely heavily on these obstacles. What's more is that Governor Sebelius has a strong and proven stance against late-term abortions and she also goes along with the grain of democracy supporting pro-choice. That is not having it both ways, to me, that is setting boundaries. For the GOP, it is opposing her nomination by 8 votes on Capital Hill making the Finance Committee close today with a 15 - 8 split with Democratic favor of the nomination. The counter-issues raised by the GOP are important, however, they are not enough to cause Governor Sebelius to lose the nomination as stated by Senator John Comyn (R-Texas).
Much to her credit, too, Governor Kathleen Sebelius is a two-term Democratic governor and former state insurance commissioner. She has also successfully overseen the Kansas Medicaid program and has earned a well-deserved reputation as a bipartisan leader. This is the record that adds to her being experienced for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services. This is the record that lends to understand why Governor Sebelius is strongly in favor of Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) as well. CER, according to a statement by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), is a very necessary union of clinicians, policymakers, patients, and purchasers using up-to-the-minute, proven information about treatment choices in order to make the best informed healthcare decision. By investing in research, it becomes possible to learn what treatments work and which ones do not. The treatments that work would, of course, be rewarded while the treatments that do not, would be eliminated. Currently, in America approximately 50 percent of Americans receiving health services do not get the right healthcare treatment and this is outrageous.
In addition, based on the American Medical Association's experts, CER would actually strengthen evidence-based medicine and the delivery of same. The comparison of two or more medical procedures could be funded to evaluate the effectiveness and risks of clinical outcomes for a specific medical condition. This is significant in treating patients for cancers, alzheimers, dementia, obstructive pulmonary disease/asthma, mood disorders, and other priority conditions where time is certainly crucial. With approximately 4 million people suffering with mood swing disorders and not receiving the right treatment in most cases, this is vital to accomplishing an improved quality of life that could result in employment opportunities. Governor Kathleen Sebelius supports CER amidst arguments by GOP that doing so is counter-effective.
CER is attached to the $1.1 Billion that President Obama promises would enhance the decision-making in healthcare delivery. The bottom line is that CER can actually help patients and their doctors make well informed choices and patients do not have that option under the current healthcare delivery system in the US today. Knowing that Governor Kathleen Sebelius supports this progressive approach to healthcare reform, which will also make healthcare affordable and accessible to all Americans regardless of income, makes her a true diamond in the rough. This makes the GOP not really all that bad.
Encourage your Senators to continue to support Governor Kathleen Sebelius or urge them to support her nomination by visiting
www.senate.gov or through the link on Healthcare For America Now
www.healthcareforamericanow.org. "Sebelius Roughed Up On The Hill" by Carrie Budoff Brown, April 22, 2009,
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/... "Healthcare and Comparative Effective Research," March 24, 2009,
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Arti... AMA, "H.R. 1, the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 1009" Explanation of Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) Provisions
"AHRQ's Research Efforts in Comparative Effectiveness: Statement Before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Health,
http://www.ahrq.gov/news/sp061207.html Congress of the United States, Congressional Budget Office, "A CBO Paper: Research on the Comparative Effectiveness of Medical Treatments," December 2007.
Agnes B. Levine
Founder/President, Levine-Oliver Publisher
www.levineoliverpublisher.com, Facebook me! E-mail me at coolingwellwater@aol.com
Author of: "Cooling Well Water: A Collection of Work By An
African-American Bipolar Woman" ISBN 13 978-0-9754612-0-4
Available NOW at
www.levineoliverpublisher.com or Amazon.com
Posted By: agnes levine
Wednesday, April 22nd 2009 at 9:39PM
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