Cindy Loveland
URGENT: ACTION ALERT, HR 3590, Health Care Reform Bill – Dec. 20th, 2009 – Virtual Vigil – tell the senate what you think
The public and Congress should be outraged that a task force developing national strategy and interventions to be carried out by the states can work behind closed doors and is not subject to the protections in The Federal Advisory Committee Act, Appendix 2 of title 5, United States Code.
How many Senators are aware of this little section, if any? I’m sure the public is not aware of this.
Buried in the health care bill -HR 3590, on page 1146, is a short little section that says:
“The Task Force is not subject to the provisions of Appendix 2 of title 5, United States Code”. (1)
There’s no shortage of things not to like in this bill, so why should anyone care about this and what does Appendix 2, title 5 of the United States Code say?
Appendix 2 of title 5, The Federal Advisory Committee Act, provides the safeguards so that federal government committees and task forces are kept to a minimum, requires that congress and the public be informed of what these committees are doing and their cost and states that the committees should be terminated when no longer needed. (2)
The new “Community Preventive Services Task Force” created in the bill along with the ”Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health” and the “Preventive Services Task Force” will develop and make the national prevention, health promotion and public health strategy.
They will also come up with a list of national priorities on health promotion and disease prevention to address lifestyle behavior modification (smoking cessation, proper nutrition, appropriate exercise, mental health, behavioral health, substance use disorder, and domestic violence screenings). These groups will also coordinate with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
States can receive grants to implement interventions that are recommended by the “Community Preventive Services Task Force”. Interventions that can be used are ;
”providing for home visits that promote immunization through education, assessments of need, referrals, provision of immunizations, or other services; ”providing immunization reminders or recalls for target populations of clients, patients, and consumers”; ‘ providing reminders or recalls for immunization providers; and ” immunization information systems to allow all States to have electronic databases for immunization records”. (3) (vactruth.com editor’s note: Take notice of “Provision of Immunizations”!!!)
The Senate is set to vote on this bill Dec. 21st at 1:00 am. This one little section is just one example of the many “little sections” that are going to cause huge problems. Forcing through a huge bill that has so many problems in the dead of night right before Christmas is wrong.
Please consider joining in the virtual vigil to stop this disastrous bill from moving forward. (4)
(1) http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/leg/LEG%202009/111909%20patient-protection-affordable-care-act.pdf page 1146
(2) http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/laws/fed-advisory-committee/
(3) http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/leg/LEG%202009/111909%20patient-protection-affordable-care-act.pdf page 1223 and 1224
(4) http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=30a32513ae04f5445c95f3239&id=47fe902f6b&e=68d6584e73