From the Wall Street Journal:
Congress and the White House reached accord on a $789.5 billion economic-recovery package that would shower hundreds of billions of dollars in tax relief on individuals and businesses and spark an infrastructure building boom from the nation’s ports and waterways to its schools and military bases. The deal all but clinches passage of one of the largest economic rescues since Franklin Roosevelt launched the New Deal. . .The compromise preserves $1.1 billion for a national “comparative effectiveness” study of health-care practices to try to determine the best treatments, devices and procedures for almost any ailment or disease. That information would then be disseminated to physicians nationally, perhaps on new medical computer systems also being funded.
Advocates of the study, including the president, say it will improve health care in all corners of the country and bring more uniformity to treatments. But conservative opponents have warned that it’s the first step toward a government prescription to doctors of what they can and cannot do for their patients.