Tries to pick out single lines of the bill and twists them into something negative...
Will you be able to Keep your insurance? Don't count on itI saw Rep. Christopher Murphy, D-5th District, several weeks ago on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal." That was when congressmen had not read — have they yet? — the 1,017-page H.R. 3200, though they voted for it.
His explanation was straight Barack Obama. "If you like your health-care insurance, you can keep it."
Probably not. H.R. 3200, page 16, Section 102, outlaws private insurance by forbidding enrollment after H.R. 3200 is passed into law, when people with private insurance unacceptable to the law will be dumped — no choice — into the government-run public option.
Whether Rep. Murphy read H.R. 3200 before speaking to the 250 Heritage Village seniors on Aug. 8, at a meeting arranged by the Southbury Democratic Party, is not clear from news accounts.
Rep. Murphy erred in stating illegal immigrants are not included in the bill. Yes, they are. See Section 152, pp. 50-51: Health Care will be provided to all non-U.S. citizens. (My references are from www.lc.org.) It was settled in the SCHIP law passed this year that they don't have to prove they are U.S. citizens.
If Rep. Murphy has read H.R. 3200, he should have seen many provisions discarding the elderly, who are the hardest hit. Medicare, which covers the elderly, would lose $500 billion to $550 billion in funding that is needed to enroll "47 million" new uninsured people in Medicaid.
Where will the half-trillion in cuts be made? Less spending on patient care, fewer expensive operations (the elderly are "too old" to justify the cost), less reimbursement to hospitals and doctors (already quitting because insufficiently reimbursed), less on specialists in lieu of primary-care physicians, fewer of the latest specialty medicines. And a painkiller pill in lieu of the hip operation: Obama's explanation.
A health commissioner would choose your benefits for you, according to p. 142, Section 142. Government would have access to your bank accounts for electronic-funds transfer, according to p. 59, Section 163. Government is creating a health-care "exchange" to bring private (insurance) plans under government control, on p. 72, Section 201.
The word "euthanasia" does not appear, but the spirit is there. There are "several end-of-life" provisions. Mandatory end-of-life counseling for anyone over 65, Section 1233 E & F, p. 426-433, says every five years, everyone older than 65 will confer with an end-of-life counselor. Obama says it will save thousands of dollars. (For whom? How?)
"Advance Care Planning Consultation," p. 429, Section 233. Government will specify which doctors can write end-of-life orders. (What does that mean?)
I have not heard whether Rep. Murphy is planning more meetings in the district.
http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2009/08/24/letters/432703.txt