Somewhere lost in all of the heated rhetoric about whether or not to move the country to a government health insurance plan are the patients—those who are and who will be ailing but who could be helped by advances in technology if that technology were deployed and not hindered.
Lost in all the rhetoric is that all the pieces of health care must work together to work in the interests of patients—not politicians or bureaucrats.
While the healthcare reform debate goes on, other parts of government are acting to the detriment of a better healthcare system and causing near and long term harm to those whose future well-being depends on innovation.
Perhaps the greatest threat is the FCC’s newly suggested heavy regulation of the Internet. As currently proposed the new regulations could hinder network providers from giving priority to healthcare applications. So instead of interrupting or slowing down that search for Britney Spears pictures, the remote virtual reality assisted surgery may be interrupted. And the patient loses.
Under the new FCC regulations that would require “transparency,” all electronic healthcare information could be at risk. A recent TechAmerica-CCA survey found that 35 percent of Americans registered concerns about the impact of technology on personal privacy, but 25 percent said that they feel “that there are adequate protections in place to assure the confidentiality of my healthcare records.” Yet, now the FCC plans to rip out some of those protections by their roots. And the patient loses.
Not all the damage to our long term health is being done at the FCC. On Capitol Hill time is running out (and has already run out for many non calendar fiscal year companies) to extend the research and experimentation tax credit, which incents greater R&D leading to innovation. Innovation will allow the U.S. to have and maintain the best health care provision in the world. Let’s not screw it up.
Today's TechByte was written by Bartlett D. Cleland, director of IPI Center for Technology Freedom.