PART 1 of 3
I received a chain letter purportedly written by Dr. Stephen E. Fraser, an Indianapolis anesthesiologist. In this letter, Dr. Fraser blasts, in detail, the current health care proposal which can be viewed here:
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/AAHCA09001xml.pdf
Some light Google surfing shows that the letter is gaining steam around the nation.
The letter is a call to arms; the doctor hopes that average Americans will stand together against a ghastly, evil government health care plan.
The problem is, he completely misrepresents what the document says.
If a real doctor named Dr. Stephen E. Fraser wrote this letter, I question his capacity for ethics and his ability to think critically. Woe to his patients.
Here is my response (the original letter is italicized):> Senator Bayh,
> As a practicing physician I have major concerns with the healthcare bill before Congress. I actually have read the bill and am shocked by the brazenness of the government's proposed involvement in the patient physician relationship. The very idea that the government will dictate and ration patient care is dangerous and certainly not helpful in designing a healthcare system that works for all. Every physician I work with agrees that we need to fix our healthcare system, but the proposed bills currently making their way through congress will be a disaster if passed.
> I ask you respectfully and as a patriotic American to look at the following troubling lines that I have read in the bill. You cannot possibly believe that these proposals are in the best interests of the country and our fellow citizens.
> Page 22 of the HC Bill: Mandates that the Govt will audit books of all employers that self insure!!
This page has nothing to do with "auditing books." It simply provisions a committee to study self-insured employee health care markets to ensure that the government health care plan does not give small employers incentives to self-insure. This in no way implies that companies can no longer self-insure. Why does the administration wish to compete with self-insurance plans? See the following from Inc. magazine detailing the failures of self-insurance companies, the risks involved, and the liabilities a small employer may face (leading to the failure of their business):
http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2008/10/self-insurance-risks.html
> Page 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get.
This section clearly says “private-public committee which shall be a panel of medical and other experts” chaired by the Surgeon General and composed of the following:
a) 18 members who are NOT FEDERAL EMPLOYEES OR OFFICERS
b) 8 or less members who are Federal employees and officers
The group must be made up of members that reflect the opinions of health insurance “providers, consumer representatives, employers, labor, health insurance issuers, experts in health care financing and delivery, experts in racial and ethnic disparities, experts in care for those with disabilities, representatives of relevant government agencies” including physicians and experts on children health to balance the panel and make sure “no single sector unduly influences the recommendations of [the] committee.”
Sir, you’ve misunderstood the section, which is strange considering a doctor must do well on the MCAT, be accepted into medical school, and successfully analyze/internalize the fierce technical/academic literature required to become a doctor and maintain a career (especially a technical specialty like anesthesiology).
And tell me, Dr., how do you expect a health plan to be created without a schedule of covered treatments and ailments? You say that you wish to “fix the healthcare system” but you can’t dream of a system that requires that covered treatments are defined? That doesn’t sound very conservative. And who would you rather be on the committee than those listed?
> Page 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill: YOUR HEALTH CARE IS RATIONED!!!
This is absolute fiction. Again, this section says nothing about “rationing” healthcare, and simply discusses the establishment of copayments and says that the out-of-pocket expenses for those insured cannot exceed $5,000 for individuals or $10,000 for a family.
> Page 42 of HC Bill:The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC Benefits for you. You have no choice!
This section outlines the duties of the Commissioner. I see nothing about “choosing HC Benefits for you” or having “no choice!” To think that a single person is just going to cherry pick benefits is a gross leap in logic.
> Page 50 Section 152 in HC bill: HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise
This is a complete fabrication.
> Page 58 HC Bill: Govt will have real-time access to individuals finances & a National ID Healthcard will be issued!
It doesn’t say that there will be “real-time access to individuals [sic] finances.” It says that there will be a real-time ability to “determine an individual’s financial responsibility at the point of service,” i.e. the amount of co-pay they are required to pay or the amount of their remaining deductable limit. The point of “real-time” is that it be quick and painless for the consumer. As far as an ID card, the document says the system may utilize a machine-readable health plan beneficiary identification card, not a “National ID Healthcard.” Yes, that sounds very scary, but there is no mention of it in the document. And, being a doctor, can you please show me a healthcare plan that exists today that does not require a form of identification? And what is so evil about carrying an insurance card?
> Page 59 HC Bill lines 21-24: Govt will have direct access to you ur banks accounts for elective funds transfer.
It says “enable” electronic funds transfers, not MANDATE, in order to “allow” automated payments.
> Page 65 Sec 164: is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & community organizations: (ACORN).
Sir, you seem to have an agenda. You have completely misrepresented this section. Let us hope nobody copies your letter and sends it to their representatives, lest they become the comedy of the office that day. It says that a temporary reinsurance program will “assist employment-based plans” with “providing health benefits to retirees and eligible spouses, surviving spouses, and dependents” of retirees. I fail to see what this has to do with unions or ACORN.
> Page 84 Sec 203 HC bill: Govt mandates ALL benefit packages for private HC plans in the Exchange.
This section details the requirements for health insurance providers that wish to offer a Qualified Health Benefit Plan (QHBP) – they must offer a basic plan, and may optionally offer an enhanced plan, and if they do so, may optionally offer a premium plan.
> Page 85 Line 7 HC Bill: Specifications for of Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt will ration your Healthcare!
Line 7 says “(c) SPECIFICATION OF BENEFIT LEVELS FOR”
I am not sure how this translates to “The Govt will ration your Healthcare!”
> Page 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill: Govt mandates linguistic appropriate services. Example - Translation: illegal aliens.
Wow. I actually laughed at this. Somehow, a decorated physician is convinced that offering a form in Spanish means that the plan covers illegal aliens. Apparently he is not concerned with the health or the income stream of the large number of people in the country that are more comfortable reading health documentation or describing their ailments in their native tongue.
Thank you, SHEESH!
ReplyDeleteFYI - a friend of mine contacted the Dr. Fraser, and he said all the specific references to the bill were NOT written by him. But thanks for the refutation, in any case!
ReplyDeleteThanks for looking into this e-mail; you're doing a great service.
ReplyDeleteIs this guy Dr. Stephen E. Frazer (or Fraser) a real doctor who wrote this letter? If so, can anyone tell me the legitimate place go to verify it's true?
ReplyDeleteIf this blather, and so much of its ilk, weren't so loudly and widely spread - I'd die laughing. First of all, this guy writes like a 7th grade girl - I haven't seen so many exclamation points (doubles, at that) since I was about 12, reading a classmate's words about a boyfriend who'd done her wrong. Given his transparently weak verbal skills, why would anyone take him seriously? Clearly, deciphering a legal document is well beyond his grasp. His breathless "interpretations" of the bill's content are so far off the mark that it's impossible to imagine that he has the emotional capacity to comport himself proudly in a personal crisis, much less the wherewithall to manage a challenging clinical situation. Can he comprehend the medical records any more reliably than he has this document? While he greets himself in the mirror many times each day with reassurances that he's among the best and the brightest, he reveals his actual limitations quite starkly with this screed. What an embarrassment.
ReplyDeleteI hope that sunshine, rainbows, butterflies and beautiful songbirds continue to bless your uninformed and idealistic opinion of the current administration.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever expressed an original thought? You simply (simplistically) parrot the histrionics of countless other screamers. Your responses to comments are utterly predictable, and adroitly prove the criticisms of your original letter. You manifest no interest in an honest or meaningful exchange of ideas. Rather, you illustrate, again and even more obviously, your own narrow intellectual and emotional boundaries. There is nothing more revealing than your persistent failure to attempt response to the line-by-line challenges to your outlandish "interpretations" of the bill.
ReplyDeleteThe flaws in each of the proposals are innumerable. Sadly, you fail to factually identify a single one. Instead, you make hyperbolic assertions that have no association to the actual content of the bill that has you in such a tizzy. Why? The answer is clear: you know that you have misread, misinterpreted, overstated, lied and distorted fact for your own personal agenda. Why would anyone need to resort to such foolery? Aren't there perfectly honest and reality-based arguments against the bills? Of course there are. But it doesn't satisfy your agenda to address them as they are. it's much easier to resort to your sort of base "action." It's much easier to make lame and juvenile cracks about sunshine and rainbows than to actually address the facts that have been pointed out to you.
The easiest task is to seek reinforcements of one's fears and biases. But this does not constitute, by any definition, being informed, smart, educated or reasonable. And it certainly doesn't equate with patriotism. Anyone with 4th grade reading skills and internet access can quite readily gather volumes of "information" that fits a preconceived set of beliefs.
The responsible course is to seek actual information, to actually listen to opposing views, to tamp down one's ideological biases, and to speak in constructive means so that our country might actually find positive solutions to very real problems. Such efforts on your part would be welcome, anytime.
If Stephen Fraser is actually an MD, there's no better evidence that America's doctors aren't necessarily the "best and the brightest" of which he speaks in his barely literate letter to Sen Bayh. If I were he, I'd begin using a pseudonym. And probably change my name so that patients wouldn't be afraid that they've fallen under the care of a dope. That's before even getting to the content of what he wrote, which is even more idiotic. This guy is frightening!
ReplyDeleteYou polished turds are going to destroy another segment of the U.S. economy with your obamacare that will LOWER BENEFITS TO SENIORS AND VETERANS and RAISE THE COSTS for those currently insured, while doing NOTHING TO CUT INTO THE PLANS OF UNIONS OR THE PAYOUTS TO INSURERS OR THE LAWYERS WHO BLEED AMERICA DRY.
ReplyDeleteOf course, thats your PLAN - you have no intention of improving anything - if you actually believe you are then YOU are the mental midgets.
But millions and millions of Americans are reading Alinsky (who your "president" trained on and who the media whores like Matthews are bragging about), and we see your game.
Bring on your destruction and civil war.
To borrow from your heroes, Stalin & Kruschev, we will let you hang yourselves and bury you with your "revolution".
CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHERE I CAN GO TO READ THE HEALTH BILL? I WOULD PERSONALLY LIKE TO CHECK OUT EVERYTHING PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO MAKE US BELIEVE.
ReplyDeleteTHANKS
I fear for our country. What havoc Hitler could have done if only he had the internet for a brain. Would we have gone to war, or could Hitler have done a number on the world that this email nonsense going around as truth? I am truly frightened for my grandchildren if those who would scare us for their personal profit.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this online for other people to read. I don't know how it was in your country because in where I live, health insurances seemed to be fine. I now have a clear picture of what Americans are going through and I feel for them.
ReplyDeleteThe Brief Group
I am an American living in Japan for 46 years and every trip home I am appalled at the shabby quality of public education evident in a shockingly vast cross section of my compatriots. After heath care and immigration, a priority must surely be the improvement of the level of our public education. We seem to be a nation of boobs compared with the Japanese, whose high school graduates have been said to possess the collective general knowledge of an American college graduate. And it shows.
ReplyDeleteIf Stephen Fraser is actually an MD, there's no better evidence that America's doctors aren't necessarily the "best and the brightest" of which he speaks in his barely literate letter to Sen Bayh.
ReplyDeletedirect response television advertising agency