Posted on 08/16/2009 11:38:22 PM PDT by Ultra Sonic 007
(I received this in my inbox.)
To provide you with a clear understanding ... PLEASE PASS IT ON.
TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PLANS BEING PROPOSED:
Healthcare: Questions and Answers (regarding: H.R. 3200, Americas Affordable Health Choices Act):
1-QUESTION: Will health reform force all Americans out of their private insurance plans and into a government-run plan?
Answer: No. You will always have a choice. If you like your insurance, you can keep it. H.R. 3200 builds on the employer-based coverage we have today. If your employer offers health insurance, you will continue to get your coverage through them.
If your employer does not offer insurance, you will be able to purchase health coverage through an insurance Exchange, i.e., online clearinghouse, which will offer a variety of private insurance plans as well as a Public Option. This mirrors what federal employees and Members of Congress have.
2- QUESTION: What is a Public Option?
Answer: The Public Option is a government-run, Not-For-Profit Healthcare Plan. Similar to Medicare, it will NOT be funded by government subsidies, but solely by the premiums it collects (just like Private Plans.)
The Public Option will be required to follow the same regulations placed on private insurance companies, including staying financially solvent.
3- QUESTION: What is the Exchange?
Answer: The Exchange is an online clearinghouse for all insurance plans. To be part of it and compete for customers, an insurance plan must contain a basic minimum of benefits as determined by the Health Choices Commission, established in the legislation. Information on coverage and benefits must be clearly listed beside each plan in easy-to-understand language.
The Exchange will bring together information that is currently scattered, giving consumers the opportunity to make informed decisions about what plan works best for them.
4- QUESTION: Will the legislation require me to join the public plan if I lose my private coverage?
Answer: No one will be required to join the public plan. If you lose your insurance, you will be able to shop for a new plan in the Exchange and determine which plan best suits you and your familys needs.
5- QUESTION: Are Members of Congress exempt from changes that are being proposed for the rest of the country?
Answer: No. Members of Congress will receive the same healthcare options as will all federal employees, with a choice of Private Plans that vary by benefits and cost, as well as the Public Option.
6- QUESTION: What if I cant afford to purchase health insurance? Wont it be mandatory under H.R. 3200?
Answer: Every American will be required to have health coverage. Medicare recipients will continue to receive Medicare benefits, as will those receiving TRICARE and VA benefits. The lowest income Americans will continue to receive Medicaid benefits.
Those Americans who earn up to 400% of the poverty level ($88,200 for a family of 4) will receive affordability credits to help them purchase insurance on a sliding scale. Those closest to the poverty level will earn the most credits, while those closest to 400% will earn the least. The goal is to provide a good coverage and make it affordable to all Americans.
7- QUESTION: Will the proposed legislation provide free healthcare to illegal immigrants?
Answer: No. Section 246 of H.R. 3200 explicitly prohibits the payment of affordability credits to anyone who is not lawfully in the United States.
8- QUESTION: Will abortion be covered in the new insurance plans?
Answer: The Health Choices Commission legislation language explicitly states that abortions will not be included in a Public health plan. However, consumers will be able to choose from the Exchange, a Private plan that offers this service, if they wish to, at a different price.
9- QUESTION: Will all small businesses be forced to provide coverage to their employees?
Answer: The bill exempts small businesses with a payroll of less than $250,000 from the requirement to provide health insurance for their workers. Businesses with payrolls above $250,000 that do not provide coverage will be charged a payroll tax that will gradually increase with the size of their payroll.
The tax will start at a low 2% for payrolls above $250,000 and increase to a maximum cap of 8% for payrolls above $400,000. However, there are currently discussions to raise this exemption to $500,000. Proceeds from this tax will go to offset the cost of affordability credits for use in the Exchange. Small businesses that choose to offer insurance will receive tax credits to offset the cost of insurance.
10- QUESTION: What does this bill do to stop fraud and abuse in Medicare?
Answer: The legislation strengthens existing compliance and enforcement tools for Medicare, increases funding to support these efforts and creates new, tougher penalties for individuals who abuse the system by submitting false claims to Medicare.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that for every $1 we invest in fighting waste, fraud, and abuse we will produce $1.75 in savings.
11- QUESTION: Can our country afford health insurance reform?
Answer: The cost of healthcare is rising exponentially, far outpacing that of inflation. This year only the projected increase in premium cost, will range between 35% and 42%. We simply cannot afford to maintain the status quo. If we do nothing to curb healthcare costs, by 2019 we will be spending one out of every $5 dollars on healthcare. We have no choice. The longer we wait, the more it will cost to fix our broken healthcare system.
12- QUESTION: How much will this bill cost?
Answer: The CBOs latest estimates the cost to be $1.042 trillion over ten years. Two third (2/3) of the cost will be duly funded by addressing inefficiencies in Medicare and Medicaid, by cracking down hard on fraud, and by eliminating waste and abuse in these programs, which will save $465 billion over the next ten years. $583 billion will still have to be raised to cover the rest of the cost by a proposed small 1.2% tax on the wealthiest income earners, to help pay this cost.
The Senate is considering other ways to raise funds and is reviewing a number of proposals prior to voting on the final bill in September. In addition to the above, implementation of health information technology for electronic records will save billions of dollars, and moving to generic forms of biologics is projected to save $10 billion over ten years.
13- QUESTION: Will this plan lead to rationing of care?
Answer: No. Healthcare decisions should always be made only between a doctor and their patient with no governmental involvement. The legislation specifically forbids any studies or research from being used to either mandate or deny care to a patient.
The legislation significantly increases research funding to gather data about what procedures are the most effective in order to give doctors the best possible information when treating their patients. By reducing waste and the procedures that have proven to be ineffective in treatment, the quality of services and benefits will increase substantially, with no rationing of care.
14- QUESTION: Why is this legislation being rushed through Congress?
Answer: The bill is not being rushed. It is long o-v-e-r-d-u-e. Teddy Roosevelt first proposed universal healthcare in 1912. President Harry Truman called for it in 1945. Former Representative John Dingell Sr. introduced a bill to provide universal healthcare in 1947 and his son, Representative John Dingell Jr., has reintroduced a bill at every Congress since 1955, and it was in fact supported by both President Obama and Senator McCain in the presidential campaign of 2008.
This particular legislation has been crafted, reviewed and revised repeatedly since the 111th Congress began, and it continues to be changed to reflect the considerable input from those in the healthcare community and all its constituents. In deed this bill is long o-v-e-r-d-u-e.
15- QUESTION: Will the government be forcing me into end-of-life euthanasia counseling?
Answer: No. For those who receive Medicare benefits and want to receive professional end-of-life counseling from their doctor, in preparation to writing a living will, or for a compassionate approach to end-of-life issues, to provide comfort and prevent suffering with medical care, they can. The legislation allows doctors to receive Medicare reimbursements for this counseling.
16- QUESTION: Will insurance companies be able to drop patients who have pre-existing conditions or must undergo an extended costly treatment?
Answer: No. Insurance companies will be prohibited to pick-and-choose and from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions. The practice of rescission (which insurance companies have often used to drop a patient once they become ill) will also be banned.
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450,000 US Doctors Support President Obama Health Care reform.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkGGDOp4uUg
(This is where the message ended)
Obama sent a separate bill to the house in July, titled "The Independent Medicare Advisory Council." It will freeze Medicare spending as of 2014, and...
"The kind of system changes you might expect from IMAC are suggested by the June report from MedPAC. Among other things, it proposes that Medicare take steps to penalize hospitals with abnormally high readmission rates for their patients, while allowing them to reward staff members for reducing those rates.
It also suggests experimenting with flat-fee payments for each patient hospitalized with certain common ailments, rather than the current open-ended billing for each test and treatment -- as an incentive to hospitals to control costs.
Obama's proposal almost certainly would accelerate change in the way health care is delivered -- and it might actually save money in the long run.
But Congress will have to decide if it is willing to yield that degree of control to five unelected IMAC commissioners. And Americans will have to decide if they are comfortable having those commissioners determine how they will be treated when they are ill."
Note they do not know how supply and demand etc work. Once the price gets high enough, the market will take care of the problems. Of course, the govt keeps meddling (Medicare, S-Chip etc), which precludes the market taking care of the crazy costs. Republicans do not help by agreeing there is a “crisis.”
Ping!
Ping!
Answer: No. Everything is all chocolate rivers and rainbow skies. Everything will be free, and in fact, you will get paid $20.00 in cash, plus get a Golden Ticket when you visit the doctor. Oopma Loompas will perform all surgeries, and those will be free too. Minorities will get more care, but this is to even out years of oppressive discrimination against them, so have another Everlasting Gob-stopper and forget about it.
We need more of a response like this. A point by point response with the text of the legislation.
I also noted how they claim this will be paid for by premiums, yet the bill is some 1.(blah, blah)trillion dollars. 40 million into some trillion dollar number means my premiums will be how much? If I can’t afford coverage now other than catastrophic, how am I going to pay for it through the exchange?
The 2nd part of question 12 is will this cover the cost of research, new technology, new equipment, training etc.
Answer: The Exchange is an online clearinghouse for all insurance plans. To be part of it and compete for customers, an insurance plan must contain a basic minimum of benefits as determined by the Health Choices Commission, established in the legislation.
All future health plans must originate in this 'Clearing House', which is really a choke point for mandating what kind of coverage you will be allowed to have. Here is what the bill really says:
SEC. 121. COVERAGE OF ESSENTIAL BENEFITS PACKAGE.
a) In General- A qualified health benefits plan shall provide coverage that at least meets the benefit standards adopted under section 124 for the essential benefits package described in section 122 for the plan year involved.
SEC. 123. HEALTH BENEFITS ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
(a) Establishment-
(1) IN GENERAL- There is established a private-public advisory committee which shall be a panel of medical and other experts to be known as the Health Benefits Advisory Committee to recommend covered benefits and essential, enhanced, and premium plans.
(b) Duties-
(1) RECOMMENDATIONS ON BENEFIT STANDARDS- The Health Benefits Advisory Committee shall recommend to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this subtitle referred to as the `Secretary') benefit standards (as defined in paragraph (4)), and periodic updates to such standards. In developing such recommendations, the Committee shall take into account innovation in health care and consider how such standards could reduce health disparities.
(5) PARTICIPATION- The membership of the Health Benefits Advisory Committee shall at least reflect providers, consumer representatives, employers, labor, health insurance issuers, experts in health care financing and delivery, experts in racial and ethnic disparities, experts in care for those with disabilities, representatives of relevant governmental agencies. and at least one practicing physician or other health professional and an expert on children's health and shall represent a balance among various sectors of the health care system so that no single sector unduly influences the recommendations of such Committee.
(a) Process for Adoption of Recommendations-
(1) REVIEW OF RECOMMENDED STANDARDS- Not later than 45 days after the date of receipt of benefit standards recommended under section 123 (including such standards as modified under paragraph (2)(B)), the Secretary shall review such standards and shall determine whether to propose adoption of such standards as a package.
(2) DETERMINATION TO ADOPT STANDARDS- If the Secretary determines--
(A) to propose adoption of benefit standards so recommended as a package, the Secretary shall, by regulation under section 553 of title 5, United States Code, propose adoption such standards; or
(B) not to propose adoption of such standards as a package, the Secretary shall notify the Health Benefits Advisory Committee in writing of such determination and the reasons for not proposing the adoption of such recommendation and provide the Committee with a further opportunity to modify its previous recommendations and submit new recommendations to the Secretary on a timely basis.
(a) In General- A qualified health benefits plan shall provide coverage that at least meets the benefit standards adopted under section 124 for the essential benefits package described in section 122 for the plan year involved.
(1) REQUIRED OFFERING OF BASIC PLAN- The entity offers only one basic plan for such service area.
(2) OPTIONAL OFFERING OF ENHANCED PLAN- If and only if the entity offers a basic plan for such service area, the entity may offer one enhanced plan for such area.
(3) OPTIONAL OFFERING OF PREMIUM PLAN- If and only if the entity offers an enhanced plan for such service area, the entity may offer one premium plan for such area.
(4) OPTIONAL OFFERING OF PREMIUM-PLUS PLANS- If and only if the entity offers a premium plan for such service area, the entity may offer one or more premium-plus plans for such area.
All such plans may be offered under a single contract with the Commissioner.
(c) Specification of Benefit Levels for Plans-
(1) IN GENERAL- The Commissioner shall establish the following standards consistent with this subsection and title I:
(A) BASIC, ENHANCED, AND PREMIUM PLANS- Standards for 3 levels of Exchange-participating health benefits plans: basic, enhanced, and premium (in this division referred to as a `basic plan', `enhanced plan', and `premium plan', respectively).
Items to note from the above:
If the Obama administration knows that much money is being wasted already, why hasn't the administration stopped wasting it before printing and spending more money the government doesn't have? They want us to trust them with more when they admit they can't be trusted with what they had?
Now get a couple of forwarded copies and e-mail this back to those who received the original. The e-mail addresses are usually attached, too. That’s why I never forward junk mail. :)
Massachusetts, as part of its recent required health insurance legislation, has one of those, only they call it the Connector. Wow, if MA has it, it must be a good idea -- right???
Pathological rat bastard liars!!! The demoRATs pull statistics & numbers at will out of their asses. Where do these numbers come from? The overwhelming majority of physicians OPPOSE 0bozoCare.
Same thing with "47 million" uninsured.... or is it 45 million? or is it 43 million? or 50 million? I have heard every one of these numbers from demoRATs & their media hacks. In all honesty when you factor out 12-15 million illegal aliens & 8-10 million (over $50,000 income) who deliberately choose to NOT buy health insurance and 8-10 million under age 30 now covered by SCHIP (1st legislation signed by 0bozo), you get to roughly 8 million who are chronically uninsured. So give them voucher payment for up to $5000 to buy their own insurance, enact the cost savings in Medicare & Medicaid that the dimWits claim they will, enact TORT malpractice limitations & presto 0bozo, the health care crisis is solved!!!
[[“450,000 US Doctors Support President Obama Health Care reform.”]]
450,000 doctors have seen the writing on the wall and have concluded that they had better support o’s health care abortion or face losing their jobs
[[Two third (2/3) of the cost will be duly funded by addressing inefficiencies in Medicare and Medicaid, by cracking down hard on fraud, and by eliminating waste and abuse in these programs blah blah blah...]]
Translatyoion= we will make hte crappy medicare system even crappier, by refusign to allow tests that could save lives, find hard to discover diagnosis’ etc, and we will spend literally trillions of dollars ‘crackign down hard’ on fraud which would actauilly not cost as much as ‘crackign down hard’ on it would”
I don’t think it is very good propaganda. I can refute each and every point they make off the top of my head, without breaking a sweat, or needing to reference any other writers.
yep, they push propaganda
450K doctors better take some pictures of those Jaguars and Mercedes in their parking spots because those days are long over for them if this passes.
Average wage of a doctor in Sweden....about 60k. So much for them there big egos, eh, docs?
If I don’t want Oompa Loompas to perform surgery on me, are there any other options? Does it make me a racist if Oompa Loompas give me the creeps?
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