I don’t know about you but I just can’t wait for all that “free” “healthcare” to come my way (wink, wink). Won’t it just be terrific? I could get my broken teeth fixed, man I’ve got two that were filled about 100 years ago and they are just crumbling, which isn’t even the worst part.
I used an emery board to take the rough edges off when it broke; all those sharp edges were doing a number on the inside of my cheeks. At one point I thought maybe if I stuffed some cotton balls between my teeth and my cheeks – okay, I admit I tried it. Don’t ask.
I received an e-mail a couple days ago and I was trying to fact check it. Well, you know as well as I do that these yahoos we’ve elected to represent us, hire people who speak a distinct dialect of mumbo jumbo. They do their best to avoid using any commonly used search terms, hoping the folks back home aren’t checking up on them – and so what if they are – they won’t understand a word of it anyway.
For instance, let’s just say I spent a few hours trying to decipher the proposed healthcare legislation. Let’s back up, this e-mail is what finally fired me up enough to start checking on this bill. It couldn’t be as bad as everyone is saying? Or could it?
The e-mail read…
Real ID is embedded in the Obama health care bill. Read the below analysis.
See page 58 of the bill: Every person will be issued a National ID Health card.
The Economic Policy Journal points us to Peter Fleckstein, who twittered the contents of the House Socialized Medicine bill. Oh, what a treat your family is in for.
Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!
Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!
Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike 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. None.
Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services.
Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Health card.
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 (read: 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 (i.e., total government control of private plans)
Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: 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 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. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.
Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages.
Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives.
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.” Yes, it really says that.
Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. “Seniors and the poor most affected..”
Page 241: Doctors: no matter what speciality you have, you’ll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!)
Page 253: Government sets value of doctors’ time, their professional judgment, etc.
Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries.
Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.
Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!
Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.
Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.
Page 317: Doctors: you 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: in other words, yet another payoff for ACORN.
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, euthanasia?
Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. 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: more payoffs for ACORN.
Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations: more payoffs for ACORN.
Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government intervenes in your marriage.
Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.
What is it with Democrats? The only medical services that they don’t want to ration are abortion and assisted suicide!
So, I started with Page 59. To be honest it took awhile to actually find the bill. So much has been written on it and to be honest, they are hoping no one actually sits down to read about the demise of our last bastion of freedom.
The email says…
“Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.”
That is not at all what I read in the bill. The bill actually reads:
(C) enable electronic funds transfers, in order to allow automated reconciliation with the related health care payment and remittance advice;
Even on the previous page, it doesn’t say what we are told. Does the writer have some inside knowledge because he doesn’t share it with the reader?
(D) enable the real-time (or near real time) determination of an individual’s financial responsibility at the point of service and, to the extent possible, prior to service, including whether the individual is eligible for a specific service with a specific physician at a specific facility, which may include utilization of a machine-readable health plan beneficiary identification card;
I read awhile longer but fact checking this e-mail wasn’t going to be a five-minute job. Of course, reading this entire bill is no minor feat. I was so upset, seeing how involved it was and the sheer volume of it was so intimidating, I picked up the phone a couple of days ago and called all my representatives.
I not only asked them to vote no on H.R. 3200; I informed each of them that signing legislation without having first READ it was immoral. I told them that we hired them to do a job and we expect them to do it to the best of their ability.
Well, I doubt it made a difference to them but I’m going to keep calling and keep writing. I’m going to hold their feet the fire. This medical bill will bankrupt this country. What burns me up the most is the fact that the federal government broke it, now they think they can fix it. They broke it when they got into bed with the pharmaceutical companies.
I read one thing in this huge bill that stood out to me like a sore thumb.
(1) NO COST-SHARING FOR PREVENTIVE SERVICES. – There shall be no cost-sharing under the essential benefits package for preventive items and services (as specified under the benefit standards), including well baby and well child care.
What does this mean? Cost-sharing? I’m reading this to mean that this “healthcare plan” is just as bad as what we have now. You can get all the help you need AFTER you’re sick but hey, good luck staying well. Food Stamps won’t pay for non-food items, like vitamins and supplements and Medicaid doesn’t pay for aspirins or cough syrup but hey if you do get a head cold, don’t bother with the doctor just stop in at the local emergency room, we’ll fit you right in.
The letter also said, “Abortions and Assisted Suicides will NOT be rationed!” This could almost be laughable if it wasn’t so ironic. They put a strict limit on the number of Bear or Deer that can be “taken” in any one year but why why should we do anything to save a baby?
How can we be so callous and unfeeling? Could it be that since there are so many people on the planet, we can’t see the value of each and every life any more? Can’t we see that each child is precious and to be cherished?
