If you are like me, most people, and certainly members of congress, you haven't had a chance to read the almost 2,000 page health care bill Congress passed Saturday night. We have seen a number of surprises in rushed through legislation over the past year and I am sure this one will include a number of surprises no one knows about right now. However, the Heritage Foundation has done a detailed analysis of the bill and found a few "fun facts" you may want to know about before your Senator votes on this bill. The information below is from the Heritage Foundations webmemo #2684 "A Closer Look at the House Democrats' Health Care Bill". Considering only one Republican voted for it, I think this is still a good title.
If you only remember one of the details I am going to discuss, remember this one: You will probably not be able to keep your current insurance. The President has said a number of times that you can keep your insurance. This is simply not true. The President either hasn't paid attention to the bill, or is speaking of a different bill that has yet to be introduced. First, the bill provides incentives for companies to not provide health care. From the Heritage Foundation research:
The bill also imposes a new 8 percent payroll tax on employers who do not cover specified percentages of their employee's health insurance...since the amount of this tax would be lower than the cost of providing health insurance (especially for low-income workers), many employers would opt to pay the tax and not offer health plans, disrupting their employees' existing coverage.
Secondly, the bill creates a new "Health Choices Commissioner". This Commissioner can decide what services insurance provides are forced to cover, and what services they are prohibited from covering. As such, the Health Choices Commissioner will be able to dictate the services your insurance provides. This may or may not be something you want, but I am sure there will be changes to your coverage from the Commissioner.
The "public option" is back in the bill. The bill structures what employees would be eligible to participate and when. The rates of the "public option" are to be "negotiated" with medical providers. However the CBO estimates that if the "public option" rates were truly negotiated, the "public option" would cost more than most private insurances. As such, I leave to you to guess what the term "negotiated" means in this bill.
The final fun fact tonight is the price tag. President Obama has set a goal of $900 Billion for any health care bill. The CBO has estimated this bill at between $1.05 and $1.3 Trillion, slightly higher than the President' s commitment. However, this doesn't reflect the actual price of the bill. Because the bill won't take effect until 2014, the Heritage Foundation points out:
...although the [CBO] score is technically a 10-year score, it is not a 10-year cost under full implementation. A full 10-year cost puts a total close to $2.4 trillion.
Over the coming weeks and months these three facts will be disputed and glossed over. Remember, there is a good chance your local Senator has never read the bill, nor has any plans too. I would encourage you to read the Heritage Foundations report. I only covered three of the biggest problems with the Health Care bill. You may find more you don't like.
4 comments:
Why 2014?
They hurry the debate and votes on a bill to help people because they are getting sick now but this hurried up bill will not help them till 2014?
This really does sound like a really expensive campaign contribution.
Common sense on the 8% payroll tax. Did they really think that the big bad corporations that they have been railing on for the last couple of months were really going to stop being greedy, profit driven companies and all the sudden take care of their people? They are dumb asses if they thought that. They pulled a fast one on lots of people, this bill in reality is just a long and expensive way to get complete government controlled health care, call it socialism or Communism I don't care. All smoke and mirrors. They might call it all natural, disposable, reinforced multilayer equally measured solid waste removal material but at the end of the day it really is just toilet paper.
I think they and people in general have forgotten that the shortest and easiest path between point A and B is a straight line and not a 2000 page law that does not even appear to make it to point B.
Legislators should be proud enough of their work that they aren't afraid to post their legislation on the Internet before the vote. This goes for all bills and all Parties. They shouldn't vote for a bill that they haven't fully read and grasped. This is common sense and would go a long way in improving legislation.
Jerrol LeBaron
Executive Director
Honor In Office
www.HonorInOffice.org
Pack,
Come on, we know why 2014. It's because it's after the next Presidential election cycle. If this is passed, the voters won't feel the worst of it until after Obama gets re-elected.
Jerrol,
Amen!
Oh, I know why 2014 is key.
That is why I said it is a taxpayer funded campaign contribution.
Amazing how stupid the voting public is. We've voted in people and supported a bill thinking that it will help us soon but in reality not.
Or an even more conspiracy thought. They wanted it that long to allow all the employers and insurance companies realize what the plan is and they drop everybody and then the government has to write a new bill that will have exactly what they want. Complete control.
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