As many of us have witnessed in the past few days, a bill to restructure, revise, and rectify our nation’s health care, and lack thereof, was passed by congress, awaiting our president to sign. The opinions regarding this legislature have poured a tidal wave of insight, conflict, and disbelief into the hearts and minds of many voters, taxpayers, and citizens of all types. Despite the ideology, political stance, and even social-economic background, it seems that everyone that has discussed the topic has brought up many different points of view in regards to how it shall affect them. Although such legislature is deemed historic in nature, just what mark in history will such a bill being put into law have? I hope to examine it in my own point of view.
Here’s what we do know. Effective immediately, this bill is designed to lower health care costs (not just insurance) for American families, citizens, small businesses and owners, and as well as expand existing coverage for those who have both unknown and documented diagnoses (healthreform.gov). Simply put, the federal government, for the sake of every health insurance provider, hospital, and existing clinic, has asked for a set of keys to the building, with hopes to oversee, monitor, and reorganize its processes, from co-pays, to potentially what prescriptions will be covered by health plans.
If you have not had the opportunity to few the bill partially or in its entirety, CMS at Free Republic has an in depth interpretation of many of the provisions listed:
• Page 16: 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.
After seeing all of this, you feel uneasy, don’t you? There are a few provisions I do like. For example, the federal government will no longer fund contraception or abortions. That’s right girls, if you lay down without protection or a backup plan, your choices are simple, have the baby, or pay for that fetal termination yourself. I also like the fact that, after this bill passes, Uncle Sam won’t allow doctors to own stock in health care companies. This keeps it fair and competitive in my opinion. I honestly can admit that I have not owned health insurance in over five years, but when this bill passes I’m not happy with, nor find it fair that illegal citizens will have the same health care as I do, without going through the naturalization process. As cynical as it sounds, if you snuck into this country through the back door, you should be sent home to get the band-aids and duct tape medical care that you probably are accustomed too.
Many people are appauled by this new brand of legislation, and are judging our president, and his success, solely on this event. I truly feel that he has a lot of work to do, and cleaning up past messes (i.e. the Bushes) are going to take much more time. To see Barack Obama and his administration take such strides, no matter how bold, let’s me now how zealous and confident he is to make changes for the better, no matter what cost. My only advise until then is simple, DON’T GET SICK FOR ANYTHING!
Add’l Work Cited: (http://www.naturalnews.com/026733_health_health_care_healthcare.html)
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