As Americans await the House and Senate voting on the proposed universal health care bills someone sent me the following Peter Fleckman assessment.
Obviously this is one man’s opinion. Peter surely raises some questions that need to be addressed and answered prior to any congressional voting.
Feel free to read the entire bill(s) yourself and add your own comments. HR 3200, “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009” contains 1017 pages.
No, I have not read it but did add it to my favorites for future reading if I can get a week off from posting on the blog. In addition I have added the link to this assessment at the end of this post where readers can review it.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Shock: Inside the Healthcare Bill
Following the mad recommendations of Peter Singer made in NYT’s Sunday magazine, it pays to take a look at what is actually in the healthcare bill.
It’s worse than you can possibly imagine. Somehow, it manages to be Singer on steroids. Who wrote this bill. It has Singer’s footprints all over it.
Peter Fleckstein (aka Fleckman) is reading it and has been posting on Twitter his findings. This is from his postings (Note: All comments are Fleckman’s)
Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!
Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill – THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benes u get
Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill – YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!!
Pg 42 of HC Bill – The Health Choices Commissioner will choose UR HC Benefits 4 you. U have no choice!
PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill – HC will be provided 2 ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise
Pg 58HC Bill – Govt will have real-time access 2 individs finances & a National ID Healthcard will b issued!
Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access 2 ur banks accts 4 elect. funds transfer
PG 65 Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan 4 retirees and their families in Unions & community orgs (ACORN).
Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating an HC Exchange 2 bring priv HC plans under Govt control.
PG 84 Sec 203 HC bill – Govt mandates ALL benefit pkgs 4 priv. HC plans in the Exchange
PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill – Specs for of Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt will ration ur Healthcare!
PG 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill – Govt mandates linguistic approp svcs. Example – Translation 4 illegal aliens
Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps 2 sign up indiv. for Govt HC plan
PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill – Specs of Ben Levels 4 Plans. #AARP members – U Health care WILL b rationed
-PG 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill – Medicaid Eligible Indiv. will b automat.enrolled in Medicaid. No choice
pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No “judicial review” against Govt Monop
pg 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill – Doctors/ #AMA – The Govt will tell YOU what u can make.
Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into pub opt plan. NO CHOICE
Pg 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay 4 HC 4 part time employees AND their families.
Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY Emplyr w payroll 400k & above who does not prov. pub opt. pays 8% tax on all payroll
pg 150 Lines 9-13 Biz w payroll btw 251k & 400k who doesnt prov. pub. opt pays 2-6% tax on all payroll
Pg 167 Lines 18-23 ANY individual who doesnt have acceptable HC accrdng 2 Govt will be taxed 2.5% of inc
Pg 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from indiv. taxes. (Americans will pay)
Pg 195 HC Bill -officers & employees of HC Admin (GOVT) will have access 2 ALL Americans finan/pers recs
PG 203 Line 14-15 HC – “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax” Yes, it says that
Pg 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill Govt will reduce physician svcs 4 Medicaid. Seniors, low income, poor affected
Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill – Doctors, doesnt matter what specialty u have, you’ll all be paid the same
PG 253 Line 10-18 Govt sets value of Dr’s time, prof judg, etc. Literally value of humans.
PG 265 Sec 1131Govt mandates & controls productivity for private HC industries
PG 268 Sec 1141 Fed Govt regulates rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs
PG 272 SEC. 1145. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS – Cancer patients – welcome to rationing!
Page 280 Sec 1151 The Govt will penalize hospitals 4 what Govt deems preventable readmissions.
Pg 298 Lines 9-11 Drs, treat a patient during initial admiss that results in a readmiss-Govt will penalize u.
Pg 317 L 13-20 OMG!! PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. Govt tells Drs. what/how much they can own.
Pg 317-318 lines 21-25,1-3 PROHIBITION on expansion- Govt is mandating hospitals cannot expand
pg 321 2-13 Hospitals have oppt to apply for exception BUT community input required. Can u say ACORN?!!
Pg335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339 – Govt mandates estab. of outcome based measures. HC the way they want. Rationing
Pg 341 Lines 3-9 Govt has authority 2 disqual Medicare Adv Plans, HMOs, etc. Forcing peeps in2 Govt plan
Pg 354 Sec 1177 – Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs ppl! WTF. My sis has down syndrome!!
Pg 379 Sec 1191 Govt creates more bureaucracy – Telehealth Advisory Cmtte. Can u say HC by phone?
PG 425 Lines 4-12 Govt mandates Advance Care Planning Consult. Think Senior Citizens end of life
Pg 425 Lines 17-19 Govt will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of atty. Mandatory!
PG 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Govt provides apprvd list of end of life resources, guiding u in death
PG 427 Lines 15-24 Govt mandates program 4 orders 4 end of life. The Govt has a say in how ur life ends
Pg 429 Lines 1-9 An “adv. care planning consult” will b used frequently as patients health deteriorates
PG 429 Lines 10-12 “adv. care consultation” may incl an ORDER 4 end of life plans. AN ORDER from GOV
Pg 429 Lines 13-25 – The govt will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.
PG 430 Lines 11-15 The Govt will decide what level of treatment u will have at end of life
Pg 469 – Community Based Home Medical Services=Non profit orgs. Hello, ACORN Medical Svcs here!!?
Page 472 Lines 14-17 PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED ORG. 1 monthly payment 2 a community-based org. Like ACORN?
PG 489 Sec 1308 The Govt will cover Marriage & Family therapy. Which means they will insert Govt in2 ur marriage
Pg 494-498 Govt will cover Mental Health Svcs including defining, creating, rationing those svcs
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2009/07/whats-in-healthacre-bill.html
The only thing we have close to a practical solution now is to complain to Loretta Sanchez, our local rep who seems to be somewhat on the fence on this.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and we will not be better off with Government Permanente.
Well if you look at item Page 145, for example, it goes on to say later, on Page 148, “(2) OPT-OUT.—In no case may an employer automatically enroll an employee in a plan under paragraph (1) if such employee makes an affirmative election to opt out of such plan or to elect coverage under an employment-based health benefits plan offered by such employer. An employer shall provide an employee with a 30-day period to make such an affirmative election before the employer may automatically enroll the employee in such a plan.”
So if Mr. Fleckstein so wildy misrepresented that one item, what are we to make of the rest of this.
It’s ludicrous to make these representations without reading the whole bill…or at least an entire section.
Let’s see…saying “I haven’t read the entire bill” and then accepting these out of context snippets seems to me to be akin to someone saying “I don’t know all the facts” and then commenting on a police case.
Oh and one other thing…this process and any potential legislation is FAR, FAR, FAR from finalized.
anon. Thank you for adding your opinion. As stated the above represents the assessment of a third party which I did not endorse but posted simply to hear from you, and it worked.
This is great, it will be like the Monty Python skit, of “Bring out your dead”
In this “point by point” analysis, it’s clear that there is cherry picking going on here as far as giving an overview of what’s in the bill. I could do a point by point rebuttal to the sections of the bill selected, but will limit myself to only the first five:
1. The US government already monitors the books of every business. It’s called the IRS. Any additional audit merely means whether the company is providing health care insurance. Under the Blue Dog compromise now, even this may be off the table.
2.The government committee overseeing treatments and benefits will monitor whether companies are excluding for pre-existing conditions or other exclusions in policy coverage that would be eliminated under the Obama legislation.
3.As to rationing, all health care in the USA is currently rationed. Doctors and hospitals limit treatment modalities already based on cost considerations. This is particularly true for aggressive treatments of heart and circulatory diseases and cancer. Other less dangerous chronic medical conditions are cost controlled through by prescription rather than more expensive options, like physical therapy, long term care, etc.
4. The lack of standardized benefits in private insurance is one of the reasons why health care in the US is so expensive. Since insurance companies are exempt from antitrust legislation, they can regularly collude on prices, policy exclusions, and market share to each others mutual benefit instead of the citizenry. This is a contributing factor to the 30% needless overhead on providers due to the existence of 1600 competing health insurance companies. A single payor system would eliminate this differences, as would government mandates standardizing health care coverage.
5. Clearly the provision of medical services to illegal aliens is vital to the smooth functioning of society. Do you want exclusion for coverage of illegals when they have a serious communicable disease such as typhoid fever? And if an illegal is employed in a job offering health insurance coverage, how is that coverage going to be denied without placing the employer in legal jeopardy?
It’s obvious that Fleckenstein is looking at the details of the health bill with a mind towards scaring people away from supporting this legislation. It’s important to look at the overall goals of the bill, which is to eliminate blocks for greater access to the health care system, as well as limiting costs from runaway private insurance profits.
Even if you disagree with me on this last paragraph, remember that this compiliation of bill provisions is an example of very finely crafted propaganda, and that it’s possible to get an entirely different reading of the bill’s provisions if you look at it with a different perspective.
#6
Excellent post. Thank you.
anonster and kearenykarl. Sorry anonster. But kissing up to #6 will not coverup the hidden Agenda as found in the 1000 plus pages of
“America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009″
i.e.
The government monitors the books of every business? Nice try.
At best any monitoring by the IRS is random. How many agents are there Vs the number of businesses in America? Let me help you out. There were 24.7 million small businesses in 2004. Yup! The IRS is monitoring EVERY ONE of them. Now that backs up the 600,000 jobs that president Obama pledged to create. It’s a beginning. Each new agent can monitor 40 small busineses.
All current health care is rationed. Another bogus statement
As to coverage for illegal aliens. Are you saying that legal residents are immune from communicable diseases? Nice attempt of a scare tactic but I am not buying it.
As the above list only covers the first 500 pages of the bill, and I have seen another analysis covering 900 pages, I will try to obtain a copy and share it with each of you so that you can dissect it point by point.
#8 Larry
* True the IRS does not audit every business, every year, but it is the threat of a potential audit that keeps most businesses and individuals honest.
* “All current health care is rationed. Another bogus statement.” Are you sure you don’t want to walk-back that statement? Health insurers “ration” care they just don’t call it that. They “ration” care to save money, some for the ‘greater-good’, but also to preserve profits and to raise salaries (sometimes to obscene levels). Health insurers “ration’ your care by limiting the doctors you can “visit”, by co-pays, deductibles and caps. Health insurers deny services and reimbursements every day.
Off the top of my head I can think of a few different examples;
*Friends of mine have a son with ADD they didn’t like his psychiatrist, but couldn’t switch doctors for months because their son was LIMITED to 10 mental health visits per year (with testing and monthly visits =16) and the adults in their plan were LIMITED to 4 mental health visits per year, I guess your SOL if you’re stressed,depressed,bi-polar etc.
*My son needed a mole removed, we had gone to the approved dermatologist and had it cut off, didn’t work, doctor still wanted it removed, but the recommended laser removal wasn’t covered.
*Another friend’s wife had a family history of breast cancer and was advised by her doctor to get genetic testing, but their insurance wouldn’t cover it.
* Cigna denied a liver transplant to a 17 year old girl because it was deemed “experimental”, they subsequently approved it, but by then it was too late.
Perhaps in Larry-world, it’s only RATIONING when the government does it.
*With the virulent Swine Flu on the horizon for the coming flu season, the legal/illegal debate is more than just a “scare-tactic”. Viruses don’t check papers.
anonster.
With regards to the latest concern about swine flu someone told me that I would not be eligible for the limited supply as I am over 65? If true, who is in control of that rationing decision making?
Sorry about the young man with ADD.
#10 Larry
I’m sure our evil government, although I hear that they think folks born before 1957 will have some natural immunity due to the Asian influenza of 1957-58.
Where can I find a copy of this bill so I can read it?
Someone please explain why Obama has been in such a rush to have this bill passed without public debate? And does it limit coverage for particular groups of society? And why should illegals be provided with care that is free to them, but cost those of us who are having to pay for our own care as well as theirs? And what kind of an argument is it to say that we are currently limited on the health care provided by private insurance? Is that supposed to justify any duplicate and additional limitations that may be applied by ObamaCare? This whole thing stinks.
This whole thing would change for the better if the President and Congress would be covered under the same healthcare plan they are reforming.
And so, will all of our government sign the dotted line for having the same coverage they are proposing for us? In other words, what kind of coverage do they have and how much is it costing them (us) right now, and will they be willing to give it up for their own brand which they are attempting to rush on us? Another long stride toward socialism…which is why the big dawgs have put Obama in. It all stinks!
The government is already making cuts to the care of our loved ones in Nursing Homes for the elderly, how will they handle healthcare coverage for all of the citizens & illegal aliens in the United States? What cuts will be made to this plan after it is approved and they find there is no money to pay for all of this coverage? If this plan is adopted, all governmentment positions including the President and Senate should have the same healthcare coverage. The plan might be a little better if it is going to affect them and their loved ones.
Demolished by fact check.
Will you acknowledge the truth?
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/twenty-six-lies-about-hr-3200/