Little gems from the Health Care Bill

• Page 16: States that if you have insurance at the time of the bill becoming law and change, you will be required to take a similar plan. If that is not available, you will be required to take the gov option!
• 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 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 (example: 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 <>BR • 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 doesnt' 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: Goverment 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.

I've read both these summaries through and through and I come from a medical perspective. Suffice to say your misinformation link is filled with misinformation. I may agree to some hyperbole but let me show just a few points where the liberal "wingnut" making the counter points is being ridiculous. I won't bother with the obvious strawman arguments throughout.

First, the obvious:

• Page 203: “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax.” Yes, it really says that.

The author then complains about the period after tax and pastes in the full text which indeed says exactly what was claimed. True it had no period but the meaning is clear that any of the penalty taxes imposed can't be used in tax deductions and hence means exactly what it would with the period. I mean the author says he doesn't even understand the legalese while lambasting the original author for changing the meaning he didn't get in the first place. Great argument.

Next: • Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages.

The rebuttal claims the author is lying and I can therefore outright say that the man does not even begin to have a grasp of how medicare and medicaid are run. It SETS WAGES! And in the referenced page it clearly states there are three types of doctors, all of which must accept the gov. fee as FULL PAYMENT. No collection of additional from the patient. Hence the government will set wages. Unless you buy into the complete fallacy that you can just not join. Read this heap of garbage through and you will see it makes plain the options are either be in the government plan or stop being a doctor. Many will choose the latter. As it stands right now, most doctors LOSE money on Medicare patients and make up for it in private payments which is ironic because private premiums have increased LESS than Medicare.

Which brings me to my next point: • Page 253: Government sets value of doctors’ time, their professional judgment, etc. and • Page 241: Doctors: no matter what speciality you have, you’ll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!)

Read for yourself. Our liberal authorize begins hurling insults when the text of the bill is clear. Billing codes will be classified into two groups and prices fixed based on that category "without regard to the specialty of the physician furnishing the service". Yes it says that. AND I got the punctuation correct. No imagine the lack of specialists. Who would go through 23 YEARS of school and training minimum (12 years of primary, 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school and 3 years of residency minimum) and then decide to add on up 7-10 years more for heart surgery or neurosurgery for the same pay? Would you? Hell, at Medicare rate I know numerous other doctors that would stop practicing. And ask a random sample of doctors today if they would tell their child to become a doctor. The result should scare you. I already know what the answer will be. Who need the government to ration when lack of doctors will do it for you. I guess Juan from Primero Medical School of Jamaica would be fine for your healthcare?

Then: • Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., rationing.

The liberal nut claims that outcome-based medicine is not rationing but the opposite. However, he fails to note that that is the exact method used in other socialized medicine programs. Outcome based means you ONLY give treatments and medication that have an outcome deemed positive by research. Now that is all and good for guidelines, but I can be 99% confident that nearly everyone one here has been prescribed something off-label; that is not approved for that use. Outcome based your would never have gotten that med. Furthermore, one need not look far for bogus politically motivated decisions from the FDA or CDC on medications and treatments and those are the ones who will decide what is part of a positive outcome. Experimental cancer treatments? Dream on. NOT ONE experimental drug is considered to be part of outcome based medicine. Again, the author proves his naivete.

I'll stop at: • Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.

The author says its made up and then defends the logic. The text of the bill is "(C) applying a payment reduction for physicians who treat the patient during the initial admission that results in a readmission;" so the idiot is clearly wrong on the whole made up thing. Should give you pause on believing him when he says it throughout his rant. But onto his logic. He states its like taking your car into a garage. You wouldn't pay a mechanic twice if they didn't fix it the first time. Now lets get real. If you took your car in to replace your engine because you failed to put in oil and then left and did it again would you come back and get a discount or a freebie? Its a ridiculous statement that shows that this man believes doctors are the bad guy out to just make a buck. A doctor treats someone in the hospital to the best of their ability. If they don't, its called malpractice and we already have laws, licensing, and lawsuits that take care of that readily. Once the patient leaves the hospital, they are free to use and abuse their bodies or be prone to any number of unforeseeable complications from their illness that is nowhere like a car repair that now the doctor will be liable for even without intent or negligence? There's a reason why you need no degree for car repair and decades of school for medicine. Except now they may be getting paid the same. Now imagine how many doctors will just pass on treating patients with complicated problems. It self-fulfilling rationing and its already happening in other countries. The evidence is there. Maybe this guy should believe in an outcome based healthcare system. If he did, he wouldn't be for this. There is no evidence to support his thesis. Only the contrary.

OK, last one: • Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.

Again the clown displays his ignorance. Ncdonna, nurse of 33 years was likely was never involved in billing. Most nurses never have. If she agrees with this clown at ALL it must be the case. He quotes the text of the bill "(C) enable electronic funds transfers, in order to allow automated reconciliation with the related health care payment and remittance advice;". He then says that clearly means only electronic transfer between doctor and government plan. First off, that alone is scary to anyone practicing medicine as a doctor and should be scary to a nurse who makes their livelihood assisting the same. Those penalties for readmissions, etc? Removed directly from your bank at the gov't choosing. Kiss those sky high nurse wages goodbye on this plan. Ncdonna, I would just like to point out that a doctor at a typical practice making just medicare fees would make at BEST the same as the top 10% RN today. Not quite a fair deal and if the doctor's wages drop, so will the nurses. But onto the technical here. When one receives remittance advice it has what amount was claimed, what amount was covered and then what is left for the patient to pay. The reconciliation of said advice consists of making that balance zero including BILLING THE PATIENT. So automated reconciliation would include deduction of premiums and copays electronically from YOUR bank account, not the doctors. Unless you believe this is free or something and you won't owe premiums or a copay at all. If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.

I could go on with every point this idiot tried to make. If, your entire argument consists of calling someone a liar, chances are thou doth protest too much. And making arguments that are clearly refutable such as the CBO claiming some savings with this plan when they have stated the OPPOSITE. Or one that resorts to hyperbole and emotion based politics while bashing the country in just 2 sentences:

"This offers everyone a chance at affordable health insurance, and stops the health care inflation that has crippled our economy for decades. But more than that, it will make us a proud nation, that cares about its people once again."

Or even in one: "Our country is becoming second-rate right before our eyes, and one reason is the money we're flushing away on health care for no one, while thousands of people die and thousands of others are pushed to financial ruin."

And anyone who references Sicko in glowing terms or peppers arguments with Bush bashing and class warfare is not one to be reasoned with. He is one to be defeated. Nothing more than another ultra liberal progressive out to destroy what's left of the country. The government cannot take control over even MORE of the economy. There is only a train at the end of this tunnel. That's not the sun.

P.S. - Frequent visitor who finally got so worked up as to sign up and post. My post #1.

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