H.E.L.P. Kennedy’s Health Care Bill (Aptly Named)

The latest health care bill backed by Kennedy and Dodd is another example of the loony left.  I’m not sure whether I should laugh or cry over the acronym of the bill, which stands for Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP).  There are 15 items in this bill that should set the alarms off for those who are keeping a watchful eye on Washington, D.C. these days:

1. The Kennedy-Dodd bill would create an individual mandate requiring you to buy a “qualified” health insurance plan, as defined by the government.  If you don’t have “qualified” health insurance for a given month, you will pay a new Federal tax.  Incredibly, the amount and structure of this new tax is left to the discretion of the Secretaries of Treasury and Health and Human Services (HHS), whose only guidance is “to establish the minimum practicable amount that can accomplish the goal of enhancing participation in qualifying coverage (as so defined).”  The new Medical Advisory Council (see #3D) could exempt classes of people from this new tax.  To avoid this tax, you would have to report your health insurance information for each month of the prior year to the Secretary of HHS, along with “any such other information as the Secretary may prescribe.”  [More taxes! and just what I want - the government having my health information... Is this Constitutional? Not like that seems to matter anymore]
   
2. The bill would also create an employer mandate.  Employers would have to offer insurance to their employees.  Employers would have to pay at least a certain percentage (TBD) of the premium, and at least a certain dollar amount (TBD).  Any employer that did not would pay a new tax.  Again, the amount and structure of the tax is left to the discretion of the Secretaries of Treasury and HHS.  Small employers (TBD) would be exempt.  [Many employers will opt out on purpose, too costly to do such a thing - forcing people to go into the government plan]
   
3. In the Kennedy-Dodd bill, the government would define a qualified plan:
   
   1. All health insurance would be required to have guaranteed issue and renewal, modified community rating, no exclusions for pre-existing conditions, no lifetime or annual limits on benefits, and family policies would have to cover “children” up to age 26.  [Just what we need, the youth to be even lazier - keeping them living at home longer]
      
   2. A qualified plan would have to meet one of three levels of standardized cost-sharing defined by the government, “gold, silver, and bronze.”  Details TBD.
      
   3. Plans would be required to cover a list of preventive services approved by the Federal government.  [Yes, please let's trust the government to approve things]
      
   4. A qualified plan would have to cover “essential health benefits,” as defined by a new Medical Advisory Council (MAC), appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  The MAC would determine what items and services are “essential benefits.”  The MAC would have to include items and services in at least the following categories:  ambulatory patient services, emergency services, hospitalization, maternity and new born care, medical and surgical, mental health, prescription drugs, rehab and lab services, preventive/wellness services, pediatric services, and anything else the MAC thought appropriate.
      
   5. The MAC would also define what “affordable and available coverage” is for different income levels, affecting who has to pay the tax if they don’t buy health insurance.  The MAC’s rules would go into effect unless Congress passed a joint resolution (under a fast-track process) to turn them off.
      
4. Health insurance plans could not charge higher premiums for risky behaviors:  “Such rate shall not vary by health status-related factors, … or any other factor not described in paragraph (1).”  Smokers, drinkers, drug users, and those in terrible physical shape would all have their premiums subsidized by the healthy.  [Oh Goody! More Moral Hazards!]
   
5. Guaranteed issue and renewal combined with modified community rating would dramatically increase premiums for the overwhelming majority of those Americans who now have private health insurance.  New Jersey is the best example of health insurance mandates gone wild.  In the name of protecting their citizens, premiums are extremely high to cover the cross-subsidization of those who are uninsurable.
   
6. The bill would expand Medicaid to cover everyone up to 150% of poverty, with the Federal government paying all incremental costs (no State share).  This means adding childless adults with income below 150% of the poverty line.  [Expand a failing system? I am currently beating my head on the keyboard j;alajklsadflk; because this is insanity]
   
7. People from 150% of poverty up to 500% (!!) would get their health insurance subsidized (on a sliding scale).  If this were in effect in 2009, a family of four with income of $110,000 would get a small subsidy.  The bill does not indicate the source of funds to finance these subsidies. [More entitlements, more complacency, more dependency upon the government]
   
8. People in high cost areas (e.g., New York City, Boston, South Florida, Chicago, Los Angeles) would get much bigger subsidies than those in low cost areas (e.g., much of the rest of the country, especially in rural areas).  The subsidies are calculated as a percentage of the “reference premium,” which is determined based on the cost of plans sold in that particular geographic area [regionalism!  So other regions of America aren't equal and just as deserving?]
   
9. There would be a “public plan option” of health insurance offered by the federal government.  In this new government health plan, the federal government would pay health care providers Medicare rates + 10%.  The +10% is clearly intended to attract short-term legislative support from medical providers.  [ hope they are not so naive that they think that differential would last. ]
   
10. Group health plans with 250 or fewer members would be prohibited from self-insuring.  ERISA would only be for big businesses.
    
11. States would have to set up “gateways” (health insurance exchanges) to market only qualified health insurance plans.  If they don’t, the Feds will set up a gateway for them. [damned if you do, damned if you don't]
    
12. Health insurance plans in existence before the law would not have to meet the new insurance standards.  This creates a weird bifurcated system and means you would (probably) be subject to a different set of rules when you change jobs.
    
13. The bill does not specify what spending will be cut or what taxes will be raised to pay for the increased spending.  That is presumably for the Finance Committee to determine, since it’s their jurisdiction.
    
14. The bill defines an “eligible individual” as “a citizen or national of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence or an alien lawfully present in the United States.”  [All aliens will be lawful if Obama gets his amnesty passed in the Fall]
    
15. The bill would create a new pot of money for state gateways to pay “navigators” to educate people about the new bill, distribute information about health plans, and help people enroll.  Navigators receiving federal funds “may include … unions, …”

This would have severe effects on the more than 100 million Americans who have private health insurance today:

• The government would mandate not only that you must buy health insurance, but what health insurance counts as “qualifying.”
  
• Health insurance premiums would rise as a result of the law, meaning lower wages.
  
• A government-appointed board would determine what items and services are “essential benefits” that your qualifying plan must cover.
  
• You would find a tremendous new disincentive to switch jobs, because your new health insurance may be subject to the new rules and would therefore be significantly more expensive.
  
• Those who keep themselves healthy would be subsidizing premiums for those with risky or unhealthy behaviors.
  
• Far more than half of all Americans would be eligible for subsidies, but we have not yet been told who would pay the bill.
  
• The Secretaries of Treasury and HHS would have unlimited discretion to impose new taxes on individuals and employers who do not comply with the new mandates.
  
• The Secretary of HHS could mandate that you provide him or her with “any such other information as [he/she] may prescribe.”

I wonder if Sarah Palin could also say “I Told Ya So” to the health care bill that may be passed in July (the month that they are aiming for).  All of us who are employed and whose employer carries insurance will be affected by this.  I like having a choice of which doctor I go to, as long as they are covered under my plan.  I receive quality care and due to the fact that I have some medical issues of my own, I don’t want to chance handing my health and well-being over to the inefficient government, which has destroyed the nuclear family, the minority community, inner cities, immigration,  the economy, and any companies they have tried to run.   I have stood in line at the DMV and the ineffectiveness of that organization, the long lines, are what we will have to look forward to, given the government controlling people’s health care.

Let’s also not forget that government mandated health care, or health care run by the government, competing with the private sector, will always win.  The government will find ways to pass legislation to put competitors out of business, as it has done in the past.  Government run anything always costs money, it will require money from taxpayers to fund another entitlement to the American people.  Big government really is plantation politics; creating serfdom for otherwise capable individuals.

Below is the corresponding PDF/Word documents for the HELP bill.   As an FYI, if you read a bill and can’t make sense out of it – don’t vote for it!  Legislation should contain common sense, not legalese that baffles everyone.

Here is the PDF version and here is the Word version

I wonder if Kennedy included health care for women who were driven off the road into a river by a drunken buffoon?

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