Obama said he’s appropriating $20 Billion dollars to the health care industry to encourage widespread adoption of electronic medical records.

While this sounds like a phenomenal idea, it’s not.

This is about as good an idea as throwing money at advancing the technology found in the Commodore 64.

Like bailing out the Big Three automakers, an infusion of federal dollars into the current crop of programs will only stifle innovation that’s sorely needed to make electronic record systems truly useful.

Here are some screenshots from two popular electronic medical records:

Can you imagine Facebook, Amazon, eBay, Flickr, Tumblr or any other promising new “technology” building such awful interfaces and counterintuitive usability?

We should be investing in companies that build amazing web apps and sites that you don’t even realize you’re using…instead, these companies are going to get a monetary windfall and continue to develop total crap. And doctors are still going to find it more convenient to write on paper with a pen…and therein lies the reason why only 9% of office based primary care docs use computers. Because the only technology out there they can use looks and functions like nothing else they use in their everyday lives – gMail, gCal, Facebook, Flickr, and Amazon.

The hyperlink has revolutionized everything, except health care technology.

And Obama wants to throw money at a sinking ship. Hey Obama…I’ve got a Commodore 64 you can buy for $20 Billion.