Bloviation vs. reality on stimulus healthcare provision

In a report from the House Committee on Appropriations, the committee outlines its rationale for including $1.1 billion for "comparative effectiveness research" in the massive economic stimulus bill. The research is "that done by doctors and statisticians who troll through large number of patient records to determine, for any particular disease, which treatments work best," says Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein. He says that while there's nothing particularly new about comparative effectiveness research, to some the wording in last month's House report was anything but innocuous.