According to their findings, the law includes:
- $569 billion in higher taxes
- $529 billion in cuts to Medicare
- swelling of the ranks of Medicaid by 16 million
- 17 major insurance mandates
- the creation of two new bureaucracies with powers to impose future rationing: the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and the Independent Payments Advisory Board
The law gives almost dictatorial powers to the HHS secretary whose judgments "can’t be challenged either administratively or through the courts."
Don't even get me started on Donald Berwick, Obama's recess appointment as the new head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This guy admits that Government health care is a redistribution of wealth and is in love with the British system--the British system that is failing and is going to be cut drastically this year.
Nancy Pelosi said congress would have to pass the law so we could find out what's in it. The more we find, the more it stinks.
A few weeks ago some coworkers and I were talking about health care, and the US health care reform over lunch. We all work in the Canadian health care field and bear witness to the "free" health care system. While its nice to go to your doctor without having to pay for the visit (unless you need some sort of paperwork) we were unanimous in that we felt that the US system far surpasses our own. We have wait lists where you're waiting years for something as simple as a knee surgery. We hope for government funding to get up to date tools and scanners. I could go on about this but I won't ramble ;) Suffice to say that the administration is not taking the responsible steps in this from my point of view.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how a $569 billion dollar tax hike...on top of the Bush tax cuts going away...is gonna effect a weak recessioned-up economy.
ReplyDelete[sarc/]
I met a woman from Australia last week. Her "free" medical care cost approx. $9K from a $36K income. Then her daughter broke an arm. The doctor (who was constantly soliciting more patient visits apparently to beef-up his income billing) set the arm wrong. The next day, the arm required much more major surgery to be set correctly. Not enough? This woman had a broken toe. The correction for the pain is "voluntary surgery"....so 2 years at least, was to be required for surgery. Also, she says, "People who were drunk had "sick days" which were freely used to determine why they felt sick. Many more days of work were missed as part of the system."
ReplyDeleteShe moved here.
She says "It just doesn't work! And I am upset that the government here doesn't understand that."
By the way, she also had severe comments regarding our immigration system, as it cost her approx. $8K to be legally naturalized, and she says, "If illegals are given amnesty, I want my money back."