There’s rejoicing in the streets all over America. The socialists have won in the House of Representatives. Health care for everyone!! Voted on in the middle of a weekend night with a five vote margin. Forced on you, whether you want it or not. Instead of you and your family making your medical decisions, you now can look forward to the government doing that for you. If you don’t want to play their game, the IRS will force you to.
That means that if you choose not to purchase whatever the government decides that you need, you will incur penalties (minimum is 2.5 percent of your income) and possibly up to a $250,000 fine and FIVE YEARS in jail. This will be enforced by the IRS. The link is to a letter response to a congressman from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation.
Jeez, I plan on retiring in a few years. My plan was to purchase a catastrophic plan with a $5000 deductible. I don’t need insurance to pay my doctor bills and likely neither do you. I do need coverage in case something really bad happens. I can get that catastrophic coverage from Aetna for a very affordable $250/month.
The government will no longer allow me to do that. I will be forced to purchase a much more comprehensive policy that will pay for things that I could (and would rather) just write a check for. All those years on that treadmill, taking care of myself and trying to be healthy… no payoff for that any more. My dollars will go to subsidize the health care of those who smoke cigarettes and live on Big Macs.
I will have to purchase a plan APPROVED BY THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES. (sec 224, pg 118) I don’t get to choose what I want (or need). So long, catastrophic policy.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that at $44K (guess at post-retirement income level for me), I will be expected to pay about $7300/year out of pocket in medical costs and premiums. That’s $608/mo (16% of my income), or $358/month more that my planned Aetna policy. I’m out $12 per day in extra costs – forced to buy a product that I don’t want and don’t need. I prefer to pay for routine expenses myself. My doctor accepts checks.
Sec. 59b (pp. 297-299) states that I will need to prove to the IRS that I am in a qualified plan when I file my taxes, or the penalties will kick in. I guess folks that don’t file taxes will be exempt from this….
The folks in Medicare all get forced into a government HMO – sec. 1302 (pp. 672-692). It will NO LONGER be a fee-for-service plan like it has always been. The government’s medical bureaucracy will become much more involved in patient care, especially if cost-cutting becomes a priority.
Here’s an idea of what else the bill holds for seniors….
• Sec. 1114 (pp. 391-393) replaces physicians with physician assistants in overseeing care for hospice patients. Heck, they’re going to die, anyway, right?
• 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. Does that mean less care (long lines) for seniors in urban areas? You betcha.
• 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. This is a popular plan that will likely go away.
• 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.” In other words, doctors will get orders from the government about what they will be allowed to do.
To look at the proposed bill itself, complete with page numbers, here’s a link.
There is no way that this is affordable. We are creating an entire new entitlement program, where folks are forced by government into buying expensive coverage that they may either not need or want. In a short time, exploding costs (as in any entitlement program) will force government into rationing care, putting bureaucrats in charge of who gets treatment and who does not – in effect, who lives and who dies.
Who trusts the same government that has bankrupted Social Security and Medicare to run our entire health system?
Why are we doing this?
Why does the government want this so badly?
We are all about to become dependent on our government for medical care.
Instead of servants of the people, our government continues to strive to be their masters.
We need to stop this.
Greg
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