Thread: 20 Ways ObamaCare Will Take Away Our Freedoms

Great article!

15,16 and 17 are going to add significant cost to medical care which will increase taxes.

19 is going to KILL investment and thus economic growth in the private sector.

Originally Posted by CSA

I thought thsi was going to simple be an editorial, but it is filled with the actual sections you can find the language.. very good read...


20 Ways ObamaCare Will Take Away Our Freedoms

20 Ways ObamaCare Will Take Away Our Freedoms
By David Hogberg
Posted 03/21/2010 03:24 PM ET


If some reports are to be believed, the Democrats will pass the Senate health care bill with some reconciliation changes later today. Thus, it is worthwhile to take a comprehensive look at the freedoms we will lose.

Of course, the bill is supposed to provide us with security. But it will result in skyrocketing insurance costs and physicians leaving the field in droves, making it harder to afford and find medical care. We may be about to live Benjamin Franklin’s adage, “People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both.”

The sections described below are taken from HR 3590 as agreed to by the Senate and from the reconciliation bill as displayed by the Rules Committee.

1. You are young and don’t want health insurance? You are starting up a small business and need to minimize expenses, and one way to do that is to forego health insurance? Tough. You have to pay $750 annually for the “privilege.” (Section 1501)

2. You are young and healthy and want to pay for insurance that reflects that status? Tough. You’ll have to pay for premiums that cover not only you, but also the guy who smokes three packs a day, drink a gallon of whiskey and eats chicken fat off the floor. That’s because insurance companies will no longer be able to underwrite on the basis of a person’s health status. (Section 2701).

3. You would like to pay less in premiums by buying insurance with lifetime or annual limits on coverage? Tough. Health insurers will no longer be able to offer such policies, even if that is what customers prefer. (Section 2711).

4. Think you’d like a policy that is cheaper because it doesn’t cover preventive care or requires cost-sharing for such care? Tough. Health insurers will no longer be able to offer policies that do not cover preventive services or offer them with cost-sharing, even if that’s what the customer wants. (Section 2712).

5. You are an employer and you would like to offer coverage that doesn’t allow your employers’ slacker children to stay on the policy until age 26? Tough. (Section 2714).

6. You must buy a policy that covers ambulatory patient services, emergency services, hospitalization, maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment; prescription drugs; rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices; laboratory services; preventive and wellness services; chronic disease management; and pediatric services, including oral and vision care.
You’re a single guy without children? Tough, your policy must cover pediatric services. You’re a woman who can’t have children? Tough, your policy must cover maternity services. You’re a teetotaler? Tough, your policy must cover substance abuse treatment. (Add your own violation of personal freedom here.) (Section 1302).

7. Do you want a plan with lots of cost-sharing and low premiums? Well, the best you can do is a “Bronze plan,” which has benefits that provide benefits that are actuarially equivalent to 60% of the full actuarial value of the benefits provided under the plan. Anything lower than that, tough. (Section 1302 (d)(1)(A))

8. You are an employer in the small-group insurance market and you’d like to offer policies with deductibles higher than $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families? Tough. (Section 1302 (c) (2) (A).

9. If you are a large employer (defined as at least 101 employees) and you do not want to provide health insurance to your employee, then you will pay a $750 fine per employee (It could be $2,000 to $3,000 under the reconciliation changes). Think you know how to better spend that money? Tough. (Section 1513).
10. You are an employer who offers health flexible spending arrangements and your employees want to deduct more than $2,500 from their salaries for it? Sorry, can’t do that. (Section 9005 (i)).

11. If you are a physician and you don’t want the government looking over your shoulder? Tough. The Secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized to use your claims data to issue you reports that measure the resources you use, provide information on the quality of care you provide, and compare the resources you use to those used by other physicians. Of course, this will all be just for informational purposes. It’s not like the government will ever use it to intervene in your practice and patients’ care. Of course not. (Section 3003 (i))

12. If you are a physician and you want to own your own hospital, you must be an owner and have a “Medicare provider agreement” by Feb. 1, 2010. (Dec. 31, 2010 in the reconciliation changes.) If you didn’t have those by then, you are out of luck. (Section 6001 (i) (1) (A)).

13. If you are a physician owner and you want to expand your hospital? Well, you can’t (Section 6001 (i) (1) (B). Unless, it is located in a country where, over the last five years, population growth has been 150% of what it has been in the state (Section 6601 (i) (3) ( E)). And then you cannot increase your capacity by more than 200% (Section 6001 (i) (3) (C)).

14. You are a health insurer and you want to raise premiums to meet costs? Well, if that increase is deemed “unreasonable” by the Secretary of Health and Human Services it will be subject to review and can be denied. (Section 1003)

15. The government will extract a fee of $2.3 billion annually from the pharmaceutical industry. If you are a pharmaceutical company what you will pay depends on the ratio of the number of brand-name drugs you sell to the total number of brand-name drugs sold in the U.S. So, if you sell 10% of the brand-name drugs in the U.S., what you pay will be 10% multiplied by $2.3 billion, or $230,000,000. (Under reconciliation, it starts at $2.55 billion, jumps to $3 billion in 2012, then to $3.5 billion in 2017 and $4.2 billion in 2018, before settling at $2.8 billion in 2019 (Section 1404)). Think you, as a pharmaceutical executive, know how to better use that money, say for research and development? Tough. (Section 9008 (b)).


16. The government will extract a fee of $2 billion annually from medical device makers. If you are a medical device maker what you will pay depends on your share of medical device sales in the U.S. So, if you sell 10% of the medical devices in the U.S., what you pay will be 10% multiplied by $2 billion, or $200,000,000. Think you, as a medical device maker, know how to better use that money, say for R&D? Tough. (Section 9009 (b)).
The reconciliation package turns that into a 2.9% excise tax for medical device makers. Think you, as a medical device maker, know how to better use that money, say for research and development? Tough. (Section 1405).

17. The government will extract a fee of $6.7 billion annually from insurance companies. If you are an insurer, what you will pay depends on your share of net premiums plus 200% of your administrative costs. So, if your net premiums and administrative costs are equal to 10% of the total, you will pay 10% of $6.7 billion, or $670,000,000. In the reconciliation bill, the fee will start at $8 billion in 2014, $11.3 billion in 2015, $1.9 billion in 2017, and $14.3 billion in 2018 (Section 1406).Think you, as an insurance executive, know how to better spend that money? Tough.(Section 9010 (b) (1) (A and B).)

18. If an insurance company board or its stockholders think the CEO is worth more than $500,000 in deferred compensation? Tough.(Section 9014).

19. You will have to pay an additional 0.5% payroll tax on any dollar you make over $250,000 if you file a joint return and $200,000 if you file an individual return. What? You think you know how to spend the money you earned better than the government? Tough. (Section 9015).
That amount will rise to a 3.8% tax if reconciliation passes. It will also apply to investment income, estates, and trusts. You think you know how to spend the money you earned better than the government? Like you need to ask. (Section 1402).

20. If you go for cosmetic surgery, you will pay an additional 5% tax on the cost of the procedure. Think you know how to spend that money you earned better than the government? Tough. (Section 9017).

It's entirely possible now that anyone with no income could make a living just going from one clinic or hospital to another faking illness and getting free medical treatment and free room and board.

What I can tell you from my experience is that plenty of businesses are truly wary right now.
From what most have been able to decipher, the larger your business - the larger the increase in cost, and the smaller your business, the smaller the cost...and some may even have costs cut.
One thing I have heard ring true for all I have talked to thusfar...plans are already being discussed to reduce benefits to align with the costs that will go up - meaning of course what those employees will get - is a reduction in benefits such as reduced 401k matching, elimination of pensions etc.

Originally Posted by sinebar

It's entirely possible now that anyone with no income could make a living just going from one clinic or hospital to another faking illness and getting free medical treatment and free room and board.

Yeah. That'll happen.

Originally Posted by sinebar

It's entirely possible now that anyone with no income could make a living just going from one clinic or hospital to another faking illness and getting free medical treatment and free room and board.

Um...... no....... :rolleyes:

Let's not be silly here.

Originally Posted by Tanngrisnir3

Yeah. That'll happen.

I know nuts huh.. Oh BTW it happens every day in large cities.. I read an article about it last year from NYC.

Originally Posted by sinebar

It's entirely possible now that anyone with no income could make a living just going from one clinic or hospital to another faking illness and getting free medical treatment and free room and board.

That is absolutely ridiculous. I have worked in health care for 20 years. I hve seen the homeless medicaid contingent try this in hospitals, mental hospitals, and drug treatment programs. It doesn't work. It just isn't that easy to get 3 hots and a cot.

Originally Posted by CSA

I know nuts huh.. Oh BTW it happens every day in large cities.. I read an article about it last year from NYC.

I worked in a large city for 20 years. It does NOT happen. It is tried, but not successfully.

Originally Posted by CSA

I know nuts huh.. Oh BTW it happens every day in large cities.. I read an article about it last year from NYC.

No, it doesn't. I read an article that said some, somewhere, some time ago.

Originally Posted by SamInTheSouth

Um...... no....... :rolleyes:

Let's not be silly here.

I bet it will. In fact healthcare facilities may even encourage it since these people will be a cash cow instead of the pennyless pain in the ass they use to be. I can even see clinics popping up just to cash in on the freeloaders just like with medicaid.

Originally Posted by Sunshine

That is absolutely ridiculous. I have worked in health care for 20 years. I hve seen the homeless medicaid contingent try this in hospitals, mental hospitals, and drug treatment programs. It doesn't work. It just isn't that easy to get 3 hots and a cot.

Well in case you haven't noticed healtcare is right now and no healthcare provider can turn anyone away and why would they since they will be reimbursed by the tax payer. So I wouldn't just dismiss it as being absurd. It can and most likely will happen. There will be a flood of this kind of shit.

Originally Posted by Tanngrisnir3

Yeah. That'll happen.

He didn't say it will happen. He said it's possible.

As grand as this bill is, you would think that retard Democrats would notice something like that.

Then again, there's no evidence that they actually read it, so it should surprise no one...

Originally Posted by sinebar

Well in case you haven't noticed healtcare is right now and no healthcare provider can turn anyone away and why would they since they will be reimbursed by the tax payer. So I wouldn't just dismiss it as being absurd. It can and most likely will happen. There will be a flood of this kind of shit.

A hospital, mental hospital, or other treatment program most assuredly CAN turn someone away who doesn't met admission criteria. And a patient cannot be admitted to a hospital without a doctor. No provider is obligated to hospitalize a person who doesn't need services. I have seen this play out repeatedly over the years. The prior approval process gives 3 days or less at a time, and the provider via their utilization review department has to give a detailed explanation of why services are needed.

That is a job I used to do. I did assessments and insurance precerts for a psych hospital after hours and on weekends for 4 years. I had to know the terms of every contract for every insurance company that the facility contracted with. If the patient isn't sick he doesn't get in. End of story.