Now that there is a health billion the Internet

Will you idgits who wanted to read it before a vote please read it somewhere.
It is only a 1000 pages.
All it says is that 98% of everybody will have some kind of health coverage they can afford!
The Health Insurance companies all are changing their britches right now.
Doctors will be paid more.
Hospitals will have to quit the 400 page bills for a heart operation! (forget the gauze and aspirins).

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Cyclist's picture
Submitted by Cyclist on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 8:24pm.

here are some of the details you need to know.

What the government will require you to do:

• Sec. 202 (p. 91-92) of the bill requires you to enroll in a "qualified plan." If you get your insurance at work, your employer will have a "grace period" to switch you to a "qualified plan," meaning a plan designed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. If you buy your own insurance, there's no grace period. You'll have to enroll in a qualified plan as soon as any term in your contract changes, such as the co-pay, deductible or benefit.

• Sec. 224 (p. 118) provides that 18 months after the bill becomes law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will decide what a "qualified plan" covers and how much you'll be legally required to pay for it. That's like a banker telling you to sign the loan agreement now, then filling in the interest rate and repayment terms 18 months later. On Nov. 2, the Congressional Budget Office estimated what the plans will likely cost. An individual earning $44,000 before taxes who purchases his own insurance will have to pay a $5,300 premium and an estimated $2,000 in out-of-pocket expenses, for a total of $7,300 a year, which is 17% of his pre-tax income. A family earning $102,100 a year before taxes will have to pay a $15,000 premium plus an estimated $5,300 out-of-pocket, for a $20,300 total, or 20% of its pre-tax income. Individuals and families earning less than these amounts will be eligible for subsidies paid directly to their insurer.

• Sec. 303 (pp. 167-168) makes it clear that, although the "qualified plan" is not yet designed, it will be of the "one size fits all" variety. The bill claims to offer choice—basic, enhanced and premium levels—but the benefits are the same. Only the co-pays and deductibles differ. You will have to enroll in the same plan, whether the government is paying for it or you and your employer are footing the bill.

• Sec. 59b (pp. 297-299) says that when you file your taxes, you must include proof that you are in a qualified plan. If not, you will be fined thousands of dollars. Illegal immigrants are exempt from this requirement.

• Sec. 412 (p. 272) says that employers must provide a "qualified plan" for their employees and pay 72.5% of the cost, and a smaller share of family coverage, or incur an 8% payroll tax. Small businesses, with payrolls from $500,000 to $750,000, are fined less.

Eviscerating Medicare:

In addition to reducing future Medicare funding by an estimated $500 billion, the bill fundamentally changes how Medicare pays doctors and hospitals, permitting the government to dictate treatment decisions.

• Sec. 1302 (pp. 672-692) moves Medicare from a fee-for-service payment system, in which patients choose which doctors to see and doctors are paid for each service they provide, toward what's called a "medical home."

The medical home is this decade's version of HMO-restrictions on care. A primary-care provider manages access to costly specialists and diagnostic tests for a flat monthly fee. The bill specifies that patients may have to settle for a nurse practitioner rather than a physician as the primary-care provider. Medical homes begin with demonstration projects, but the HHS secretary is authorized to "disseminate this approach rapidly on a national basis."

A December 2008 Congressional Budget Office report noted that "medical homes" were likely to resemble the unpopular gatekeepers of 20 years ago if cost control was a priority.

• Sec. 1114 (pp. 391-393) replaces physicians with physician assistants in overseeing care for hospice patients.

• Secs. 1158-1160 (pp. 499-520) initiates programs to reduce payments for patient care to what it costs in the lowest cost regions of the country. This will reduce payments for care (and by implication the standard of care) for hospital patients in higher cost areas such as New York and Florida.

• Sec. 1161 (pp. 520-545) cuts payments to Medicare Advantage plans (used by 20% of seniors). Advantage plans have warned this will result in reductions in optional benefits such as vision and dental care.

• Sec. 1402 (p. 756) says that the results of comparative effectiveness research conducted by the government will be delivered to doctors electronically to guide their use of "medical items and services."

Questionable Priorities:

While the bill will slash Medicare funding, it will also direct billions of dollars to numerous inner-city social work and diversity programs with vague standards of accountability.

• Sec. 399V (p. 1422) provides for grants to community "entities" with no required qualifications except having "documented community activity and experience with community healthcare workers" to "educate, guide, and provide experiential learning opportunities" aimed at drug abuse, poor nutrition, smoking and obesity. "Each community health worker program receiving funds under the grant will provide services in the cultural context most appropriate for the individual served by the program."

These programs will "enhance the capacity of individuals to utilize health services and health related social services under Federal, State and local programs by assisting individuals in establishing eligibility . . . and in receiving services and other benefits" including transportation and translation services.

• Sec. 222 (p. 617) provides reimbursement for culturally and linguistically appropriate services. This program will train health-care workers to inform Medicare beneficiaries of their "right" to have an interpreter at all times and with no co-pays for language services.

• Secs. 2521 and 2533 (pp. 1379 and 1437) establishes racial and ethnic preferences in awarding grants for training nurses and creating secondary-school health science programs. For example, grants for nursing schools should "give preference to programs that provide for improving the diversity of new nurse graduates to reflect changes in the demographics of the patient population." And secondary-school grants should go to schools "graduating students from disadvantaged backgrounds including racial and ethnic minorities."

• Sec. 305 (p. 189) Provides for automatic Medicaid enrollment of newborns who do not otherwise have insurance.

Source: WSJ

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S. Lindsey's picture
Submitted by S. Lindsey on Fri, 10/30/2009 - 12:19pm.

"The new House health care bill (H.R. 3962) unveiled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) yesterday clocks in at 1,990 pages and about 400,000 words. As written, the bill purports to cost only $1.05 trillion over the first ten years and is paid for by over $700 billion in tax increases and cuts to Medicare Advantage and Medicare prescription drug payments. But as troubling as those numbers are, the scariest thing about the bill is the solid foundation it lays for a complete government take over of the health care sector of our economy."

The Medicaid Expansion:
The House Bill as presented expands Medicaid by raising the FPL to 150%.. As a result the CBO says that 50 Million Americans will be enrolled costing us an additional 425 BILLION over 10 years.
States will have to pay out $34 Billion in increased cost.
The Insurance Subsidies:
The bill also provides “affordability credits” to people who are below 400% FPL. However, the bill also denies access to the credit for all people who are “eligible” for Medicaid. In essence, therefore, the House bill forces all Americans below 150% FPL to enroll in Medicaid or pay the individual mandate fine.
According to the CBO “The estimated costs of providing subsidies through the new insurance exchanges are now lower for several reasons: the larger expansion of Medicaid means that fewer people would be eligible for coverage through the exchanges.”
In other words it is cheaper to force people to switch to Medicaid then pay the subsidy.

The Employer Mandate:
Your Employer will get an 8% payroll tax who don’t offer insurances up to the standerds the Government will come up with. In the short term this will only result in job losses and lower wages. But further down the road, the health plans would have to meet new requirements to be specified later by Obama’s new Health Czar (“Health Choices Commissioner”).

The Public Option:
“As health insurance premiums keep rising thanks to all the new requirements in the current bill and the Health Czar’s future regulations, more and more people will have no choice but to depend on the government plan or face a fine. At first, only individuals and employers with 25 employees or fewer would be eligible for the government run plan. But in year two (2014) individuals and employers with 50 employees or fewer become eligible, in year three (2015) employers with at least 100 employees become eligible but starting that year, the Health Czar permitted from this year forward to expand employer participation as appropriate, “with the goal of allowing all employers access to the Exchange.” In effect, the bill makes larger sized employers explicitly eligible and still turns over authority to the Health Czar to further open it up. The goal has been, and still clearly is, to open the exchange and the public plan to everyone.”

So there it is.. a few of the provisions so far.. There are also “VENDING MACHINE” provisions that will either make you LAUGH or CRY..
We will be forced to buy health Insurance. The Gov will regulate Private carriers until they are run out of business by the very regulations they the Government places on them.
That is how Pelosi aims to achieve Obama’s goal of “Everybody in, Nobody out” government run health care. The costs are going to be staggering. Not only will health care quality and choice suffer as more and more Americans are forced onto a government plan that reimburses providers at low government set rates, but the price tag is guaranteed to skyrocket.
The only way the House managed to keep their price tag as low as $1.05 trillion is by pretending that Congress would cut Medicare reimbursement rates by 20% in 2010. The full ten-year cost of being honest about the Medicare reimbursement rates would be $250 billion.

Less choice, lower quality health care, and trillion dollar deficits for years to come: that is the House’s prescription for health reform.

"A Government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." Thomas Jefferson


Cyclist's picture
Submitted by Cyclist on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 9:32pm.

a means to increase the number of federal employees? A rather nice bureaucracy in the making.

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Caution - The Surgeon General has determined that constant blogging is an addiction that can cause a sedentary life style.


S. Lindsey's picture
Submitted by S. Lindsey on Fri, 10/30/2009 - 8:10am.

created.. Just not in the PRIVATE sector..

30 New agencies

25 Sub Committees

and that's just a start.

RED TAPE is going to be flying..

"A Government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." Thomas Jefferson


Submitted by Davids mom on Fri, 10/30/2009 - 7:35am.

I'm all for it if the increase is in monitors and investigators that make it difficult for the fraud and corruption that has been uncovered in our present system. I'm still angry that there are people who were making 20-30 thousand a day ripping off medicare and medicaid. What say you?

Cyclist's picture
Submitted by Cyclist on Sat, 10/31/2009 - 8:31am.

Yep, fraud is hurting Medicare which will burn down, by some estimates, in 8 years. So my fear is if our Guv goes through with this proposed scheme it will be like fueling the fire.

The unfortunately reality is, people are going to want to stick their hand's into that stream of money that don't deserve it. (Damn those unhonest people) We are either going to have to implant a chip into everyone or have one Guv employee assigned to each individual to ensure oversight in order to prevent fraud. Since the chip thingy will not happen, the Guv will hire more people until the whole darn thing collapses under its own weight. Then we all lose.
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Caution - The Surgeon General has determined that constant blogging is an addiction that can cause a sedentary life style.


Submitted by Bonkers on Sat, 10/31/2009 - 12:17pm.

dont ya see thet medicare is INCLUDED in this hyar new Bil! It aint goin broke jest as i sed hit wooden.
in meybee 2-3 yars new bils will put everthang into the same as medicare and medicaide.

Ya no, a litle at atime wil fly--lots to quick will die. quit fightin thet which is obvious and wanted by most.
We air tird of Insurance companes, hospitals, doctors, health managemint companes, wastin all thet muney on fake jobs and makin rich peeple outn technicians!

mite want to stop that thar spensive wall at mexico alos. it is waste uf muney. Whut say we let the arabs haf the midle east? whut air weuns gona do wif them and it nowhow?

Cyclist's picture
Submitted by Cyclist on Sat, 10/31/2009 - 12:31pm.

Remember what maple said.

"...it weakens the moral authority of the messenger."

Do you have moral authority? Smiling

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Caution - The Surgeon General has determined that constant blogging is an addiction that can cause a sedentary life style.


Joe Kawfi's picture
Submitted by Joe Kawfi on Fri, 10/30/2009 - 8:56am.

Do you actually think a bunch of corrupt government beaurocrats have the capacity or integrity to reduce costs or wasteful spending?
Ethics investigators probe dozens in Congress

Defense Bill, Lauded by White House, Contains Billions in Earmarks

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.


S. Lindsey's picture
Submitted by S. Lindsey on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 3:26pm.

at least get that right.. AND.. it is not posted yet?

All it says???? Where did you get to read it?

"A Government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." Thomas Jefferson


Cyclist's picture
Submitted by Cyclist on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 9:47pm.

raise the dependent child coverage to age 27. Now for state employee health plans how will that cost be reconciled? Answer - either an increase in states taxes or reduce expenditures (which Georgia already accomplished). BTW, President's promise of not increasing taxes for the middle class was only for the federal not state taxes.
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Caution - The Surgeon General has determined that constant blogging is an addiction that can cause a sedentary life style.


Submitted by Davids mom on Fri, 10/30/2009 - 7:39am.

Some of the cost would be reconciled by the stoppage of waste and fraud - which means less cost. I'm beginning to see a way to provide a decent health care program within a budget that does not add to the deficit.

S. Lindsey's picture
Submitted by S. Lindsey on Fri, 10/30/2009 - 8:04am.

DO IT THEN TALK ABOUT IT..

The CORRUPTION has been institutionalized for so long.. I wonder if they can get it done.. If they knew it was there then why have they not done anything about it and still have no plans to do so?

They talk a good game but what are the plans to get this 100-300 BILLION dollars of FRAUD out of the system..

If it can't be done or they don't want it done.. Then it follows the Taxpayers will have to make up the deficit.

That's why I have screamed the loudest about getting it done first. Prove it.

"A Government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." Thomas Jefferson


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