Side note: I wrote this way back in the day (September 2009) long before the current healthcare bill passed. I have yet to read what actually did pass and compare the two. Perhaps that would make for another interesting post.
Organizational Flowchart of the House Democrat's Healthcare Plan
Yeah, I’m saying it. Not only do I think this new Obama healthcare deal is bad for the healthcare industry, I think it will be bad for economy as well. Hopefully I’m reading the correct HR3200 “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009″, but I have read into it about 500 pages (of the …1017 I think?) and am having a hard time finding why this is good for anyone. Anyone who is unfamiliar with the Bill should go here for the down and dirty of it:
The Health Care Bill – John David Lewis
Now that we’re all on track, let’s continue. If I’m understanding this correctly, this Bill will do the following things:
- Require all Americans to have “acceptable insurance”. Even those grandfathered in will be required to meet the requirements for “acceptable” within 5 years. Those who are not appropriately insured will face a penalty of 2.5% of the adjusted gross income.
- Employers will no longer offer private insurance. Instead they will opt to pay the 8% tax penalty in most instances because it will save them money and time overall. Take for example:
Average premium per person per year in this country are $7500. In this example company we employ 400 people.
$7500 x 400 = $3,000,000
On average our employees make $50,000 per year.
$50,000 * 400 = $20,000,000 payroll.
thus
$20,000,000 * 8% = $1,600,000
A savings of $1.4 million, not including time spent and man hours spent renegotiating our health insurance every year.
- By businesses largely no longer offering health insurance, many insurance companies will go ot of business. The health insurance industry employs roughly 3 million plus people from what I’ve heard. Three million Americans displaced from middle- to high-paying jobs is no small matter. Yes, I realize some of those will be absorbed by the new Government plan, but surely not everyone.
- The government plan will NOT be free healthcare. In theory, it would provide free “wellness” visits, those are preventative visits. For other visits you would be required to pay 70/30, which means the Government will pick up 70% of the bill while leaving you to pay the other 30%. Most private insurances offered by employer pay anywhere from 75-90%.
- You will not get to choose when you are hospitalized. While the proposed plan provides that no one shall be excluded for pre-existing conditions or other limiting factors, it also puts a limit on readmissions. If you have a condition that statistically does not result acceptable discharge rates, meaning they can be treated, then you cannot be re-admitted to a hospital for the same condition. What this means to me is terminal patients, go die at home. Or any disease that has a high mortality rate for that matter. Sepsis, stroke, geriatric hip fractures….you’re all out of luck.
- The Government’s fees will not be all the much less, and if you don’t pay your bill it will be a federal offense (just like not paying your taxes)! Also, there are provisions in the bill that the “commissioner” has no limit on fees set and the fees cannot be questioned by any authority.
- The “commissioner” is appointed by the President and cannot be investigated by the legislative or judicial branches. There is no definition of qualifications for the said office. Let’s see, how much more power can we bestow on one person? Where are our checks and balances?
Just a few of my thoughts, but as always I welcome discussion 
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