HOW OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE WOULD'VE CHANGED MY LIFE Part 3

PART 3 - CONCLUSION

I have read a good portion of the Obama health care reform bill. Here are some of the ways the health care plan would've helped my family and I over the years. Please feel free to add ways in which you or your family would've been assisted.

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* Prevention education would show the real dangers of smoking so my father may have quit and I may not have started.

* My father would've had a disease control plan rather than being tossed from doctor to doctor with no strategy.

* My father could have purchased medications from overseas at a far lower cost (cancer medicines are some of the most expensive in the world) rather than hoarding medicine in a cabinet for his worst pain and episodes, or rejecting treatment altogether, making his last moments more painful than ever.

* My father would not have racked up tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills due to rejected coverage based on clauses, technicalities, and "preexisting conditions."

* My mother would not still be trying to pay off my father's medical bills and her own (she is now declaring bankruptcy after 9 years of paying).

* My family would know whether we were entitled to more insurance money (we will never know since we had no end-of-life discussion).

* My father would have had a will (none was found).

* We wouldn't have had to break into my father's office to search for insurance documents since end-of-life counseling would've provided him with necessary services to organize such documentation and prevent us from being taken advantage of.

* I would probably not have been hurriedly misdiagnosed with cancer and scheduled for chemotherapy, and informed the day before chemo that they screwed up.

* I would not have had a surgeon trying to force me to do a surgery that the Mayo Clinic (second opinion) said was unnecessary, dangerous, and expensive.

* My credit would not be ruined from being unable to pay medical bills for the cases above (including the Mayo second opinion).

* I would potentially have a doctor, one day, treat me with respect, or call to see how I am doing, since there would be accountability.

* My legitimate complaints and concerns would be noted and examined, rather than used against me.

* My doctor wouldn't have been rewarded equally - or received MORE money - for misdiagnosing me with cancer.

* My doctor wouldn't have asked me to lie to get me in the hospital so he could perform an unneeded surgery.

* I would've had a doctor give me some sort of prevention or treatment plan concerning my chronic kidney stones. The best I've ever gotten is, "I ordered you a bunch of tests. Take these pills. If you feel worse, go to the hospital."

* My mother, my brother, and I (and practically everyone I know) wouldn't be prescribed powerful antibiotics if we have the flu.

* My mother would be able to afford insurance today (since she is older, has high blood pressure, and had a recent surgery for a tumor, the cost of real insurance for her would be around $600 a month. She is currently uninsured).

* My mother could get a treatment plan for her high blood pressure and afford medication, rather than skipping doses so she can save the medicine for bad episodes.

* My mother could afford a doctor and treatment plan, rather than going to fly-by-night medical clinics when she has an episode.

* My brother, who smokes, could afford a smoking cessation plan and receive professional help for his addiction.

* My brother would have insurance and be able to seek treatment when he is ill and would be covered in the case of a catastrophic accident or ailment (he is currently uninsured as a independent contractor and cannot afford insurance nor get insured from a reputable company).

* My uncle could have afforded to get treatment for his cancer (he could not and he died at 51).

* My grandfather could have afforded regular treatment for his high blood pressure (he died of a heart attack at 64).

* My other uncle could have grown up with his family, rather than being raised in a state mental institution due to the expense of his medications.

* Yet another uncle could still be alive had he been able to afford alcohol cessation treatment or a mental evaluation (riddled with mental health and alcohol problems, he died in a motorcycle accident when he ran into the back of another vehicle and flew through its back windshield).

A Response to Sarah Palin: How Obama's health care plan would've changed my life - Part 1

I see that Mrs. Palin has reaffirmed her belief that Obama is establishing death camps to kill seniors and invalids. I, unlike Mrs. Palin, have actually read most of the current draft of the health care proposal, and I find her imagery disconcerting and her distortion of the truth heinous. I put together a short story of how my life would've changed had we had the Obama health care plan.

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PART 1 - DAD

My family was largely middle class - wealthy enough to own a house but still living paycheck-to-paycheck. My father lost a good desk job in Texas when I was young due to assorted oil crises, so we moved to Florida where he got a job doing physical labor for his brother's company.

Always intelligent and charismatic, Dad learned the ropes of the business quickly and found higher positions at other companies, returning to his brother's company many years later as Vice President. Good things always seemed to follow him, like winning fishing tournaments or landing substantial government contracts.

My mother was beautiful and sweet; she lived for our family. We knew that if we never cleaned, she'd eventually pick up our messes, and we all leveraged this for as long as I can recall. She did haircuts on the side, but my father never insisted that she bring in a second income.

My brother was a musician. Dad bought him the best equipment he could afford, and this encouragement defined my brother's life. Today he is a successful touring musician, currently performing across the world with a legendary artist.

I was supposed to be the academic, placed in the best schools so I could be "a doctor or lawyer" when I grew up. In reality, I was usually skipping school to go bowling while pretending to be Canadian so cops would leave my friends and I alone.

We were a typical family.

- - - - - -

In late July of 2001, my little cousin was in town. She was full of energy and acted as goofy as possible much of the time. My father took her to a local play - "Little Shop of Horrors." I was in college at the time, "too cool" to hang out with my old man and cousin, so I elected to cause trouble with friends that night (driving in circles, listening to the Sex Pistols, and bitching about how there was "nothing to do"). They called after the show to make me jealous. "It was awesome! You really missed out. Too bad it isn't coming again for a few years!" They told me about how they got a Polaroid with Audrey II (the man-eating plant).

When they returned home that night, he was suddenly dizzy. "It's OK, I'm fine!" he said in the foyer, smiling. My cousin was alarmed. She called for my mom to help him to a chair. For the rest of the night, his head was spinning and he felt rather nauseous. He called his brother. "I'm taking tomorrow off," he said. "It's nothing. I'll work on the Mayport estimate when I get back."

He never went back.

Over the next month, I watched my father - physically strong and vigorous in spirit - rot into a hairless, mute skeleton with white skin, tight like a drum. His rosy lips disappeared into his mouth, and he aged 20 years, like some meth addict on the street.

- - - - - -

Our father had been the nucleus of our household. Before cancer, he was the life of the party, but he never drank. He was demanding, but he never cursed. He was our sole source of income, and he always knew what to say to calm tensions or inspire hope in his family. His one vice was a life of smoking. He told me stories of how he would roll his own cigarettes as a kid and pretend to be a cowboy, and how he once shot his brother in the butt with a BB gun, only to be shot later in the neck. He had been a young manager at an oil exploration company, dressing in smart suits and emceeing many corporate events. But he loved smoking, and I don't believe there were many family photos of him without a Marlboro Light between his fingers. He was fiercely independent, and I recall that during church, he would spend most of the services outside, smoking cigarettes and reading philosophy or novels. One time, he told us how his doctor had said he was incredibly healthy, but remarked, "Sam, you should really quit." He told the doctor, "Do you really think they would be allowed to sell us these if they kill people?"

During his treatment, he became a different person. Instead of Camus, he read spirit guides, bought talismans, and fell asleep to meditation tapes; he was in constant pain and grimaced frequently. He tried to do nice things for other cancer patients, giving them inspirational books and cassettes for free. But as his health deteriorated exponentially, he basically stopped... well, he just stopped. Everything.

The news got worse and worse. Lung cancer had spread to his entire body. The chemotherapy and radiation were moot and did little but make him lose hair and become violently ill. I found ways to avoid being at home, embarrassed by the situation and unsure of how to handle it. Eventually he couldn't stand; he rarely spoke except to say "I'm so sorry this is happening. You know I love you guys. I'm sorry to put you through this."

It moved so swiftly. We had mentioned here or there, "What do we do if you don't make it?" He said, "I have insurance. The company will take care of you. Take half of it and put it toward the house and split the rest up as you see fit." He told us there was $100,000.

- - - - - -

During the final weeks he began to have trouble swallowing, a sure sign that his body was shutting down. We took him to his oncology appointment. His doctor saw us in the parking lot, gave my frail, ghastly father a disparaging look, and said, "Sam, go to the hospital now. I can't help you. There is nothing I can do now." My father looked shaken, as if this was his death sentence. Little did we know, sitting at our front door was a package that had been opened and returned to us from the very doctor. The package had contained a handwritten note from my father thanking the doctor, as well as some gift certificates to a restaurant and a book on alternative healing my father found helpful. There was a piece of scrap paper on top that said "CANNOT accept gifts, Mr. Farmer."

My father spent the remaining week in the hospital. He was admitted on a holiday weekend, and little attention was given to him. On Monday, a doctor we called "Dr. Death" stoically informed my father that he would be dead soon and should perhaps go home because of the staggering costs associated with care, including a device with a tube required to drain fluids in his lungs (he would otherwise drown). The last night he was there is burned into my memory forever; it illustrated what madness humans inherit and just how existential life can be.

My father hadn't swallowed food in a week, and he was so famished that he began hallucinating. He couldn't move his head, but as his eyes darted around, mouth opened, he was actually in a McDonald's. Yes. He was convinced he was in a fast food restaurant and began weakly asking why he had been transferred there. "What... why... did they put me here? ::gasp:: Why am I in this McDonald's? Why... why are we in McDonald's?"

My mother laughingly said, "No, Sam, you're in the hospital with the family." And he responded, "Can I get a Big Mac and a Shake? Actually, a Quarter Pounder. And some ice cream. A vanilla sundae, too. And I want some fries." We all laughed while he stared blankly at the ceiling, completely unaware of his surroundings or our reality. As we giggled uncontrollably, my mom, brother and I, at this zombie that was formerly my dad, my brother decided to actually go to McDonald's and got him a combo meal. The last thing I remember from the night is my father desperately trying to swallow fries and coughing them up, choking on air and vomiting gas.

My father was home. He sat on his chair and watched football, fading in and out of consciousness, drooling and spitting into a pink, plastic, kidney shaped medical dish that we'd dump for him every half-hour or so. We knew it was only a matter of time before he would be gone.

- - - - - -

The next night, I was at my girlfriend's house playing video games. I wanted to get as far away from my dad as possible because I was afraid. I was scared to look at him. The eyes of a cancer patient are black crystal balls; behind cloudy cataracts waits doom, patiently, like a quilt-maker, or a dog that starves itself next to its master's corpse. I went to the car - a BMW my dad helped me finance against his better judgment - to sneak a cigarette and grab my phone. Yes. I had been smoking since I was 16, on and off, and I smoked the thickest, strongest cigarettes I could, from Camel's with a K to unfiltered Djarum cloves, imported in a tin box.

My phone read, "17 MISSED CALLS."

I listened to the messages on my phone. "Tim, if you want to see your father alive, come now." He was at the hospital. When I got to the hospital, I went around to the back door. I was told my father was in the room right next to it. When I tried to go in there, I was turned back. "Hey, hey, hey - where do you think you're going?" said a nurse.

"I am going to see my fath-" She interrupted.

"No you isn't! You have to go to the front and check in like everybody else."

"But he is dying."

"Sir, you have to leave, go to the front, they will let you in if you are family, you can't come in this door."

I could literally see my mom's hair sticking outside of the door. Apparently, much of my family had assembled in the room.

I went to the front, but there was a line of sick people. They were yelling, being unruly, and the staff were screaming back like banshees.

I just stood there. I didn't know what to do. At some point, my ex-girlfriend's mom (who was already there) ran into the waiting room and grabbed me.

The nurses yelled at her, "Ma'am, ma'am he can't just go back there -"

"His father is dying, for Christ's sake!" she screamed.

When I got in the room a few minutes later, he was dead. His eyes were open, and a priest began praying over him. Everyone in the room was balling - my mother, brother, and a few other relatives. I tried to close his eyelids but they kept popping back open.

- - - - - -

People were so kind those first few days. Great dishes of food - chickens, hams, dips, pies - arrived one after the other at our duplex. It was very nice. People didn't know what to say, but they all said, "I don't know what to say." Many more said, "Let us know if you need anything." But like the end of a fantasy novel, the book was closed, and the fragility of our situation began to manifest.

We had no money in the bank. None. My mother had no job. My brother was a musician; if he didn't play, he didn't get paid. I was a student. We had no will, no insurance documents, nothing. My father entrusted this information to his company, but our family seemed aloof. Eventually, they wrote a letter (yes, our family wrote us a letter) giving us information about his life insurance policy. It was half of what we expected. It wasn't enough to pay off the house and medical/credit card/funeral bills, which my father said we should do. How could he make such a glaring mistake? We knew there must me a problem, but we had no idea where to start since Dad simply said, "Talk to the company - they have it all under control." Shortly after, someone from the company (the family business, mind you) came in the night and took away his truck.

In order to find why our father said we would receive twice the insurance money that we did, we actually broke into his office at his workplace. We dug through documents and took what looked important. After sorting through countless papers, we eventually found a 401K plan that was not disclosed to us as well as details concerning a profit sharing plan.

After sound and fury, we were able to get the 401K plan money rolled-over to my mother's account, but not without a lot of name calling and tension, and an accountant. We were flat out told we couldn't have any profit sharing money because there had been "no profits," but we were too ignorant to know any better and couldn't afford a lawyer.

My mother got her first bill - the ambulance bill. Then a bill from hospital for CALLING the ambulance. Over time, the medical bills continued to pour in. The credit card companies learned of my fathers death and began asking for the entire balances. My mother paid and paid. She paid off the second mortgage that my father had gotten to help pay for his medical bills while he was still alive.

At this time, NONE of us had medical coverage. To this day, my brother and mother still do not.

All of our lives have been irrevocably altered due to the pains caused by poor health care, impossible costs, and our lack of end-of-life counseling decisions.

Click to see the conclusion, How Obama's Health Care Plan Would've Changed My Life

A Response to the Dr. Stephen E. Fraser letter (and copycats) Part 2

THE TRUTH ABOUT OBAMA'S "EVIL" HEALTH CARE PLAN

PART 2 of 3

> Page 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18: The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps to sign up individuals for Govt HC plan.

This is an absolute lie and a silly leap in logic. Again, Dr. Fraser, you use buzzwords like “ACORN” and “Americorps” to frighten ignorant people that you know will never read the actual healthcare reform proposal (too bad that I did). Notice that I use the term “proposal” and you use the term “bill.” These lines simply say that the government will conduct outreach activities to make sure individuals and employers understand their rights and benefits under the health plan. Apparently, you’d rather people not be informed. I find that strange, because I believe the more people that know about their plan, the more money you will make. Oh wait – all the doctors are going to be poor, right? Apparently not, considering the massive paychecks (think $600K+) that many doctors under the NHS plan get in the UK. I should also mention that NHS doctors get bonuses for KEEPING PATIENTS WELL and have pay-for-performance incentives based on patient feedback and long-term health.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5375696.ece

> Page 85 Line 7 HC Bill: Specifications of Benefit Levels for Plans. AARP members - your Health care WILL be rationed.

Stephen, see three lines above. I think you’ve repeated yourself.

> Page 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill: Medicaid Eligible Individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. No choice.

Excuse me? It says for people that refuse to enroll in a plan will automatically be enrolled in Medicaid. That seems like a pretty open choice – the choice NOT to enroll in a QHBP.

> Page 124 lines 24-25 HC: No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Govt Monopoly.

It isn’t a monopoly. I believe that 5/6^th in the United States of people are currently insured. The government health plan is one option for the uninsured. The proposal does not prohibit a person from buying private insurance or from being insured by his or her employer. I do think this is strong language, and it will probably be restructured. I am sure there will be some limitations on legal action concerning the price of services, but perhaps this is extreme wording.

> Page 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill: Doctors/ American Medical Association - The Govt will tell YOU what you can make! (salary)

Actually, it gives doctors the choice of payment rates or payment ratios. Also, these doctors will be a part of an incentive plan, as mentioned above, that focuses on rewarding doctors for the quality of care over the volume of patience and ordered services. Doctors will receive bonuses if their patients get well and stay healthy. There will be less of an incentive to milk every dollar of the insurance companies by ordering needless, costly procedures, and can do so while being arrogant and condescending.

For example, I went in to the doctor recently and told him that I thought I may have a kidney stone. He ordered a blood test, urinalysis, and a CAT scan. Seriously – a CAT scan? But he did it in a disingenuous way – he barely looked at me during the 5 minutes I was there and interrupted me any time I tried to speak. He said, “If we don’t call, you aren’t dying” and walked out of the room. Eventually, I walked into the hall, and I saw another guy standing there. He asked the nurse, “Is he done with me? He just walked out – he didn’t say anything.” “Yeah, that means he’s done with you.” Wow. Talk about personal care. For those that think the “Obama plan” will result in “worse doctors,” well, God save us if that happens.

There is nothing in the literature that suggests these doctors can’t accept private patients! This only pertains to patients covered under the government plan. And fixed prices for services is nothing new – this is how private insurance plans currently work.

> Page 145 Line 15-17: An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into public option plan. NO CHOICE!

This is absolutely not true. This section describes the requirements for employers that wish to use the plan. Title I of the bill does not prohibit employers from enrolling employees in private plans.

> Page 126 Lines 22-25: Employers MUST pay for HC for part time employees AND their families.

VERY strange. Page 126 says that a health care provider may not “participate in the public health insurance option unless such provider is appropriately licensed or certified under State law.” There is no mention of part time employees.

> Page 149 Lines 16-24: ANY Employer with payroll 401k & above who does not provide public option pays 8% tax on all payroll.

Half-true. Any employer with over 400K in payroll that does not offer a private plan or enroll in the public plan will be taxed 8% of any employee's average pay that is not covered. I don't believe it is on "all payroll." It indicates a tax only for uninsured employees. And the doctor implies that an employer must take the public option, which is not true. Due to backlash, I have heard this number will be raised to $750K.

> Page 150 Lines 9-13: Business's with payroll btw 251k & 401k who doesn't provide public option pays 2-6% tax on all payroll.

This is on a sliding scale. The same is true here. The employer can have public or private insurance; it is the absence of insurance for an employee that results in the tax. I've read that this number is being raised to $500K.

> Page 167 Lines 18-23: ANY individual who doesn't have acceptable HC according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income.

This is tricky. It does say this, but it also says this amount shall not exceed the applicable national average premium. This is basically an incentive to get people to join, at minimum, a basic health plan. Consider that the cost will be quite small, considering the number of people that will be on the plan.

> Page 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill: Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (Americans will pay)

Yes, they are exempt because they aren't covered. See here:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/0522DNBUShealthcare.25377b8.html

> Page 195 HC Bill: Officers & employees of HC Admin (GOVT) will have access to ALL Americans finances /personal records.

NO. This applies to people that want an affordability tax credit. This information suggests that someone must prove they are eligible for tax credits - just like every other type of credit in existence.

> Page 203 Line 14-15 HC: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax" Yes, it says that!

Yes. What is your point? You've taken it out of context.

> Page 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill: Govt will reduce physician services for Medicaid Seniors, low income and poor are affected.

There is absolutely no mention of anything like this on this page.

> Page 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill: Doctors, doesn't matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same!

This doesn't apply to the specialists specialties, only the services. Why pay a specialist more than a general practitioner for the same service?

> Page 253 Line 10-18: Govt sets value of Doctor's time, proffession, judgment etc. Literally value of humans.

First, as a professional, you should probably know how to spell "profession." Second, this has to do with generating codes to differentiate between services. This is no different than private insurance. Again, you have to have a way to categorize things in order to measure success, costs, or growth. The "literally value of humans" has nothing to do with the subject matter, and is spoken like a true lunatic.

> Page 265 Sec 1131: Govt mandates & controls productivity for private HC industries.

This is related to Medicare costs and the Market Basket Update, and there is certainly not enough information to make this claim from the information provided.

> Page 268 Sec 1141: Federal Govt regulates rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs.

Again, this relates to Medicare. Apparently, the Market Basket Update is something seniors want.
http://futureofaging.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/washington-update-energy-and-commerce-committee-passes-health-care-reform-bill/

> Page 272 SEC. 1145: TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS - Cancer patients - welcome to rationing!

OK, one of us is completely incompetent. Because to me, this page reads, "We are doing a study to determine whether we need to reclassify the costs to hospitals of outpatient cancer treatment by comparing the price of care across different outpatient cancer care centers. We will then raise the amount of money the government pays by modifying the Ambulatory Payment Classifications associated with said costs." I agree that was confusing; they are welcome to use my definition.

PART 3 COMING SOON

A Response to the Dr. Stephen E. Fraser letter (and copycats) Part 1

THE TRUTH ABOUT OBAMA’S "EVIL" HEALTH CARE PLAN
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.

This very short section (one sentence) details that DISCRIMINATION shall be PROHIBITED IN HEALTH CARE. I’d like to see the type of person that disagrees with this.

> 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.

Click here for part 2.