A top White House official may have lied to Congress about a new, and potentially illegal, Biden regulation that pays doctors to push a critical race theory-like agenda when treating patients
“Under a new Biden Administration regulation, doctors would be reimbursed with federal tax dollars for adopting ‘anti-racism’ plans that define race as ‘a political and social construct, not a physiological one,’” House Budget Committee Republicans report.
The plan appears to endanger minority health as some medical conditions, such as sickle cell anemia, are disproportionately tied to actual race and not socioeconomic factors.
“The Biden Administration has decided to force doctors to implement a radical political ideology under the guise of improving patient care. The fact of the matter is that under this new rule, doctors will be forced to incorporate a political agenda into their practices that not only dismisses medical facts, but seeks to indoctrinate physicians,” said Budget Committee Ranking Member Jason Smith.
Doctors would be told to place “anti-racism” ahead of cancer treatments and surgery preparation.
“(A)mong the many measures that impact physician reimbursement, this new measure would have a higher rating than the one given for crafting personalized mental health plans for patients, making timely cancer diagnoses, and managing a patient’s medication so that they do not die on the surgical table during invasive surgery,” Budget Committee Republicans report.
In hearings last months before the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee and Budget Committee Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra testified HHS “does not have a policy as described” and that “much of this is driven by mis- and disinformation.”
Newly-revealed documents show the regulation was already in place and being implemented as Becerra testified.
“It speaks volumes that instead of defending this rule in public testimony, Secretary Becerra instead chose to deny its existence and obfuscate the truth. When it comes to health care, we need doctors focused on caring for patients, not on woke activism,” said Smith.
“Based on your on-the-record denials of this measure’s existence, we are forced to conclude that you are either unaware of your own department’s activity or intentionally obfuscating about this activity to hide a radical political agenda from the American people. Either action on your part is completely unacceptable,” wrote Smith and House Republican Policy Committee Chairman Gary Palmer.
The scheme appears to violate federal law.
“The Congressmen also note that the Biden Administration’s rule may be in violation of federal law, citing a federal civil rights lawsuit filed earlier this month by two doctors, and joined by eight states including Smith and Palmer’s home states of Missouri and Alabama. The suit alleges the Biden Administration’s rule violates the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015,” Budget Committee Republicans report.
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Michael Brigham
Michael Brigham has written for American Action News since the summer of 2019. His areas of expertise include foreign affairs, government, and politics, but regardless of the subject matter, he has a nose and an insatiable appetite for news. In his free time, he enjoys reading nonfiction, watching a mix of comedies and true crime documentaries, and spending time away from the swamp hiking in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
