Friday, July 31, 2009

What's Really in Obama's Health Care Reform Bill - A Plain English Translation

What's Really in Obama's Health Care Reform Bill - A Plain English Translation

Click for PDF of the Bill
Save it and read it all for yourself...

What's really in Obama's health care reform bill?
Almost no one knows, and here's why:

It's 1,017 pages long and written in an alien form of bureaucratic English that can barely be decoded by earthlings.
And yet, astonishingly, an U.S. Army translator has been found who speaks "Washington Doublespeak" and he was kind enough to decode the bill and post his plain-language findings.
Below, we reprint what he found in the health care reform bill. As you read this, keep in mind that some of these translations are a bit loose with the interpretations, but I've personally spot-checked these points, and they are indeed all contained in the bill in one form or another (shrouded in Doublespeak language, of course).

Below are some points we have outlined of what is in the Bill
Click here for PDF version of the full Bill

• Page 16: States that if you have insurance at the time of the bill becoming law and change, you will be required to take a similar plan. If that is not available, you will be required to take the government option!
• Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!
• Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!
• Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)
• Page 42: The "Health Choices Commissioner" will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.
• Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services.
• Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.
• Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.
• Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (example: SEIU, UAW and ACORN)
• 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 (i.e., total government control of private plans)
• Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: illegal aliens
• Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
• Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.
• Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No "judicial review" is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.
• Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages.
• Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives.
• Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families.
• Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll
• Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll
• Page 167: Any individual who doesn't have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.
• Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them).
• Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.
• Page 203: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax." Yes, it really says that.
• Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected.
• Page 241: Doctors: no matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!)
• Page 253: Government sets value of doctors' time, their professional judgment, etc.
• Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries.
• Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.
• Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!
• Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.
• Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.
• Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies!
• Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.
• Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on "community" input: in other words, yet another payoff for ACORN.
• Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., 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: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (healthcare by phone).
• Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia?
• Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time.
• Page 425: Government provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death.
• Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends.
• Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient's health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.
• Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life.
• Page 469: Community-based Home Medical Services: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government intervenes in your marriage.
• Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.

Here is the link to bill...




Section 102 Pages 16 - 19: Private insurance companies will have built in price controls on existing customers AND they won’t be able to bring in new customers after Y1 of the health care plan. Those who currently have private individual coverage won’t be able to change it. Those who leave a company to work for themselves will not be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.

Section 113 Pages 21 - 22: The Government will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self-insure to compare with ones who buy full insurance to determine if the self-insurers are acting responsibly and keeping enough money on hand to actually pay for their employees’ health care needs.

Section 122 Page 29: Your Health Care is RATIONED.
Section 123 Page 30: A Government Committee will decide what treatments/benefits you get … depending on a predetermined set of factors.

Section 142 Page 42: The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your Health Care Benefits for you. You will have no choice in the matter.

Section 152 Page 50: Health Care will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise. (The Heller amendment would have allowed health agencies to conduct simple database checks to verify citizenship.)

Section 163 Page 58: The Government will have real-time access to individual’s finances and a National ID Healthcard will be issued!

Section 163 Page 59: The Government will have direct access to your bank accounts for electronic funds transfers.

Section 201 Page 72: The Government is creating a Health Care Exchange to bring private Health Care plans under Government control.

Section 203 Page 84: The Government mandates ALL benefit packages for private Health Care plans in the Exchange.

Section 203 Page 85: Specifications for benefit levels for plans are detailed; the Government will ration your Health Care.

Section 204 Page 91: The Government mandates linguistic appropriate services and communications (apparently for illegal aliens).

Section 205 Page 95: The Government will use outreach groups (probably ACORN and Americorps) to sign up individuals for the Government Health Care plan and to ‘visit’ businesses.

Section 205 Page 102: Medicaid Eligible Individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. (No choice available.)

Section 207 Page 110: The Government can take money from other entitlements to fund the public option Health Care.

Section 208 Page 111: The Government will usurp all state powers regarding State Based Health Care Exchanges. (possible violation of the 10th amendment, states rights)

Section 223 Page 124: No company can sue the Government for price fixing. (There is no judicial review against a Government monopoly.)

Section 224 Page 126: The Government can create a pricing structure for any medical service at its own discretion for different ‘geographic’ areas. (more price fixing)

Section 225Page 127: The Government will tell Doctors what they will be paid for the work that is done.
Section 241 Page 130: The Government will subsidize State Medicaid.

Section 246 Page 143: This section states that payments on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States are not covered. However, this one statement constitutes the entire section. There is absolutely no provision to verify citizenship. Thus, this simple statement is ridiculously vague. (The Heller amendment would have allowed health agencies to conduct simple database checks to verify citizenship.)

Section 312 Page 146: Employers MUST pay for Health Care for part-time employees AND their families.

Section 313 Page 149: ANY Employer with an annual payroll of 400k+ who does not provide the Government’s public option is penalized an 8% tax on all payroll.

Section 313 Page 150: ANY Employer with an annual payroll between 251k and 400k who doesn’t provide the Government’s public option pays 2% to 6% tax on all payroll.

Section 401 Page 167: ANY individual who doesn’t have acceptable Health Care will be taxed 2.5% of their income.

Section 401 Page 170: Any NONRESIDENT Alien who doesn’t have acceptable Health Care is exempt from individual taxes on their income.

Section 431 Page 195: Officers and employees of the Health Care Administration (the Government) will have access to ALL American’s financial, personal, and medical records.

Section 441 Pages 197 - 198: Anyone earning in excess of $350,000 per year, will pay additional taxes.

Section 441 Page 203: “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax.”

Section 1121 Page 239: The Government will reduce physician services for Medicaid. (Seniors, low income, and the poor will be impacted.)

Section 1121 Page 241: Doctors, regardless of medical specialty, will all be paid the same.

Section 1122 Page 253: The Government sets the value of a doctor’s time, professional judgement, etc. (In effect, this sets a value on human life.)

Section 1131 Page 265: The Government mandates and controls productivity for private Health Care industries.

Section 1141 Page 268: The Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.

Section 1145 Page 272: The Government will ration Health Care costs for cancer patients care in “certain cancer hospitals”. (More Health Care rationing.)

Section 1151 Page 280: The Government will penalize hospitals for what the Government deems preventable re-admissions.

Section 1151 Page 298: Doctors who treat a patient during initial admission that results in a re-admission will be penalized.

Section 1156 Page 317: The Government tells doctors what/how much they can own in a Health Care facility.

Section 1156 Page 318: The Government mandates that hospitals cannot expand operating rooms, procedure rooms, or beds.

Section 1156 Page 321: Hospitals have the opportunity to apply for expansion exception, BUT community input IS required. (probably ACORN or Americorps approval)

Section 1162 Pages 335 - 339: The Government mandates establishment of outcome based measures. Health Care is regulated and rationed.

Section 1162 Page 341: The Government has the authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc. This forces citizens into the Government plan.

Section 1191 Page 379: The Government creates a new bureaucracy, Tele-health Advisory Committee.

Section 1233 Page 425: The Government mandates Advance Care Planning Consultations. The Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc.

Section 1233 Page 425: The Government provides an approved list of end-of-life resources. (The Government determines how your life ends.)

Section 1233 Page 429: The Government’s “advanced care consultation” may include an ORDER for the end-of-life sustaining treatment. The Government will specify which doctors can write an end-of-life order.

Section 1302 Page 472: The Government MANDATES payment for Medical Home Care to BOTH community-based organizations AND to the principal care practice. (apparently ACORN and/or Americorps get a kickback for home health care)

Section 1308 Page 489: The Government will cover Marriage and Family therapy. (The Government will become involved in marriage counseling.)

Section 1308 Pages 494 - 498: The Government will cover Mental Health Services including defining, creating, and rationing those services.

Section 2213 Pages 879 - 882: The Government will make grants and contracts available for medical training programs. Preference will be given to entities that have a demonstrated record of “training individuals who are from underrepresented minority groups or disadvantaged backgrounds.” (The quoted criteria is repeated several times in this section.)

So these are the main points of the Bill thus far, I'm sure as they revise this Bill we will delve into it more and post our findings.
Please return for Daily News on the Edge. Thank you.

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