As Congress and the President continue to discuss healthcare, it’s become obvious they haven’t read the bill recently released by the House. They keep telling the American people that “if you like your health plan, you can keep it,” but that is false.

On page 16 of the House bill, it states that a new government bureaucracy will select the health plan that it considers in your best interest, and you will have to enroll in one of these qualified plans.

If you now get your plan through work, your employer has a five-year grace period to switch you into a qualified plan. If you buy your own insurance, you’ll have less time.

And as soon as anything changes in your contract, such as a change in co-pays or deductibles, which many insurers change every year, you’ll have to move into a qualified plan.

You will also have to prove that you are in one of these plans at tax time or face fines by the IRS which could run into thousands of dollars (House bill, p. 167-168). Now how does that translate into if I like my current coverage I can keep it?

The one issue politicians keep side-stepping is cost. We know, according to the Congressional Budget Office, it will add a trillion dollars to the national debt over the next 10 years, but just how much will it cost YOU?

The median household income in America is $46,735. There are 8.2 million people who make between $50,000 and $74,999 and another 8.6 million who make over $75,000, and for whatever reason, they have chosen not to purchase health insurance.

Yet the government is going to provide for these same people who can afford it (House bill, p.137). It just doesn’t make sense.

We know this bill will hurt seniors the most. The Democrats plan on getting half the trillion dollar cost paid for by tax hikes on the “rich” (anyone making more than $280,000).

The remaining $500 billion will come through cuts in Medicare payments to doctors and cutting medical services to seniors enrolled in Medicare.

We know there is fraud and waste in Medicare and we need to address that, but cutting services to those that have worked all their life and paid into the system is just plain wrong.

This bill will also require seniors to attend a “counseling session” every five years regarding “alternatives for end-of-life care” (House bill, p. 425-430). The sessions will cover “highly sensitive matters such as whether to receive antibiotics” and “the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration.”

Seniors could be forced into care or alternatives they don’t want or even refused care.

According to the Lewin Group, if this bill passes, upwards of 119 million Americans will be forced off their private insurance onto a government plan.

Rasmussen Reports state that cost is a big concern to Americans by a margin of 3 to 1, and 54 percent of Americans don’t want reform if it means losing their current coverage.

In a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, 83 percent of Americans are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the quality of their health care and 81 percent are similarly satisfied with their health insurance.

America has a good reason to like their current coverage. The World Health Organization ranked the United States number 1 out of 191 countries for “being responsive to patients’ needs, including providing timely treatment and a choice of doctors.”

Buried in this disastrous bill is an exemption for members of Congress. If you’re like me, you’re asking why? If this plan is good enough for us, then why isn’t it good enough for them and their families?

Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) has a resolution in front of the House that any members who vote for this bill are urged to forgo their right to participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and enroll in the government plan.

Let’s see if they can put their money (or in this case, their lives) where their mouth is. As of this writing, no Democratic member has signed up.

I am pleased to say that Georgia Representatives Lynn Westmoreland, Tom Price, Paul Broun, John Linder, and Phil Gingrey, have all signed the resolution.

In the President’s famous infomercial, he stated he only wants the best healthcare for his family but doesn’t care about the rest of us.

We don’t have to stand for this. The government can’t run the Post Office, Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid; do we really want them involved in the most personal of all issues in our life? I say NO!

The President and the liberals in Congress know if this bill doesn’t get passed by the August recess, then lawmakers will return home and find out just what their constituents think of ObamaCare.

Even President Obama knows his numbers are slipping, and instead of putting the American people first, he is putting his socialist agenda first.

Wouldn’t we rather have a bill that is right than to rush into a bill that will bankrupt America?

We have too much at stake to let President Obama and the Democrats get away with this. Literally our lives depend on it.

Remember, our Creator endowed us with certain alienable rights, one of them being life. It’s time to take a stand and block this bill from going forward. The President says that Americans will lose their health insurance if we don’t act.

Well then, Mr. President, why don’t you try fixing the economy first and then Americans who are currently insured by their employer will have a greater chance of keeping their current coverage?

Laura Lunsford

Fayetteville, Ga.

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