“AMERICA’S AFFORDABLE HEALTH CHOICES ACT 2009”
I actually sat down and read over the infamous Obama Health care plan recently, though I have to admit that I skimmed over much of it. I could and might go back and read some more of it. I felt that as a former health care worker, it was something that I had to do to see what our President or whomever it really was who wrote this thing is really proposing. I knew I would not like it, but I wanted to see what was actually written. The amazing thing is that anyone who can read can go and read the entire Act. Anyone who votes should. I will include a link to the bill at the end of this entry.
The first thing that jumped out at me when I started reading were the words “Health Choices Commissioner,” “Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund” and then all the words about the Commissioner working with the Health Secretary and the Treasury Secretary. I realized that this whole makeover of our health care system was going to be gigantic. This thing is going to cost an awful lot just to set up the management structure. The next thing I realized was that it would require all health care professionals, hospitals, and businesses to obey a whole new set of rules regarding the giving of health care. The one thing everyone must know is that it will not be free for anyone. Someone will have to pay for every single health care service. For the average person or family, you will have to pay according to your ability. For those who are poor or indigent, they will be required to pay much less. There is a scale based on income that will be used to determine what you must pay. And when you fill out all of the paperwork to enroll in the government system, you will be subject to government investigations into your IRS taxes to make sure that you actually make the amount you claim on your forms. The rich can plan on paying more than their fair share, and if you try to convince the government that you are poorer than you are, again, they can and will audit your tax information. As for businesses, if you look at Sec.314, you will find that they will be subject to “periodic investigations and audits” to make sure that they are obeying all the new government rules for paying into the government’s “Health Choices Plan.” There will also be a tax on employers who fail to comply with the government’s regulations exactly. In short, the American people are giving up a whole lot of privacy for some Government “services.” If you ever shuddered at the Homeland Security Department’s wire tapping of terrorist conversations, (which I had no problem with), then you should be terrified at the thought of them probing into your financial and tax records whenever they wish, under the guise of “just making sure you are telling the truth.”
Now, once you realize that you will indeed still be paying for your services as well as having your taxes increased to pay for them, you also must know that when you sign up for your health care, there will be provisions you will be subject to regardless of whether you want to use them or not. I am all for prevention in the sense of staying in good health and preventing illness. That is really the key to not needing to use the health care system. If you are healthy, you don’t need health care, unless of course, you have an accident or some kind of traumatic injury. Making catastrophic health care affordable is a different issue that could be addressed without a total overhaul of the current health care system. But on the subject of “Prevention,” if you go to Sec. 1711, you will see the different “preventative” measures which includes vaccines. Vaccinations are a touchy issue with many people, and there are many questions and concerns regarding the current vaccine list that is routinely administered to young children all the way up through adulthood. In our family, we have both used vaccines and opted out of some, and I have always appreciated the freedom we have to decide as parents what is best for our family. What concerns me about this impending Act is that if the Government is your health care provider, what is to keep it from enforcing what it thinks is best for your child? Physicians can already pressure patients into taking medicine or using a particular treatment, and if the Government decides that you are putting the nation at risk by not doing vaccines or by declining to use a particular medicine, then what is to stop it from enforcing it? Socialism is all about putting the interest of the State over the liberties of the individual. This is contrary to our Constitution. On page 776, there is information about the coverage of “family planning services and supplies.” I made a note of this to go back and look at this more thoroughly. Family planning covers everything from birth control to pregnancy and childbirth to sterilization and abortion. Here is another area that should be a red flag to those interested in preserving the family’s authority and liberty as opposed to the Government or State-controlled authority. If a law-abiding family has 5 or 6 children, the Government -controlled health care system could regulate at any given time the number of children per family they will “take care of” and put into effect how many children each family can have. Also, if abortion is merely a family-planning tool, is it not likely to be used even more liberally than it is now? What is to keep the Government from thinking that the less citizens they have to care for, the better? They wouldn’t worry that they have less tax-paying citizens to increase revenue for the State, they would simply make the rich pay more. In due time, we would have a citizenry that is made in the image desired by the Government, obedient to its every whim, and kept within a prescribed cage of activity, income and ability.
I noted also the section that refers to “simplifying and modifying Medicaid and Medicare.” Two things occurred to me about this. The first is that if the Government wants to simplify or modify these two entities, they can do that without a Government take-over of the health care system. The second thing is that perhaps by modifying Medicare, this will make it easier for the Government to cull the ever-expanding pool of elderly citizens. What is to keep the Government from deciding that all terminal patients, for example, will only be offered limited health care services (since they are going to die anyway?)
I cannot think of any country that has socialized medicine and has a better health-care system than the United States does. It is true that we have a less healthy citizenry than other countries (based on statistics I have read but don’t have before me), but that really speaks more to the way we as a people eat and the habits we have. Reform of the medical malpractice industry would certainly help lower costs without completely gutting the current system. Our lawmakers in Congress have before them a crucial decision to make. They had better listen to the people of this nation and listen to their constituents. I have not seen anything that indicates this is a health care Act that people really want. I urge everyone to look over this “Health Choices Act.” If you disagree with what I have written, I would really like to know. Please, everyone check this out:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3200ih.txt.pdf