Comparative Effectiveness Research Under Obamacare: A Slippery Slope to Health Care Rationing

“One element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is the advancement of ‘comparative effectiveness research’ (CER). Intended to compare available treatment options, CER can benefit patients if used for informational purposes only, but it could also be harmful in practice. The expansion of the Medicare bureaucracy under the PPACA will allow the use of CER for more government micromanagement of personal medical decision making—hurting patients, doctors, and the practice of medicine.”