XPost: alt.politics.trump, alt.politics.republicans, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns   
   From: leroysoetoro@americans-first.com   
      
   https://amac.us/newsline/medicare/trump-ends-biden-medicare-rule-that-   
   paid-doctors-to-be-woke/   
      
   The Trump administration struck another blow against far-left “woke”   
   ideology this month when it eliminated a Biden-era Medicare rule that gave   
   doctors extra money for publishing an “anti-racism” plan. The decision   
   comes as a major relief for patients who want high-quality medical care   
   that hasn’t been corrupted by a liberal political agenda.   
      
   Back in 2022, the Biden Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),   
   through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), released a   
   new rule that created an “incentive” structure for doctors to create an   
   “anti-racism” plan for their offices.   
      
   Critics blasted the rule as a blatant threat to patient care, as the   
   tenets of “anti-racist” ideology are at odds with medical best practices   
   and scientific fact. For instance, as Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) pointed out   
   in a letter to Biden HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, anti-racist ideology   
   holds that race is “a political and social construct, not a physiological   
   one.”   
      
   In reality, of course, race is a concrete physiological fact that   
   influences how doctors treat patients. The heart failure drug BiDil, for   
   example, is far more effective in patients of African ancestry because of   
   genetic differences that are statistically more common in those patients.   
   Patients of Asian ancestry also require lower doses of certain blood   
   thinners than patients of European or African ancestry due to variations   
   in certain genes that affect metabolism.   
      
   Proponents of anti-racist ideology also unabashedly promote racism against   
   white people as the solution to racism against non-white people. Ibram X.   
   Kendi, one of the leading voices in the anti-racist movement, has argued   
   that “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination”   
   and “The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”   
      
   Applied to medicine, Kendi’s statement – and the Biden CMS rule –   
   explicitly encourage doctors to discriminate against white patients. It   
   also discourages any critical examination of factors that could be   
   contributing to negative health outcomes for non-white patients.   
      
   Instead of focusing on cultural differences and lifestyle choices that   
   could lead to chronic health problems, anti-racist ideology encourages   
   doctors to tell patients that structural racism is to blame for their   
   health issues. Americans struggling with diabetes, obesity, or other   
   problems need factual guidance on nutrition, exercise, and medication that   
   can help them live a healthier life. They do not need to be given an   
   excuse, grounded in left-wing pseudoscience, that the real cause of their   
   problems is “racism.”   
      
   The Biden CMS rule was an outgrowth of the former President’s infamous   
   day-one executive order on “advancing racial equity” in the federal   
   government. That order explicitly required every federal government agency   
   and employee to look for ways to incorporate anti-racist ideology in their   
   work.   
      
   The money for the CMS incentive program was pulled from a well-intended   
   idea passed in 2015 called the Merit-based Incentive Payment System   
   (MIPS). MIPS moved Medicare from a fee-for-service model (getting paid for   
   each visit or test) toward “value-based care” (getting paid for quality   
   and outcomes). It applies to most clinicians who bill Medicare Part B —   
   including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and   
   clinical nurse specialists.   
      
   Eligible medical practices receive a performance score of 1-100 based on   
   certain criteria. Originally, that included things like cancer screening   
   rates, how well clinicians use electronic health records, and expanding   
   patient access through things like after-hours visits and telehealth. The   
   Biden CMS rule added creating an anti-racism plan as one of those metrics.   
      
   The rule required that good medicine and science take a back seat to   
   leftist political dogma, asking doctors to “acknowledge systemic racism as   
   a root cause for differences in health outcomes between socially-defined   
   racial groups,” as the Washington Free Beacon previously reported. No   
   longer would things like lowering blood pressure, losing weight, and   
   detecting cancer in its early stages be prioritized. Instead, concepts   
   like “white privilege,” “structural racism,” and “intersectionality” would   
   become the focus of medical practices.   
      
   When the Biden administration introduced the rule, the group Do No Harm,   
   which represents “physicians, nurses, medical students, patients, and   
   policymakers focused on keeping identity politics out of medical   
   education, research, and clinical practice,” sued to block it. (AMAC   
   Action has notably worked with Do No Harm on the parental rights front to   
   protect children from radical gender ideology.) As a press release from   
   the organization noted, “CMS’s adoption of the “anti-racism” rule   
   unlawfully exceeded the agency’s permissible authority under the Medicare   
   Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA).”   
      
   “It encourages doctors to elevate faddish theories about race above   
   patient care,” Do No Harm warned in its initial lawsuit. “It is unlawful,   
   unreasoned, and un-American.”   
      
   On November 5, however, the Trump administration removed the anti-racism   
   and racial equity provisions of the rule.   
      
   Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, the founder of Do No Harm and a former associate   
   dean at the University of Pennsylvania medical school, applauded the   
   decision and explained its significance. “While masquerading under the   
   misleading ‘anti-racist’ moniker, in practice, these policies injected   
   race-based decision making into the doctor-patient relationship,” Goldfarb   
   stated. “Such racial discrimination has no place in healthcare. By   
   prioritizing evidence-based policies, HHS is working to rebuild public   
   trust in our medical system.”   
      
   The Trump administration’s reversal of the Biden-era rule is a   
   reaffirmation of the common-sense idea that the country’s healthcare   
   system should be guided by science and results, not racial identity   
   politics. Americans want doctors who can help them lower their blood   
   pressure, relieve their arthritis, and stay healthy to spend time with   
   their kids and grandkids – not lecture them about why their real issue is   
   not being “anti-racist” enough.   
      
      
   --   
   November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look   
   forward to America being great again.   
      
   We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that   
   stupid people won't be offended.   
      
   Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.   
      
   Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama   
   / Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.   
      
   Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)