House health care bill 'outlaws private insurance'

World Net Daily ^ | 7-17-09

[truthandlife]

The current House health care bill would make individual private medical insurance illegal and obliterate the market for individual coverage, opponents warn.

Investor's Business Daily reviewed H.R. 3200, a 1,018-page bill, and sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee when it stumbled upon the following segment listed under "Protecting the Choice to Keep Current Coverage," in the "Limitation on Enrollment" section on Page 16:

"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.

"So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised – with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers," Investor's Business Daily reported.

Human Events writer Ross Kaminsky dubbed the Senate bill "an equal disaster" to the House version. Kaminsky outlined the following details of the House bill, referring to it as "the largest tax hike in American history":

[PhilDragoo]

[tsmith130]

It does not outlaw individual private coverage – you can still buy the plan on the Exchange where they will compete with the public option, not be replaced by it.

Riiiight...and private companies will be able to compete on this 'Exchange' with the 'public option' how exactly? The government doesn't have to show a profit...look at Amtrak and the USPS.

At the end of the day, private insurance companies will have fewer and fewer participants...until...poof...they're out of business.

[2harddrive]

BUT: Outlawing private insurance, WOULD reduce the demand for medical services, and push costs way down. If everyone had to pay ALL their medical costs themselves, they WOULD shop around, just like they do now for auto repairs, and they would not approve spending on frivolous tests, any more than they would for silly accessories for their own car. Inside 2 years, hospital, MRI and other tests, and physician prices wold be in the BASEMENT.

[agrace]

lol

[staytrue]

So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised – with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it.

I think it is worse than that. If a insurance company can not grow and/or replace membership (due to death) the pool in that group will eventually grow smaller and probably small enough that the pool will have to close.

[sickoflibs]

Getting better!

[agrace]

Love how they don’t define the small business exemption.

[Flint]

The news this morning says that the three House committees that are handling the health care bill passed the thing through during the wee hours of this morning. 1018 pages grew to 1040 pages in the process.

Wouldn't you love to see the entire Republican side as well as any Democrats that would join them walk out the door of the Capitol building onto the steps in front. A known spokesmen stepping up to a microphone and makes a statement. Something to the effect and pointing, inside that building there are people who think that the way to sneak things by Americans is to hide in the dark of night and pass laws. And we are here in the bright sunlight of day to tell you that your country is being sold down the river. If you, the American people tolerate this for a not too very long time you will never ever see and your children also will never see anything that resembles the country that so many have fought and bled for over the last two centuries. People get up, get down here, surround this place, lift your voices loud enough to penetrate those marble walls. Tell the sneak thieves that are stealing your country what you think of them!

Or something to that effect.

[Girlene]

What's the rest of the paragraph? Someone stated on another thread that the rest of the paragraph sets conditions on private insurance but doesn't outlaw it as WND and IBD breathlessly report. It's important that we KNOW what we're pissed about, lest we look like fools.

The bill is posted on Huffington Post (sorry!). Anywho, scroll down to page 15/16 to read the context. I'm trying to decipher what it means, also. I think the "limitation on new enrollment" is for what they call "grandfathered" private health care. IOW, I think the bill says you can keep your old private health care, as is, but no new enrollements or changes are allowed in that specific plan, unless it's adding a dependant.

New private health care will be allowed, but must follow the new guidelines set out in this bill. See page 15. It refers to Subtitle B, C, and D as the guidelnes for private health care. Subtitle B starts on page 19.

I think what's going on here is that you can keep your existing coverage if you were enrolled in the year before this plan is passed into law. That's considered grandfathered. But if you change jobs, or your employer dumps the old plan, any new private health care must comply with these new federal guidelines. It may become so costly or restrictive that private health care may disappear. Also, old private health care plans, which might have been trimmed down or specialized for a specific group, will wither away since they can't get any new members and as people change jobs.

I'm just starting to read a bit, so I could be all wrong about this. It's difficult to understand.

[tx_eggman]

"It does not outlaw individual private coverage – you can still buy the plan on the Exchange where they will compete with the public option, not be replaced by it."

Riiiight...and private companies will be able to compete on this 'Exchange' with the 'public option' how exactly? The government doesn't have to show a profit...look at Amtrak and the USPS.

That's not my quote, it's the quote of someone who doesn't understand the show.

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

That is a damned good question. I want the specific names of the slick lawyer gov officials.senate or congressmen.

[tsmith130]

I wasn’t dissing you, eggman...just the person who originally wrote that.

[Earthdweller]

[pctech]

Preach it!

If people would only look at what happened to ancient Israel, they would see the parrallel's are strikingly similar. The USA is walking down the same sin trodden path that Israel took and the USA will be destroyed just like Israel was unless the people wake up before it's too late.

[Borax Queen]

Ping to Dick's post 9. It only took a few seconds to enter my name to ask the elites to receive the same healthcare as they're signing for the peasants.

GO TO FLEMING’S SITE AT http://fleming.house.gov/ AND SIGN HIS PETITION (ABOUT MIDWAY DOWN THE PAGE IN THE CENTER).

[Marty62]

Pelosi just said American People support their healthcare legislation.

ALL THOSE FACELIFTS MUST HAVE FRIED HER BRAIN.

[rwfromkansas]

WND AS USUAL....IS WRONG.

This is a terrible bill, but let’s not attack it with lies.

Any time a bill says “except as provided....” it is generally a good idea to see WHAT the conditions are...not ignore it and act like it bans something when it doesn’t.

This does NOT outlaw private insurance.

It only requires private companies offering it to individuals to participate in the exchange program. Even so, it only applies to individual plans, not family ones.

I really don’t see what’s so objectionable about this particular section.

The idea of a government plan is terrible, and that’s what we need to be attacking.

[bustinchops]

Not to worry for the private health insurance companies. They’ll get a bailout from the taxpayers who are paying taxes on their employer-provided insurance or paying the government for crap health care more than what they’re paying the private insurance companies now.

[S.O.L.]

Is this attrition - grandfathering provision going to apply to congress people and their staff, or do they have an excpetion that’s buried somewhere?

[444Flyer]

“We’re from the Government and we’re here to help.”

More like “We’re from the Government and we’re here to help kill you.”