Time To Read The Health Bill

To the Editor:

You are probably sick of all the wrangling that’s been going on for months about a new Health Care Bill. Pelosi’s bill came out on Friday and has been posted on the Internet. It is really almost 2,000 pages. You should know that according to Michelle Bachman, R-MN, the final bill was worked out behind closed doors which had their locks changed to keep out almost everybody, especially Republicans. Prior to that time, some Republicans had attempted to offer ideas and alternate solutions, and they were completely closed out of the process.

So let’s look at just some of the bill. Everything here is taken directly from the bill and I have given the actual page number for fact checking.

Page 94: Beginning in 2013, the sale of private health insurance policies will be prohibited.

Page 110: Requires the use of federal dollars to fund abortions through the government-run health plan.

Page 111, Section 223: Establishes the federal “Health Benefits Advisory Committee” which will decide what health plans that all individuals must purchase.

Page 297: Imposes a 2.5 percent tax on all individuals who do not purchase government approved health insurance — the tax would apply to people with incomes under $250,000, the group that was not supposed to have any new taxes.

Page 313, Section 512: Imposes an 8 percent tax on jobs for firms that cannot afford to purchase government approved health coverage.

Page 520, Section 1161: Cuts more than $150 billion from Medicare Advantage Plans.

Page 733, Section 1401: Establishes a new “Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research” without providing any safeguards against the government run health plan using such research to deny access to life-saving treatments on cost grounds.

Page 1174, Section 1802: “Taxes on Certain Insurance Policies” to fund “comparative effectiveness research.” This appears to break Speaker Pelosi’s promise that “We will not be taxing [health] benefits in any bill that passes the House.”

Page 528: The Secretary has the authority to disqualify any Medicare Advantage Plan if it does not comply completely with the government rules for Medicare Advantage Plans.

Page 736: There will be a government panel to determine the “effectiveness and appropriateness of health care services in order to identify the manner in which diseases, disorders, and other health conditions can most effectively and appropriately be prevented, diagnosed, treated and managed clinically.” Clinical registries will be developed from electronic health records. “The doctor and patient are expected to use that data” for treatment decisions.

There are 111 new boards, committees, programs included in this bill.

After Harry Reid adds an additional 700 pages this week, the bill is expected to be voted on in the Senate, perhaps by the time you read this.

Does this sound like your government in Washington is going to make things better for you? For your children and grandchildren?

Marybeth Hibbard

33 Taunton Lake Road, Newtown                          November 3, 2009