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Saturday, July 25, 2009

"Highlights" from the Health Care Bill: Pages (1-500)

I just received a summary of the first five hundred pages of the health care bill. Here are some highlights.

Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure.

Page 29: First reference to rationing

Page 30: The Health Benefits Advisory Committee will be created to monitor and recommend health care treatments and benefits

Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with health insurance.

Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard and the government is granted REAL TIME access to YOUR FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

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

Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No "judicial review" is permitted against the government monopoly.

Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer health insurance, pays an 8% tax on payrol

Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer health insurance, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll

Page 167: Any individual who doesn’t' have acceptable health insurance (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.

Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes

Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.

Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected

Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries.

Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.

Page 270: Requires that Ambulatory Surgical Centers submit cost data to the Secretary of Health and Humans Services for "analysis".

Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.

Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.

Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures, cost effectiveness which eventually means 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: Creation of the Telehealth Advisory Committee

Page 425: Government provides approved list of end-of-life resources,

Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment

Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient's health deteriorates.

Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life.

Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy.

Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.

Read all the summary here.

Update

Some are saying they can't open up the link. As such, here is the text of the bill.

Here is a full dossier of pages 1-500.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I couldn't follow the mail link.

do you have a link to the actual legislation?

thanks

Anonymous said...

One can only imagine what our health care system looks like now.

Anonymous said...

Just like the five Blind men and the elephant, very few will be able to view/understand the entire bill. I have experience with single payer health care as in Europe. There, the system is always being re-worked, but it is effective and affordable. No citizen of any country currently enjoying this single payer system would even think of changing it completely. In my attempts to familiarize anyone in the US ignorant of this type of system can only be compared to attempting to convince a neandethal man that the wheel would make it easier to move his wife and possessions from place to place instead of dragging them behind him. jm in ny

mike volpe said...

By effective and affordable, you must mean taking more than half of everyone's income and waiting eighteen months for a tooth ache. Are you really saying that the Europeans are happy with their health care? In Europe, a member of Parliament came to America to have their cancer treated because they couldn't wait any longer. Long waits and rationed care are what happens in Europe.

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike, can you or someone else point me to the reference that undocumented (illegal) aliens will be covered? I don't see mention of that on page 50. On page 143, it references SEC. 246. NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS. Is this something else?

I'm not trying to contradict you. I am sincerely trying to understand the bill. I work with legal non-resident aliens in my job (in fact my job is to report their activities to Homeland Security) so I'd like to know. I did find your reference on page 170. It makes sense to me that they would be tax exempt on this bill but ONLY if they are NOT going to receive the benefit.

So who is covered? Citizens and green card holders? Legal aliens who pay taxes? Undocumented aliens? All of the above?

--JB

Anonymous said...

Page 50, even illegals will be covered...B.S.! The American Voters should get to line item vote on all the specifics.

Ebas said...

OK, enjoy this. In Britain, they only treat a small annual percentage quota (15%) of those suffering from macular degeneration. Better yet, they will only allow one eye to be treated - the other goes blind. And, after a certain length of treatment, they cease treatment and move onto the next person. Rationed blindness - there's a ethical plan.

There is nothing ethical or humane about a bureaucracy which is only really interested in limiting everything, because it is uncompetitive, unable to self-regulate and minimize waste, and easily corrupted. Its only recourse is to limit service.

Jessica said...

Just a point of clarification for those making comparisons to "Europe." The UK uses an entirely different healthcare system (NHS) than the rest of the continent. When you talk about wait times and Members of Parliament coming to the USA, that is most certainly the UK. To address those who talk about the upsides of European healthcare, you'll need to look at countries like Sweden, Belgium, Holland, etc. In those cases you WILL see very high income tax but you will not see wait times. A big criticism of American healthcare is that insurance companies make determinations about illness rather than doctors. Both systems have flaws but we should be careful not to make sweeping references. There are some very particular distinctions between the UK and the rest of the continent (in fact, most Brits don't like to be called European! ha ha) and within the continent as well...

Ebas said...

European experiences aside - a government take over of our system, their ultimate goal no matter what they say, is not necessary and undesirable. It squelches progress and lowers choice. It creates so many committees or boards that have to be involved in decision making. There is no way that will not slow care as well as limiting it.

If you read the bill. It's fascinating. They want real-time access to our bank accounts to check payment ability and access to all tax returns and other financial documents, even trusts, to make their "decisions". This is not a health consideration. This is more of a personal privacy invasion.

There are obvious ways we can improve our healthcare, including good-health practices and outcome based evaluation considerations. We need tort reform to lower physician insurance premiums and open state lines to make the insurance programs truly competitive nationally.

But, one thing that is overlooked is that the costs we pay now cover healthcare for the indigents and poor that are treated in hospitals and free clinics all over the country. I have no problem with that.

One thing people have to understand is that healthcare coverage should be one of their highest priced monthly bills, second only to the mortgage payment. These two items are our most valuable things - a home and our health.

mike volpe said...

To the anonymous poster, my apologies, I forgot to answer about page 50. It's at the bottom of page fifty and goes into 51. It says "health care shall be provided without regard to personal characterstics..." That means you are illegal and health care is still provided. As to the other page, I haven't examined that particular page but there are all sorts of contradictions in the bill.

Ebas said...

Now back to European healthcare.

Sweden, and I quote: "For much of the 20th century, Sweden had a single-payer system of health care in which the government paid almost all health care costs.

Like other nations with a single-payer system, Sweden has had to deal with the problem of ever-growing health care expenses causing a strain on government budgets. It has dealt with this problem by rationing health care - instituting waiting lists for medical appointments and surgery.

Sweden stands not merely as a warning about single-payer systems, . . .

In the 1990s, Sweden set about reforming its health care system by introducing aspects of privatization. These reforms were limited, however, and the old problems with waiting lists and rising costs had re-emerged by the beginning of this decade.

The experience of Sweden demonstrates that when a nation adopts market-oriented reform for its health care system, the reforms will fail if the market is not permitted to work."
- from www.nationsencyclopedia.com

So, the national health care has skyrocketing costs (no reason to be penurious and efficient) and rations healthcare. Open competition would be MUCH better.

Their current desperate solution is global budgeting—literally, each county can only spend so much money each year—has led to expanded waiting lists - 11 months for a heart X-ray and another 8 months for bypass surgery. On average, times vary widely, 50% of patients are seen in 3 months.

Again, I quote from above: "In practice, the political notion of "equal access" actually means "restricted access." Swedes who do not have private insurance must wait, often for months, for treatment."

WAIT, WAIT - what was that? "those who do not have private insurance". (rubbing of chin) Do they mean that private insurance helps people get better service? Go figure!!!

"For all Swedes who needed an operation in 2003, slightly more than half waited more than three months (see Figure 2).22 The situation continues. Moreover, patients often wait in great pain and distress."

The upside of Swedish healthcare? Where? From the patients point of view - NOT. From a bureaucrat's POV, maybe, but the system is broke and broken.

All of this group fun for 31-56% income tax, 28-30% non-salary income tax, and 1.5% health tax.
The Swedes must be very peaceful people - the historical trigger for revolutions is 26% taxation.

OK, (knuckles cracking) which country to do next?

Anonymous said...

I am retired from the military with a 100% disability rating but I cannot beleave that my medical care will be untouched by this reform. Nothung has be said or even hinted at about what they our going to do about all of the veterans and the promised services we are getting. Can anybody find how all those who served and sacraficed for this nation will be effected by this miscarrige of justice for all Americans. GENE

Anonymous said...

The sheeple will believe anything......why don't you check out the FACTS before jumping off the cliff? You are buying into a pile of misinformation and lies. This pack of lies is from an email that is being circulated by people who don't have a clue, but believe anything they read that is negative about healthcare reform.

http://ready2beat.com/current-news/general-news/health-care-bill-page-58-highlights/linkout

mike volpe said...

I personally spoke to the doctor that sent me the original email of the list. I went through each of the highlights and eliminated those that I didn't find in the bill. This doctor, along with several others, read pages one through five hundred and we analyzed the bill over the phone. That's how I put this list together.

You addressed one page. I looked at that page and the id is in there. So, I don't know what you want. That said, what about ever other page?

Anonymous said...

Why isn't there any talk of Health Insurance Companies becoming non-profits or go back to the old "mutual" company programs. Publicly traded insurance company format has to be looked at or we will never get health care costs down...Aetna, UHC, etc....profit margins and ROI to shareholders will always take money and services from doctors and policy holders.

Anonymous said...

lived in USA 25 years-Benelux 20 years

UK and most of Nordic countires are suffering through healthcare reform. Waiting lists are real. In the Benelux (Germany-Belgium-France- Holland) for example the healthcare is relatively safe and puntual. The Doctors ad medical professions are constantly fighting the reform. my Doctor in Germany a normal family Doctor is forced to push 50 to 60 patients a day through his practise in order to make enough income to feel comfortable. The problem is each person gets less attention. There is really not a good system anywhere on this earth. The American system is driven by the chemical industry and this has the same effect as Government control. Critical diagnostic and treatment decisions are constantly being influenced by what pill is most popular today from a marketing standpoint. My suggestion to the world of healthcare is preventative medicine. When visiting your Doctor have they ever asked how your sleeping, if you get enough excercise or what you are eating? We need a new start and the big question is; "how long will it take to develope a new system after years of greed"? My opinion we should recognize all forms of medicine including natural methods that consentrate on long term medical or health solutions and less script for the symptoms.