Friends,
As you know, President Obama has been pushing his "Universal healthcare" plan. There have been a lot of people saying many different things about this new healthcare plan. Therefore, I felt the need to do what our congressmen and women have not done and read all of the healthcare plans out there. Let me tell you, as you can imagine, it was not easy reading. I wanted to be able to give you the ammunition (facts) to reply to those that want to know why we oppose the plan.
First, let me state that I do believe that we need to make sure that every LEGAL American citizen has access to the best healthcare system in the world and that it is affordable for everyone. Let me also state that, after reading the bills that are being considered, if the healthcare plan was a good plan, I would let you know that. That being said, the proposals set forth in the house and in the senate are very bad for
- We simply can not afford it. The Congressional Budget Office states that even with higher taxes on high income earners and penalties on employers who don't provide coverage, the plan will fall $239 billion short of covering its' cost of over $1 trillion. That is their best case scenario without the bill being completely scored.
- It will not cover everyone. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that over 17 million people would remain uninsured AFTER this plan is implemented.
- You will not be able to shop for or obtain private insurance if you do not have private insurance prior to the bill being passed. This is somewhat clearly stated on pgs. 16 and 17 in section 102(a)(1)(A).
- After a 5 year grace period, all private insurers that are still in business will be required to offer a "qualified health benefits" plan based on government standards. The problem is whether or not the "government standards" will exclude private insurers. This on page 17, section 102(b)(1)(A).
- No new policies will be allowed to be written by a private insurer after the public option becomes law. Also page 17.
- Every five years, the elderly will have to attend a mandatory "advanced care planning consultation" for an "explanation by the practitioner of the continuum of end of life services." The consultation will be conducted more frequently if a significant change in health condition.including diagnosis of a chronic, progressive, life limiting disease, terminal diagnosis, life threatening injury or upon admission to a skilled nursing or long term care facility. In other words, if you are old, you will be consulted about what your options will be if you get sick, if healthcare would not be an option (see #7). This starts on page 425.
- Page 501 of the bill starts a section that indicates that $1 billion will be spent on "comparative effectiveness research" which is how the government evaluates relative merits of various treatments. In other words, rationing. This is tantamount to the government determining whether or not you are worth getting a particular treatment depending on your prognosis or age.
- This plan would allow for government funded abortions. Since this bill would cover all procedures, abortion is included. There is no exception for abortion.
- Members of congress and unions would be exempt from this plan and not have to be a part of the healthcare plan. Recently, John Fleming, introduced H.R. 615 that stated that members that vote in favor of a government run healthcare must enroll under the public option. No democrat would sign on. If it is not good enough for congress, it is not good enough for us! This is section 3116.
- $500 billion will be cut from senior healthcare to help pay for this bill. This will weaken Medicare, an organization already in trouble due to insufficient funds.
- Hospitals and private healthcare facilities will not be able to collect money from the government plan unless they are "public" facilities.
- Businesses will be fined over 8% of an employee's salary if they do not provide healthcare insurance for their employees.
- Individuals that do not have health insurance will be fined an amount that will encourage them to purchase the government plan.
- All "people", legal or not, will be covered under this plan and identification cards will be issued. These identification cards will not be based on social security numbers.
These are some of the proven reasons why I could never support a bill like this. These are irrefutable facts, things that our present government does not want our citizens to be aware of, which is why they are trying to pass this bill as quickly as possible. The more we find out about the bill, the worse it gets. As I stated above, we need to reform our healthcare system, but this is not the way. In this case, doing nothing is better than passing this bill. It will hurt seniors, businesses and families.
Congressman Wexler is one of the biggest supporters of this bill as well as, even worse, HR 676. Why should he care about our businesses, our seniors or our children in District 19 and
Yours in service,
Edward
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Florida's United States Congressional District 19
See all about Edward's opposition here
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