ObamaCare

Yesterday, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) asked proposed that the Senate enact, by unanimous consent, an amendment to the pending health care bill, that, in Coburn’s words,

…would certify that every member of the Senate has read the bill and understands the bill before they vote on it.

This is especially significant since a massive amendment to the bill is now being written in secret and the Senate is up against yet another manufactured deadline imposed by the President, to create an artificial sense of urgency.  This time the deadline is Christmas.  Some Senators are predicting a health care vote on Christmas day.

Obviously, there will not be nearly enough time for Senators to read and fully understand the revised 2,000 pages of dense legalese, with hundreds of references to other laws that have to be looked up and read as well.

Senator Max Baucus, one of the principle authors of Senate health care bills immediately objected.  In the video below Baucus pretends to believe the amendment would force him to certify that other Senators understood the bill.   He ignores Coburn’s clarification, that each Senator would certify himself and continues to object.

This exchange on the Senate floor reveals a cynical Senator Baucus who demonstrates contempt for the notion that other Senators are even competent to understand a bill before voting.  It’s obvious from his dismissive attitude and his chortling that Baucus is accustomed to and expects many Senators vote to impose new laws and new government programs on the American people without reading or understanding them.

The three minute video begins a bit late, cutting off the first few words of Senator Coburn’s statement.  Those missing words are:

I have another unanimous consent request…associated with a Coburn amendment that would certify that every member of the Senate has read the bill…

This bill does not increase government.

So far, Liberty Works has identified 55 new commissions, demonstrations, councils, programs and bureaucracies in the latest Senate bill:

1.    Sec. 1321. State flexibility in operation and enforcement of Exchanges and related requirements.
2.    Sec. 1343. Transitional reinsurance program for individual and small group markets
3.    Sec. 1322. Federal program to assist establishment of nonprofit health insurance issuers.
4.    Sec. 2705. Medicaid Global Payment System Demonstration Project.
5.    Sec. 2706. Pediatric Accountable Care Organization Demonstration Project.
6.    Sec. 2707. Medicaid emergency psychiatric demonstration project.
7.    Sec. 2801. MACPAC assessment of policies affecting all Medicaid beneficiaries.
8.    Sec. 2951. Maternal, infant, and early childhood home visiting programs.
9.    Sec. 3001. Hospital Value-Based purchasing program.
10.   Sec. 3003. Improvements to the physician feedback program.

11.    Sec. 3004. Quality reporting for long-term care, inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, and hospice.
12.   Sec. 3005. Quality reporting for PPS-exempt cancer hospitals.
13.   Sec. 3006. Value-Based purchasing program for nursing facilities and home health agencies. 14.   Sec. 3008. Payment adjustment for conditions acquired in hospitals.

15.    Sec. 3012. Interagency Working Group on Health Care Quality.
16.    Sec. 3021. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation within CMS.
17.    Sec. 3022. Medicare shared savings program.
18.    Sec. 3023. National pilot program on payment bundling.
19.    Sec. 3024. Independence at home demonstration program.
20.    Sec. 3025. Hospital readmissions reduction program.
21.    Sec. 3026. Community-Based Care Transitions Program.
22.   Sec. 3123. Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program.
23.    Sec. 3140. Medicare hospice concurrent care demonstration program
24.    Sec. 3301. Medicare coverage gap discount program.
25.    Sec. 3403. Independent Medicare Advisory Board.
26.    Sec. 3506. Program to facilitate shared decision-making
27.    Sec. 3508. Demonstration program to integrate quality…health professionals
28.    Sec. 3510. Patient Navigator Program.
29.    Sec. 4001. National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council.
30.    Sec. 4206. Demonstration Project Concerning Individualized Wellness Plan.
31.    Sec. 4303. CDC And Employer-Based Wellness Programs.
32.    Sec. 4306. Childhood Obesity Demonstration Project.
33.    Sec. 5101. National Health Care Workforce Commission.
34.    Sec. 5202. Nursing student loan program
35.    Sec. 5203. Health care workforce loan repayment program.
36.    Sec. 5207. National Health Service Corps.
37.    Sec. 5210. Ready Reserve Corps.
38.    Sec. 5304. Alternative Dental Health Care Providers Demonstration Project.
39.    Sec. 5204. Public Health Workforce Recruitment And Retention Programs.
40.    Sec. 5205. Allied Health Workforce Recruitment And Retention Programs.
41.    Sec. 5310. Loan Repayment And Scholarship Program.
42.    Sec. 5311. Nurse Faculty Loan Program.
43.    Sec. 5405. Primary Care Extension Program.
44.    Sec. 6112. National independent monitor demonstration project.
45.    Sec. 6114. National demonstration projects on culture change and use of information technology in nursing homes.
46.    Sec. 6201. Nationwide program for National and State background checks on direct patient access employees of long-term care facilities and providers.
47.    Sec. 6302. Federal coordinating council for comparative effectiveness research.
48.    Sec. 6411. Expansion of the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program
49.    Sec. 8002. CLASS Act
50.    Sec. 1341. Transitional reinsurance program for individual and small group markets in each State.
51.    Sec. 1342. Establishment of risk corridors for plans in individual and small group markets.
52.    Sec. 1514. Reporting of employer health insurance coverage program.
53.    Sec. 2401. Community First Choice Option.
54.    Sec. 2704. Demonstration project to evaluate integrated care around a hospitalization.
55.    Sec. 2403. Money Follows the Person Re-balancing Demonstration.

It will list the medical services each of us is eligible to receive, and set forth the terms and conditions that each of us will have to meet to access those services.

The contract will be enforced by the IRS and scores of new federal agencies, and you will not be permitted to opt out.  The contact will continuously evolve over the years, as various population groups pass into and out of political favor and as costs inevitably rise above government’s ability to meet.

On October 19 the 1502 page Senate Finance Committee version of ObamaCare was posted on the internet.  Since then, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and a few Senate staffers have been working on “merging” these pages with another, similar sized bill produced by another Senate committee.

We copied and pasted just three of the 1,500 pages below.  We picked these particular pages, about Medicare Advantage, because the President has relentlessly attacked this program.  So, we wanted to see what the consequences of ObamaCare would be on Medicare Advantage.

The reader will note that it’s impossible to determine anything from reading this language.  An experienced attorney would require several hours to refer to the Social Security act and interpret the effect of the changes in just these three pages.  And these are just the beginning of 36 pages regarding Medicare Advantage.

The Finance Committee version includes hundreds of pages that look just like this, and require the reader to refer to several other laws and regulations and try to figure out the consequences of the proposed changes.

Interpreting the language of ObamaCare will be a laborious endeavor that Doctors and patients simply can not undertake.  Only major corporations with herds of staff attorneys will be in a position to comprehend, interpret and take advantage of ObamaCare.

SEC. 3201. MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PAYMENT.

(a) MA BENCHMARK BASED ON PLAN’S COMPETITIVE BIDS.—

(1) IN 1 GENERAL.—Section 1853(j) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w–23(j)) is amended—
(A) by striking ‘‘AMOUNTS.—For purposes’’ and inserting ‘‘AMOUNTS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes’’;
(B) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and
(2) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively,
and indenting the subparagraphs appropriately;
(C) in subparagraph (A), as redesignated
by subparagraph (B)—

(i) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively, and indenting the clauses appropriately; and

(ii) in clause (i), as redesignated by
clause (i), by striking ‘‘an amount equal
to’’ and all that follows through the end
and inserting ‘‘an amount equal to—

‘‘(I) for years before 2007, 1/12 of
the annual MA capitation rate under
section 1853(c)(1) for the area for the
year, adjusted as appropriate for the
purpose of risk adjustment;

‘‘(II) for 2007 through 2011, 1/12
of the applicable amount determined
under subsection (k)(1) for the area
for the year;

‘‘(III) for 2012, the sum of—
‘‘(aa) 2/3 of the quotient
of—

‘‘(AA) the applicable
amount determined under
subsection (k)(1) for the
area for the year; and
‘‘(BB) 12; and
‘‘(bb) 1/3 of the MA competitive benchmark amount (determined under paragraph (2)) for
the area for the month;

‘‘(IV) for 2013, the sum of—
‘‘(aa) 1/3 of the quotient
of—

‘‘(AA) the applicable

amount determined under
subsection (k)(1) for the
area for the year; and
‘‘(BB) 12; and
‘‘(bb) 2/3 of the MA competi24
tive benchmark amount (as so determined) for the area of the month…

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]]> http://libertyworks.com/opaque-legalese-no-citizen-can-read-1/feed/ 5 http://libertyworks.com/republican-trys-to-preserve-obamas-tax-pledge/ http://libertyworks.com/republican-trys-to-preserve-obamas-tax-pledge/#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:32:21 +0000 BoomerJeff http://libertyworks.com/?p=5126 The Senate Commerce Committee met again Thursday to continue “mark up” of it’s version of ObamaCare, written almost entirely by one man, Committee Chairman Baucus.  It was revealed last week that even after months of deliberations this the bill isn’t really a bill at all.  It’s merely a “conceptual paper.”

Last week Republicans proposed an amendment that would have required the “bill,” such as it is, to be posted on the Internet 72 hours before the committee voted on it.  The Amendment was defeated by the committee’s Democrat majority, perhaps to avoid the embarrassment to Senator Baucus of the whole world seeing his pathetic “concepts” in print.

On Thursday Senator Mike Crapo introduced another amendment.  He began by reminding the committee of President Obama’s campaign promise not to increase any tax on anyone earning less than $250,000.  The text of his amendment was very simple:

No tax, fee or penalty imposed by this legislation shall be applied to any individual earning less than $200,000 or any couple earning less than $250,000.

After Crapo finished the eight minute presentation of the basis and purpose of his Amendment, including projected taxes that would be required of low to middle income families, Bacus, who had not been paying attention asked him to explain it a second time.   He then claimed his bill would result in a 1% tax cut to all Americans by 2019 and wage increases to workers.  Finally, after several comments from other Senators Baucus  snorted:

This is a message amendment, and not really a substantive.  What you’re saying is you want to gut the President’s program.  More than that you want to gut health reform.

The committee’s Democrat majority then voted to defeat the amendment, paving the way for new health care taxes to be applied to the very people President Obama promised he would not tax.

Crapo noted three direct taxes on individuals imposed by the bill:

• The individual mandate to carry insurance means that there will be an excise tax of up to $1900 per family who fail to purchase insurance.  The bill provides for jail time for anyone who doesn’t pay.
• Tax penalties for those withdrawing money from Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) for non-medical emergencies would double from 10 to 20 percent.
• The tax floor for families seeking deductions for medical expenses rises.  Currently medical expenses are deductible to the extent they exceed 7.5% of one’s income.  The bill would raise that bar to 10%.

Here’s video of Senator Crapo’s remarks.

For two months the “gang of six” Senators has met almost daily, behind closed doors to, all by themselves, write the thousand page conglomeration of  laws that would tear down and reconstruct 1,300 insurance companies, Medicare, Medicaid, and VA health care. 

The political-media establishment waited breathlessly, and glorified these six human beings as equal to such a monumental task because they were “bi-partisan.”  Three were registered Democrats and three were registered Republicans, who often voted with the democrats, against the Republicans.

Today was the grand unveiling.  The media compliantly assembled in the designated room and set up cameras for the majestic performance.

But only one of the six, Senator Baucus showed up to tout this stupendous, extra-human achievement.  The other two Democrats and the three Republicans decided they could not support the product they had toiled over for all these weeks.

This development defies all the conventional wisdom in Washington and is, therefore, the best possible news for the rest of us who live in the real world.