“By forcing individuals to purchase compliant healthcare plans but not forcing employers to provide those plans, Obama is creating a swell of 10-13 million workers that must enroll in health insurance, but cannot obtain it from their employers. These workers thus have no choice but to use the government-controlled health insurance exchanges, or else pay a financial penalty. This represents a doubling of the number of workers forced to get health insurance on the exchanges.
Jeff Smith from Seattle summed it up nicely in a Wall Street Journal letter on June 12:
“I was going to leave my job…to start a business until I shopped around for a healthcare plan: At Group Health, a health-maintenance organization in Seattle, I was given a quote of $842 per month for me and my family. But that would increase to $2,320 starting in January 2014 when Obamacare kicks in—a 276% increase. Why? Because I would be forced to carry coverage I don’t want and don’t need, such as maternity care. Welcome to the world of socialized medicine, courtesy of the Un-Affordable Care Act.”
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Midweek Matters
Herding the Sheeple into Government-Controlled Health Care
On July 3, while most Americans were abandoning their cubicles early in anticipation of a long holiday weekend, the Obama administration made an important announcement.
It declared that it would delay enforcement of the employer mandate provision of Obamacare—which forces large employers to provide affordable healthcare for their employees or else pay a significant penalty per worker—by one year.
Sounds like good news, right? Businesses are undoubtedly relieved. But putting aside the questionable legality of selectively enforcing any law (Obamacare, as signed into law, unequivocally requires this mandate to take effect on January 1, 2014), the Obama administration’s actions seem strange. Why would a president who has been so hostile to business up until now suddenly decide to grant a reprieve?
Some mainstream media outlets cite the complexity of the law and the need for more time to meet its requirements. Others spin the delay as a deliberate favor to businesses which have been dreading the arrival of the mandate. Still others describe it as political cover for Democrats in the 2014 midterm elections, who don’t want to give ammunition to voters opposed to Obamacare.
While each explanation may contain a grain of truth, there is much more to the story, as our guest author will explain.
Elizabeth Lee Vliet, M.D. has been an independent physician since 1985. In 2009, upon realizing that the US was marching toward socialized health care, she took to studying the ins and outs of government-run healthcare systems in places like Britain and Canada. She has been writing and speaking on the topic of Obamacare ever since. As a doctor, she possesses the rare combination of intimate knowledge of both the medical system and Obamacare’s provisions, uniquely qualifying her to weigh in on this topic.
Importantly, Dr. Vliet’s article today only addresses the tip of the Obamacare iceberg.
The delivery of medical care in this country is changing in unprecedented ways, most of them bad. I interviewed Doctor Vliet about how Obamacare will affect the quality, cost, and availability of medical care, how it threatens patient privacy, and much more in an upcoming The Casey Report special report. Subscribers to The Casey Report will receive this special report in their email boxes later this week.
Dr. Vliet will also be speaking on the topic of Obamacare at our Casey Research Summit on October 4-6 in Tucson, Arizona. She is also co-chair of the Men’s Health and Aging Conference, which will be held immediately following our Casey conference in Tucson. Her conference will also focus on how to preserve one’s health in the face of increasing government control of medical care. View the conference agenda, and if you’re interested in attending, register before August 1 to receive an early-bird discount.
Enjoy, and see you next week.
Dan Steinhart
Managing Editor of The Casey Report
Hidden Consequences of the Employer Mandate Delay
By Elizabeth Lee Vliet, M.D.
Obamacare is a hodgepodge of new regulations, requirements, and penalties. I’d like to start by defining three terms which, while obscure today, should begin to enter our everyday vocabulary as Obamacare continues to take effect:
Health insurance exchanges are the basket of qualified insurance policies that meet the new healthcare law requirements for expanded coverage. These may be set up by the states (many are refusing to do so, due to high cost and fear of bankrupting the state) or the federal government. The Exchanges are supposed to be fully operational by October 1, 2013, but it is questionable whether they will actually be in place by that deadline.
The individual mandate requires that individuals purchase health insurance that meets the new, expanded federal requirements. Individuals who do not comply face a financial penalty. Individuals who fall below minimum income levels will be eligible for taxpayer-funded subsidies to buy health insurance.
The employer mandate requires that businesses with more than 50 fulltime employees must provide health insurance for all employees, and that insurance must meet the new standards set forth in the new law. Businesses that do not comply must pay a financial penalty for each employee, which for large companies can run into the millions of dollars annually. This is the piece of Obamacare that has been delayed by one year.
Selective Enforcement
Why delay one component of Obamacare and not the others? More specifically, why delay the employer mandate but not the individual mandate?
To answer that question, we must first understand this fact: Obama wants a single-payer healthcare system in the US. This is not a secret:
Barrack Obama, 2003: “I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer healthcare system for America, but as all of you know, we may not get there immediately.”
Barrack Obama, 2007: “But I don’t think we will be able to eliminate employer-based coverage immediately. There is potentially going to be some transition time.”
These quotes are not taken out of context. Anyone who has been paying attention knows that transitioning to a single-payer system has been Obama’s and his cohorts’ ultimate goal all along:
Rep Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), 2009: “Next to me was a guy from the insurance company who then argued against the public option. He said it would not let private insurance companies compete. A public option would put the private insurance companies out of business and lead to single-payer. My single payer friends, he was right. The man was right!”
Here, Rep. Schakowsky is suggesting that the “public option” will lead to their desired goal of a single-payer healthcare system. Single-payer proponents no longer use this term, since the public has clearly and consistently opposed it. The “public option” has been renamed “Medicaid expansion,” which serves the public-relations purpose of confusing the public and avoiding calling taxpayer-funded healthcare “single payer.”
Jacob S. Hacker (Yale Professor), 2008: “Someone once said to me this is a Trojan Horse for single payer. It’s not a Trojan Horse, right? It’s right there! I am telling you. We are going to get there. Over time. Slowly. But we are going to move away from reliance on employer-based health insurance, as we should, but we will do it in a way that we are not going to frighten people into thinking they are going to lose their private insurance. We will give them a choice of public or private insurance when they are in the pool. We are going to let them keep their private insurance as long as their employer continues to provide it.”
Hacker nicely sums up the underlying goals of Obamacare: not to increase competition or patient choice, but to drive people out of private insurance as a stepping stone to a government-run, single-payer system.
Stepping Stone to Single-Payer
Knowing Obama and his cohorts’ goals, the purpose behind the delay of the employer mandate seems clearer: to hurry the “transition time” away from employer-based health insurance and to a single-payer system.
By forcing individuals to purchase compliant healthcare plans but not forcing employers to provide those plans, Obama is creating a swell of 10-13 million workers that must enroll in health insurance, but cannot obtain it from their employers. These workers thus have no choice but to use the government-controlled health insurance exchanges, or else pay a financial penalty. This represents a doubling of the number of workers forced to get health insurance on the exchanges.
Importantly, the IRS has ruled that if workers have access to affordable health insurance through their employer, their dependents are not eligible for taxpayer-funded subsidies on the Obamacare health insurance exchanges. Now that businesses will not be required to offer health insurance until 2015, workers and their dependents will be eligible for taxpayer-funded subsidies to purchase health insurance on the exchanges. This will cost taxpayers an estimated $60 billion dollars in 2014 alone to cover the increased costs of subsidies—and the loss of revenue from employer penalties.
This $60-billion figure is before we take into account the “liar subsidies” that will invariably occur now that the Administration has quietly removed eligibility verification for taxpayer-funded subsidies. Community organizers are already being hired around the country to sign people up for the health exchanges. There are no penalties for failing to verify eligibility, and no penalties for signing up people who cannot afford to pay the monthly insurance premiums. It is set up for disaster, much like the “liar loans” that helped topple the mortgage industry when people were not required to verify their income to qualify for a mortgage.
Remember, by enacting the dual mandates, Obamacare ostensibly was designed to ensure that its costs were borne by businesses, not taxpayers. But when the president decided to enforce only certain portions of the healthcare law and delay others, he shifted the cost of health insurance onto the backs of taxpayers.
This is all on top of the burdensome costs Obamacare has already created. Various studies have projected that private insurance premiums will rise between 20 to 60% in 2014, and some as much as 100%.
How long will the private-insurance market survive with such exploding costs? People will not be able to afford such massive premium increases. That seems to be the point: drive up costs and drive everyone into the arms of government-controlled medical care.
Jeff Smith from Seattle summed it up nicely in a Wall Street Journal letter on June 12:
“I was going to leave my job…to start a business until I shopped around for a healthcare plan: At Group Health, a health-maintenance organization in Seattle, I was given a quote of $842 per month for me and my family. But that would increase to $2,320 starting in January 2014 when Obamacare kicks in—a 276% increase. Why? Because I would be forced to carry coverage I don’t want and don’t need, such as maternity care. Welcome to the world of socialized medicine, courtesy of the Un-Affordable Care Act.”
How Obamacare Affects You and Your Medical Care
The delay in the employer mandate is but one of dozens of negative impacts Obamacare will have on your medical services. As an independent physician, I’ve been discussing these issues with my patients for the past few years, helping them to prepare for what’s ahead. Here the ten most important points that I tell my patients:
Your private insurance premiums will cost more and more each year.
You will lose the choices and flexibility in health insurance policies that we have had available up until now.
As reimbursements continue to drop, fewer and fewer doctors will take Medicare (for those 65 and older) or Medicaid (people younger than 65).
Fewer doctors accepting Medicare and Medicaid causes an increase in wait times for appointments and a decrease in the numbers and types of specialists available on these plans. Consumers would be wise to line up their doctors now.
Studies from various organizations and states have consistently shown that Medicaid recipients have longer waits for medical care, fewer options for specialists, poorer medical outcomes, and die sooner after surgeries than people with no health insurance at all. Yet an increasing number of Americans will be forced into this second-class medical care.
As more people enter the taxpayer-funded plans (Medicare and Medicaid) instead of paying for private insurance, the costs to provide this increased medical care and medications will escalate, leading to higher taxes.
With no eligibility verifications in place, millions of people who are in the US illegally will be able to access taxpayer-funded medical services, making longer lines, longer wait times, and less money available for medical care for American citizens… unless taxes are increased even more.
Higher expenditures to provide medical services lead to rationing of medical care and treatment options to reduce costs. This is the mandated function of the Independent Payment Advisory Board: to cut costs by deciding which types of medical services to allow… or disallow. If you are denied treatment, you have no appeal of IPAB decisions; you are simply out of luck, and possibly out of life. This is a radical departure from the appeals process required for all private health insurance plans. Further, the IPAB is accountable only to President Obama, and cannot be overridden by Congress or the courts. IPAB is designed to have the final word on your health.
Under current regulations, if medical care is denied by Medicare, then a patient is not allowed to pay cash to a Medicare-contracted physician or hospital or other health professional. Patients who need medical care that is denied under Medicare or Medicaid will find themselves having to either: 1) look for an independent physician or hospital (quite rare these days); or 2) go outside the USA for treatment.
Expect a loss of medical privacy. Beginning in 2014, if you participate in government health insurance, your health records will be sent to a centralized federal database, with or without your consent.
The bottom line is that Americans are losing more and more of their medical freedom. By 2015, so many workers will be trapped in the government-run health insurance exchanges that there will be no going back to the private plans we have today. At this rate, single-player proponents will drive private insurance companies out of business, which has been their intention all along.
Americans need to become far more proactive about taking charge of their health. The healthier you are, the less vulnerable you are to our degrading healthcare system. It’s also wise to consider proactively planning for medical treatment options outside the US.
Dr. Vliet is an independent physician. Upon noticing the major push toward government-run healthcare in the US in 2009, she began studying how government healthcare systems affect the quality and availability of medical care. Her studies led her to become a critic of government healthcare in general and Obamacare in particular.
Dr. Vliet will be speaking on the topic of Obamacare at our Casey Research Summit on October 4-6 in Tucson, Arizona. She is also chair of an international health conference titled “Men’s Health and Aging: Preserving Health for the NEXT Stage of Life,” which will immediately follow our Casey conference in Tucson on October 6-10. Dr. Vliet’s conference will feature international speakers and focus on how to protect your health in the face of increasing government control of your medical care. Click here for the conference’s agenda, and click here to register for the conference.
Dr. Vliet’s medical website is herplace.com.
COMMENTS:
Contrarianism • 3 days ago
There is nothing inherently wrong with government controlled healthcare. There are many examples of countries that run their socialized programs with great aplomb and to the benefit of the countries citizenry, who in turn are glad to pay slightly higher taxes not to have to worry about going bankrupt should they end up in the hospital.
However, a criminally psychotic US government in control of our entire healthcare system is another matter entirely. Obamacare, like everything this president has put his hand to, will be an unmitigated disaster beyond anything imaginable and very well may be the straw that breaks this countries back.
It was an ill conceived plan to begin with, written by a committee whose chairman said he didn’t understand it, passed by a Congress that never read it AND exempts themselves from it, signed by a president who never read it who just now realizes the implementation of it will collapse the economy so by executive order circumvented the law to postpone till after the next election the full implementation of it, funded by a treasury chief who failed to pay his taxes, overseen by an obese surgeon general, financed by a country that’s broke and run by a government that is fraught with corruption.
What could possibly go wrong?
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Peter Jason Taylor • 3 days ago
My son and daughter-in-law, both Canadian citizens, had a 6-week premature baby girl 5 weeks ago. She has just left hospital, where her care has been superb, and free. In the US the care of mother and daughter would have cost some $800,000.
In the US they would have had to worry about whether their insurance would cover the baby from the moment labour started, whether the hospital would accept them with or without signing a blank credit card authority, and whether the insurers would pay or try to wriggle out of the claim on a small-print technicality.
No wonder the US has an infant mortality rate of 6.0 per 1,000 live births, worse than Cuba. That about says it all, doesn’t it!
Socialism is a bad system, but it does bring some advantages. That’s why I favour the mixed economy, in which private and public sectors each perform the role that they do better.
The UK National Health Service is said to be the third or fourth biggest employer in the world, after the Chinese Army, Indian Railways and possibly Walmart. It is getting into trouble due to ham-fisted attempts to split it into separate businesses.
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Peter Jason Taylor • 3 days ago
Almost succeeded in shrouding the truth with the one particular example of your son’s experience. To the contrary position, many of us can cite friends, relatives and others who wait WEEKS for simple life-saving and life-comforting treatments, who have no way of filtering quality control (of their choice) in providers, and who eventually come to the states (especially across the Windsor bridge) to get tests in the US. Good try. The bigger picture doesn’t favor your argument. ObummerCare is not about controlling cost and quality; it’s about controlling people.
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Peter Jason Taylor H8 Stinking Bolsheviks • 2 days ago
I’m not claiming any method of providing healthcare is perfect, but to rely on private medicine and private insurance as in the US before medicare, medicaid and Obamacare, costs a lot more and gives no peace of mind. Insurers too easily wriggle out of paying.
It’s not about controlling people, because no-one who can buy private healthcare or insurance will be prevented from doing so – as indeed I do myself.
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ButSeriously • 2 days ago
“Americans need to become far more proactive about taking charge of
their health.” I don’t disagree, but- good luck with that. Especially
when corporate America does all it can to confuse and make less than
honest representation of their products- particularly foods. A system
where truly healthy foods aren’t affordable for many. In a country, that
kowtows to corporations’ every threat and most whims, how does private health insurance not be part of the corporate self-serving loop? A country’s people are its primary infrastructure.
Access to, at least, a common base of good primary health care for all
would help. Then, if you can afford a platinum healthcare policy… go
buy it. Obamacare per se may not be the package, but a thoughtful single payer system has merit. That the majority of bankruptcies in this country are now due to out of control medical expenses, well, how sick is that?
SOURCE: [ caseyresearch.com ]
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Know the TRUTH about the Government Health Care Bill H.R.3200
50 Dangers from Obamacare
This list contains information pulled from the first House bill HR 3200. Its mandates and threats likely survived in one form or another into the 2080 page monster from the Senate. This list therefore is only a guide. Let them make you wary and on the alert against this attack on your freedoms.
Let it be the catalyst to get you to do your own research and then go out and teach your family and friends why we have to fight this move by people who want to enslave us.
The first list is all 50 of the threats.
In the second list the threats are organized in categories.
Download the sections that most affect you and go into battle against this bill. Copy this material and pass it around to everyone you can.
50 Dangers from Obamacare
This list contains information pulled from the first House bill HR 3200. Its mandates and threats likely survived in one form or another into the 2080 page monster from the Senate. This list therefore is only a guide. Let them make you wary and on the alert against this attack on your freedoms. Let it be the catalyst to get you to do your own research and then go out and teach your family and friends why we have to fight this move by people who want to enslave us.
The first list is all 50 of the threats.
In the second list the threats are organized in categories.
Download the sections that most affect you and go into battle against this bill. Copy this material and pass it around to everyone you can.
50 Threats from ObamaCare
1) Pg 22 mandates that the Government will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure. So every employer in the United States will be subjected to a health insurance audit just as all taxpayers are subject to audit. Of course, we will have to pay for an entire new bureaucracy to do this–the Internal Health Revenue Service?
2) Pg 30, Sec 123 states that there will be a government committee that decides what treatments you are allowed and what your overall benefits are.
3) Pg 29, lines 4-16 basically mandates the rationing of health care as is being done in Canada.
4) Pg 42 recognizes the power of the Health Choices Commissioner to determine your health benefits. You will have no choice.
5) PG 50, section 152 states that free, taxpayer-paid health care will be given to the 30 million non-citizens in the USA, even illegal aliens.
6) Pg 58 states that government will have possession of all your health care records & history including finances and you will have to have a National ID Healthcard.
7) Pg 59, lines 21-24 gives direct access to your banks accounts to compel you to pay any out-of-pocket or premium costs electronically without your previous consent.
8) PG 65, sec 164 provides for a political payoff from the Democrats and Obama; a special subsidized plan for retirees and their families in unions community groups like ACORN.
9) Pg 72, lines 8-14 creates a Health Care Exchange to bring private health insurance plans under government control. This part of the bill reveals Obama’s lies about being able to keep your plan if you like it. Any health insurance plan which does not completely rework itself to conform to these regulations will be dropped from the exchange and those insured will have to pick one of the plans in the exchange. This is why the Congressional Budget Office determined that over 20 million will lose the coverage they are now enjoying if Obamacare is implemented.
10) PG 85, line 7 provides specifics for benefit levels for all health plans, giving government the right to ration everyone’s healthcare.
11) PG 91, lines 4-7 mandates that doctor’s offices, clinics and hospitals provide language-appropriate services, basically ordering them to hire translators at the expense of the American taxpayer.
12) Pg 95, lines 8-18 allows the government to hire non-profit community groups like ACORN and Americorps to sign up people for the government health plan.
13) PG 85, line 7 provides for specifics on benefit levels for Medicare recipients, basically rationing the care of every senior citizen I the United States.
14) PG 102, lines 12-18 mandates that all Medicaid eligible will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid based upon income and insurance status. No choice.
15) Pg 124, lines 24-25 states that no private company or individual can have the right to sue the federal government for medical price fixing, basically eliminating your right to seek redress in the courts regarding your medical care.
16) Pg 127, lines 1-16 dictates doctors’ payment and therefore income which will reduce what doctors earn and lead to greater shortages of doctors and more rationing of care.
17) Pg 145, line 15-17 any employer not currently insuring their employees must enroll employees into public plan option, with no choice of private insurance allowed.
18) Pg 126, lines 22-25 mandates that employers must pay for health insurance even for part-time workers and their families, which will certainly lead to massive layoffs.
19) Pg 149, lines 16-24 all employers with an annual payroll bigger than $400k who does not pay to enroll employees in public insurance option will pay an 8% tax on all payroll.
20) Pg 150, lines 9-13 mandates that employers with an annual payroll between $251K & $400K who does not pay to enroll employees in public insurance option will pay a 2-6% tax on all payroll.
21) Pg 167, lines 18-23 any individual who is self-employed and does not have health insurance will be taxed 2.5% of income and forced to accept public health insurance. So paying for health care out of pocket will be banned from the face of the earth.
22) Pg 170, lines 1-3 exempts non-resident aliens from the individual health care taxes, so Americans citizens will pay for these aliens, legal and illegal alike.
23) Pg 195 officers & employees of the new Health Care Administration will have access to all Americans personal financial records and accounts.
24) PG 203, line 14-15 actually says that “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax.” Yes, it says that.
25) Pg 239, line 14-24 mandates that available physician services will be reduced for Medicaid recipients. Many poor people including many seniors will be affected.
26) Pg 241, line 6-8 mandates that all doctors receive the same pay, regardless of specialty. This will vastly reduce the number of specialists available in the United States, a common problem where medicine is socialized like Canada.
27) PG 253, line 10-18 allows the federal government to set the value of doctor’s time, professional judgment.
28) PG 265, Sec 1131 mandates and controls the productivity of all health care providers including surgeons!
29) PG 268, Sec 1141 regulates the rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs.
30) PG 272, Sec. 1145 regulates the operation of certain types of cancer hospitals, again rationing the care of cancer patients.
31) Page 280, Sec 1151 allows the government to penalize hospitals for what is deemed to be preventable readmissions. So instead of being sued for malpractice, the government will be the punitive body when mistakes are made.
32) Pg 298, lines 9-11 mandates that if a doctor treats a patient during initial admission and that result in a re-admission, the doctor will be subject to federal penalties. Gee do you think that’s going to drive up the cost of malpractice?
33) Pg 317, lines 13-20 will create prohibitions on ownership and investment in the health service industry for doctors.
34) Pg 317-318, lines 21-25, and 1-3 will prohibit the expansion of all hospitals.
35) pg 321, lines 2-13 allows hospitals apply for an exception to the expansion rule but they must seek community input first!
36) Pg335, lines 16-25, Pg 336-339 mandates the establishment of outcome based health care and insidious idea that actually limits the treatment choices made by patients with their doctors, based upon the patient’s health and condition. This will result in the oldest, weakest and sickest patients being denied treatments simply because the statistics for success in their demographic category are poor! This is a form of health care rationing that will save money at the expense of seniors to help buy insurance for the uninsured, most of whom are young and healthy!
37) Pg 341, lines 3-9 allows the government to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans and HMO forcing people into the government run public plan.
38) Pg 354, Sec 1177 will arbitrarily restrict the enrollment of special needs children and adults.
39) Pg 379, Sec 1191 mandates the creation of even more bureaucracy in the Telehealth Advisory Committee.
40) PG 425, lines 4-12 mandates “Advance Care Planning Consultation,” another insidious vehicle to save money by encouraging seniors who are in poor health to be more accepting of death rather than fighting to stay alive and healthy and with their loved ones.
41) Pg 425, lines 17-19 mandates that all senior patients will be consulted regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney.
42) PG 425, lines 22-25, 426 lines 1-3 provides an approved list of end of life resources, to help guide seniors about the process of dying!
43) PG 427, lines 15 mandates program for orders on the end of life, actually giving the government a say in how your life ends!
44) Pg 429, lines 1-9 dictates the frequency with which an Advance Care Planning Consultant will have to meet with patients as their health deteriorates.
45) PG 429, lines 10-12 give an Advance Care Planning Consultant the power to order end of life plans for a patient.
46) Pg 429, lines 13-25 will only allow certain doctors, not necessarily your own physician, to write an end of life order.
47) PG 430, lines 11-15 allows the government to decide what level of treatment you will have at end of life.
48) Pg 469 mandates “Community Based Home Medical Services” through non profits like ACORN. Happy yet that we elected a community organizer to the White House?
49) PG 489, Sec 1308 force taxpayers to pay for Marriage & Family therapy under the public insurance plan.
50) Pg 494-498 allows government to define mental illnesses and what services will be allowed to treat, again rationing this care.
For those concerned with the damage this plan will do to business:
Pg 22 mandates that the Government will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure. So every employer in the United States will be subjected to a health insurance audit just as all taxpayers are subject to audit. Of course, we will have to pay for an entire new bureaucracy to do this–the Internal Health Revenue Service?
Pg 42 recognizes the power of the Health Choices Commissioner to determine your health benefits. You will have no choice.
PG 50, section 152 states that free, taxpayer-paid health care will be given to the 30 million non-citizens in the USA, even illegal aliens.
Pg 30, Sec 123 states that there will be a government committee that decides what treatments you are allowed and what your overall benefits are.
Pg 29, lines 4-16 basically mandates the rationing of health care as is being done in Canada.
Pg 42 recognizes the power of the Health Choices Commissioner to determine your health benefits. You will have no choice.
Pg 58 states that government will have possession of all your health care records & history including finances and you will have to have a National ID Healthcard.
Pg 59, lines 21-24 gives direct access to your banks accounts to compel you to pay any out-of-pocket or premium costs electronically without your previous consent.
Pg 72, lines 8-14 creates a Health Care Exchange to bring private health insurance plans under government control. This part of the bill reveals Obama’s lies about being able to keep your plan if you like it. Any health insurance plan which does not completely rework itself to conform to these regulations will be dropped from the exchange and those insured will have to pick one of the plans in the exchange. This is why the Congressional Budget Office determined that over 20 million will lose the coverage they are now enjoying if Obamacare is implemented.
Pg 145, line 15-17 any employer not currently insuring their employees must enroll employees into public plan option, with no choice of private insurance allowed.
Pg 126, lines 22-25 mandates that employers must pay for health insurance even for part-time workers and their families, which will certainly lead to massive layoffs.
Pg 149, lines 16-24 all employers with an annual payroll bigger than $400k who does not pay to enroll employees in public insurance option will pay an 8% tax on all payroll.
Pg 167, lines 18-23 any individual who is self-employed and does not have health insurance will be taxed 2.5% of income and forced to accept public health insurance. So paying for health care out of pocket will be banned from the face of the earth.
For those concerned with the inherent unfairness in this plan.
PG 65, sec 164 provides for a political payoff from the Democrats and Obama; a special subsidized plan for retirees and their families in unions community groups like ACORN.
PG 102, lines 12-18 mandates that all Medicaid eligible will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid based upon income and insurance status. No choice.
Pg 124, lines 24-25 states that no private company or individual can have the right to sue the federal government for medical price fixing, basically eliminating your right to seek redress in the courts regarding your medical care.
Pg 469 mandates “Community Based Home Medical Services” through non profits like ACORN. Happy yet that we elected a community organizer to the White House?
For those afraid of healthcare rationing:
PG 85, line 7 provides specifics for benefit levels for all health plans, giving government the right to ration everyone’s healthcare.
Pg 239, line 14-24 mandates that available physician services will be reduced for Medicaid recipients. Many poor people including many seniors will be affected.
PG 272, Sec. 1145 regulates the operation of certain types of cancer hospitals, again rationing the care of cancer patients.
For those concerned with the costs of this plan:
PG 91, lines 4-7 mandates that doctor’s offices, clinics and hospitals provide language-appropriate services, basically ordering them to hire translators at the expense of the American taxpayer.
Pg 95, lines 8-18 allows the government to hire non-profit community groups like ACORN and Americorps to sign up people for the government health plan.
Pg 170, lines 1-3 exempts non-resident aliens from the individual health care taxes, so Americans citizens will pay for these aliens, legal and illegal alike.
PG 489, Sec 1308 force taxpayers to pay for Marriage & Family therapy under the public insurance plan.
For those concerned with the damage this plan will do to the medical profession:
Pg 127, lines 1-16 dictates doctors’ payment and therefore income which will reduce what doctors earn and lead to greater shortages of doctors and more rationing of care.
Pg 150, lines 9-13 mandates that employers with an annual payroll between $251K & $400K who does not pay to enroll employees in public insurance option will pay a 2-6% tax on all payroll.
Pg 241, line 6-8 mandates that all doctors receive the same pay, regardless of specialty. This will vastly reduce the number of specialists available in the United States, a common problem where medicine is socialized like Canada.
PG 253, line 10-18 allows the federal government to set the value of doctor’s time, professional judgment.
PG 265, Sec 1131 mandates and controls the productivity of all health care providers including surgeons!
Page 280, Sec 1151 allows the government to penalize hospitals for what is deemed to be preventable readmissions. So instead of being sued for malpractice, the government will be the punitive body when mistakes are made.
Pg 298, lines 9-11 mandates that if a doctor treats a patient during initial admission and that result in a re-admission, the doctor will be subject to federal penalties. Gee do you think that’s going to drive up the cost of malpractice?
Pg 317, lines 13-20 will create prohibitions on ownership and investment in the health service industry for doctors.
Pg 317-318, lines 21-25, and 1-3 will prohibit the expansion of all hospitals.
pg 321, lines 2-13 allows hospitals apply for an exception to the expansion rule but they must seek community input first!
Pg335, lines 16-25, Pg 336-339 mandates the establishment of outcome based health care and insidious idea that actually limits the treatment choices made by patients with their doctors, based upon the patient’s health and condition. This will result in the oldest, weakest and sickest patients being denied treatments simply because the statistics for success in their demographic category are poor! This is a form of health care rationing that will save money at the expense of seniors to help buy insurance for the uninsured, most of whom are young and healthy!
Pg 341, lines 3-9 allows the government to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans and HMO forcing people into the government run public plan.
For those concerned with violations of individual rights violations in this plan:
Pg 195 officers & employees of the new Health Care Administration will have access to all Americans personal financial records and accounts.
PG 203, line 14-15 actually says that “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax.” Yes, it says that.
PG 268, Sec 1141 regulates the rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs.
Pg 379, Sec 1191 mandates the creation of even more bureaucracy in the Telehealth Advisory Committee.
PG 425, lines 4-12 mandates “Advance Care Planning Consultation,” another insidious vehicle to save money by encouraging seniors who are in poor health to be more accepting of death rather than fighting to stay alive and healthy and with their loved ones.
Pg 425, lines 17-19 mandates that all senior patients will be consulted regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney.
PG 425, lines 22-25, 426 lines 1-3 provides an approved list of end of life resources, to help guide seniors about the process of dying!
PG 427, lines 15 mandates program for orders on the end of life, actually giving the government a say in how your life ends!
Pg 429, lines 1-9 dictates the frequency with which an Advance Care Planning Consultant will have to meet with patients as their health deteriorates.
PG 429, lines 10-12 give an Advance Care Planning Consultant the power to order end of life plans for a patient.
Pg 354, Sec 1177 will arbitrarily restrict the enrollment of special needs children and adults.
Pg 429, lines 13-25 will only allow certain doctors, not necessarily your own physician, to write an end of life order.
PG 430, lines 11-15 allows the government to decide what level of treatment you will have at end of life.
Pg 494-498 allows government to define mental illnesses and what services will be allowed to treat, again rationing this care.
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