The Obama administration allocated $19.2 billion to help doctors buy iPads. More specifically, they gave up to $44,000 per doctor to switch to electronic medical records using apps like Drchrono.
The funding came through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act), which President Obama signed on February 17, 2009 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. An economic stimulus bill that stimulated the top 0.2% of income earners in the world.
Here's how this works: Take taxes from administrative staff making $25 per hour. Give that money to doctors in the top 0.2% of global income earners. Watch those doctors use the technology to fire the administrative staff who paid for it. It's wealth redistribution, just in the direction that typically makes economists check their notes twice.
Electronic health records are obviously good. Efficiency is good. But it's notable that we funded this by taking money from the people who would lose their jobs from the efficiency gain, and giving it to people who could have afforded an iPad by working for 3.7 hours.
The average doctor salary in the US is approximately $200,000. An iPad costs about $500. The government gave them $44,000. The math requires third-grade arithmetic. The policy requires explaining.
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