Eric the Red

Greetings all! It has certainly been a while since I have written here!

With all the nonsense in the media about hope and change, I decided to read my way through the health care bill under consideration (as of the date of this writing), and I have summarized it for you along with my impressions.

Please note that I am opposed to the bill in its current form.

Feel free to read the bill for yourself and disagree with me:

• Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!
• Page 29: Admission that your health care will be rationed!
• Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get and, unlike with an insurer, there will be no appeals process.
• Page 42: The “Health Choices Commissioner” will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice.
• Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with taxpayer-subsidized “free” healthcare services.
• Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.
• Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.
• Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (such as SEIU, UAW and ACORN)
• Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.
• Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (in my opinion, leading to total government control of private plans.)
• Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services (in my opinion, illegal aliens).
• Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
• Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled, you will have no choice in the matter.
• Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No “judicial review” is permitted against the government monopoly. In my opinion, private insurers will be crushed.
• Page 127: The government will set wages. In my opinion, the AMA sold its doctors out.
• Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives to this plan are permitted.
• Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families.
• Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll.
• Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll.
• Page 167: Any individual who doesn’t have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.
• Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them).
• Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.
• Page 203: “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax.” What a mess!
• Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. In my opinion, seniors and the poor will be negatively affected.
• Page 241: Doctors: no matter what speciality you have, you’ll all be paid the same
• Page 253: Government sets value of doctors’ time, their professional judgment, etc.
• Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private health care industries.
• Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.
• Page 272: The government will reduce payments to cancer specialty hospitals who’s costs exceed those of non-specialty hospitals. In my opinion, this will result in cancer patients being singled out for rationed care.
• Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.
• Page 298: If doctors treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, they will be penalized by the government.
• Page 317: Doctors are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies
• Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.
• Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on “community” input, which is vaguely defined.
• Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., rationing.
• Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc.
• Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.
• Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (healthcare by phone).
• Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, (perhaps) euthanasia?
• Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Such consultation is mandatory. This appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time.
• Page 425: Government provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death.
• Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends.
• Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient’s health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.
• Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life.
• Page 469: Community-based Home Medical Services
• Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations
• Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. In my opinion, this will lead to government intervention in your marriage.
• Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.

As always, I encourage all to read this bill in its entirety and draw their own conclusions. Frankly, I do not see how any health plan can claim to reduce costs without rationing care and reducing quality. Many others agree.

I agree with Rep. Lynn Westmoreland that pursuing other measures, such as:

• Creating special tax credits for individuals to purchase insurance
• Creating portability in insurance plans
• Allow businesses to band together to purchase plans as a group
• Allow individuals to purchase insurance on a nation-wide scale, rather than state by state
• Curtail frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals

Additionally, I believe that we need to establish a nation-wide pool with limited eligibility, to allow individuals who have lost their jobs due to no fault of their own, children, full time college students and people with pre-existing conditions access to affordable insurance. Yes, I know about COBRA and SCHIP, but I do not think they are effective in their current form. I also think that like car insurance, a certain degree of health insurance (such as covering hospitalizations to deal with car accidents and the like) should be mandatory for all.

I fully believe that every American should write to their representatives and the White House and be very loud in voicing their opposition to this bill. We cannot afford to rush a program through that is not carefully considered.