Read Full Report
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Introduction
Discussion of the U.S. Health Care System and
“The Patient Protection and Affordability Act – HR 3590” and
“The Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010”
Jim Carlin – July 2010
Update – November 2010
The following paper was presented to the “Retired Adults’ Program” at McHenry Community College in July of 2010. There were three sessions of 2+ hours each. It was designed to present facts and encourage discussion among the group’s members. In preparing this I reviewed the following:
1. The World Health Report in 1997 (that ranked the U.S. 37th out of all OECD countries and was used by politicians and Michael Moore to create uproar over the U.S. Health Care System).
2. A rebuttal of this report by the Cato Institute “Who’s Fooling Who?”
3. Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers on “Identified Waste in the Current Health Care System”.
4. The 2,600 page report itself plus the “Health and Education Act”.
5. Comments by the DNC and RNC regarding the Bill, with added comments of my own.
6. Paul Ryan’s “Outlays vs. Revenue Analysis”.
As I worked through this information it was clear to me that the Bill itself was riddled with disingenuous information:
- Compared 10 years of Taxes to 6 years of benefits and concluded it would not add to the Deficit.
- Stated that “If you liked your current Doctor or Medical Plan – you could keep it.
- “Anyone making less than $250,000 would not see any form of Tax Increase – Obama”.
- Double counted savings.
- Etc.
In addition, the whole plan was based on a Mandate that all Citizens must pay for Health Insurance or pay a penalty. This from the same person, Obama who during the campaign stated: “We've got a philosophical difference, which we've debated repeatedly, and that is that Senator Clinton believes the only way to achieve universal health care is to force everybody to purchase it. And my belief is the reason that people don't have it is not because they don't want it but because they can't afford it.” Barack Obama, speaking at a Democratic presidential debate, February 21, 2008.” This is currently being challenged in court by 20 States and many Governors are saying that they will take a page out of Obama’s book (re Illegal Immigrants) and just not enforce many provisions of this Bill.
Another travesty of this Bill being passed (with no Republican votes) was the flagrant disregard of the Will of the People. When Congress adjourned many of them held Town Hall Meetings to try and sell this bill and in meeting after meeting they were told that the people did not want it. Polls showed that 54% of the voters did not want this Bill. But the Administration that promised transparency pushed this Bill through Congress without most of its members even reading the details. Who can forget Nancy Pelosi’s quote: “But we have to pass the Bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the Fog and Controversy”. (Nancy Pelosi – March 2010).
Well we are now finding out what the impact and “Unintended Consequences” of this Bill are.
2. Some have dropped coverage for Employees.
3. Many mid to lower sized companies have discovered that it is cheaper to pay the penalty.
4. Doctors are refusing to take additional Medicare Patients. In one letter form a major doctors group in our area they also point out the perils of not addressing the “Doc Fix”. (In an AP article today they there is an estimate that two-thirds of doctors will stop taking new Medicare patients and that Health Care for military service members, families and retirees would be jeopardized.)
5. A report by the Heritage Foundation (Backgrounder 2464, September 14, 2010) states that:
b. Millions of Senior Citizens and disabled Americans will lose billions of dollars in Health Care services by substantially reducing the payments to Medicare Advantage plans.
c. According to the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), by 2017, 14.8 million senior citizens and disabled Americans who would have had Medicare Advantage benefits under the previous law will be denied coverage for many services and incur higher out-of-pocket costs. About half will lose Medicare Advantage coverage entirely. http://www.cms.gov/ActuraialStudies/Downloads/PPACA_2010-04-22.pdf
d. Low-income beneficiaries and minorities will bear the brunt of the MA cuts. About three-fourths of the cuts will hit those with incomes of less than $32,000 per year in todays’ dollars.
And of course, Health Care is not the only area where tax payers will be hit. Other areas are:
- Rate increases
- Higher taxes on Marriage and Family
- Return of the Death Tax
- Higher rates on savers and investors
- Tanning Tax
- Medicine Cabinet Tax
- HSA Withdrawal Tax
- AMT Tax Explosion
- Slashing of small business expenses by 50%
- Charitable Contributions from IRA’s no longer allowed
Put this all together and you can see that the American Tax Payer is about to be hit with a Tsunami of new Taxes and Fewer Benefits. Having spent so much time reviewing these details it is my opinion that Obamacare cannot be fixed by tweaking its’ various elements. Especially in time to help Seniors and Tax Payers. The best way to approach this is to Kill it and start with a blank piece of paper. However, Conservatives, Libertarians and Tea Party Members must insist that Congress first address some of the “Low Hanging Savings Fruit” such as Tort Reform, Coverage for Illegal Aliens (other than real emergencies) and cross state Insurance purchase options.
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