Common and Fiscal Sense To Health Care
Common and Fiscal Sense To Health Care
FACTS:
What does the bill, HR 3200, short-titled ‘‘America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009,” actually say about
major health care issues?
THE BILL PUNISHES AMERICANS WHO OPT OUT pages 167-168, section 401
Anyone caught without acceptable coverage and not in the government plan will pay a special tax.
The IRS will be a major enforcement mechanism for the plan.
THE BILL ALLOW THE GOVERNMENT TO SET FEES FOR SERVICES page 124, Sec. 223, PA
The government’s authority to set payments is basically unlimited.
The official will decide what constitutes “excessive,” “deficient,” and “efficient” payments and services.
THE BILL WILL PAY FOR ABORTIONS (AMENDMENT) at the end of section 122
Capps Amendment leaves it to the secretary of Health and Human Services to decide whether or not they
will be covered. It says, "Nothing in this Act shall be construed as preventing the public health insurance
option from providing" abortion services that would not be legal for Medicaid coverage.
The Capps Amendment MANDATES that the public plan cover any Medicaid-fundable abortions, and
AUTHORIZES the secretary to cover all other abortions.
Roughly one-quarter of those counted as uninsured, or 12 million people, are eligible for but have not
enrolled in Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP). This includes 64 percent
of all uninsured children and 29 percent of uninsured parents.
An additional 10 million uninsured Americans are not American citizens. Approximately 5.6 million of
them are illegal immigrants. An additional 4.4 million are legal immigrants who have not been naturalized.
8.4 million uninsured Americans are making $50,000 to $74,999 and 9.1 million more are making more
than $75,000. Health insurance is just incompatible with their lifestyles, I guess.
A study by former Congressional Budget Office director June O'Neill found that 43 percent of the
uninsured have incomes above 250 percent of the poverty level, making at least $55,125 for a family of
four. Slightly more than a third have incomes above $66,000.Another study, by Mark Pauly of the
University of Pennsylvania and Kate Bundorf of Stanford University, concluded that nearly three-quarters
of the uninsured could afford coverage but have chosen not to purchase it.
Most of the uninsured are young and in good health. According to the CBO, roughly 60 percent are under
the age of 35, and fully 86 percent report that they are in good or excellent health.
The moral thing to do here would be to ask this question: What’s preventing that 3-18% from getting their own
health insurance? In lots of cases they do not want it: the freedom of choice
1. TORT REFORM
Lawsuits have caused the cost of medical services to sky rocket. Doctors perform test they know are not
necessary in order to avoid potential lawsuits.
Americans want choice not government control of their health care decisions. American taxpayers should not
be forced into a costly government controlled program that we simply cannot afford when there are Common
and Fiscal Sense alternatives that address issues of reform WITHOUT losing our liberties and wallets!
I
t does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in
people's minds. Samuel Adams