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Great weblog here! Additionally your web site loads up fast! What host are you using? Can I get your associate link for your host? I wish my site loaded up as quickly as yours lol

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I’ve taken a hard critical look at the bill, and I think this is a good plan, overall. A lot of the arguments I hear are based off of false assumptions about the legislation.

Have you guys checked out http://www.politifact.com –? This seems to be one of the few sites out there giving both sides of the story.

I respect everyone’s opinions, I just worry that partisan politics are drawing us away from a logical analysis.

Thanks for letting me express my opinion.

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Something in my private messages are not sent, error ….

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http://www.zg-wx.com

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Working Mother has joined forces with SpeakNowForKids.org, the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and their committed partners during Advocacy Days in June and through our workingmother.com commitment to continuing the discussion of health insurance reform and a greater understanding of the unique needs for children with life-threatening and life-altering illnesses. Our country is at a crossroads in this discussion of reform. We need to understand that by changing coverage we may not be changing care. If we are finally going to overhaul the system and put safeguards in place, let’s make it all meaningful.

– editor workingmother.com

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We need reform but the Presidents plan isn’t it!!
I have a sick child and I am terrifed of what will happen when the goverment tells me what I can and can’t get him as far as his health is concerned. I had to fight all year to get blue cross to cover his meds and formula due to the fact that failure to thrive isn’t a diagnoisis! But Anarexia is! My son is Anirexic but not by choice because of extreame reflux and food allergies. but they won’t cover his hypo allergetic G tube formula because Failure to Thrive isn’t a “real diagnosis” Evry Dr he has has wrote my Blue cross policy but it’s just not covered under my policy. Luckily I can get all of his 6 daily meds covered because of his Asthma and GERD. But please put your self in my shoes! I don’t want a goverment to tell me what meds my son needs and can have. I like that I can take my son to any Dr I want and have any testing he needs, If this passes the goverment will have that say not his MOM!

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John David Lewis is an Associate Professor of Philosophy, Politics and Economics Program at Duke University. He has reviewed the 1017 page House bill and come to the following conclusions:

Pages 284-288, SEC. 1151. REDUCING POTENTIALLY PREVENTABLE HOSPITAL READMISSIONS, this section does the following:
1. This section amends the Social Security Act to grant the Secretary of HHS to set exclusions for certain readmissions, define applicable conditions for readmissions, and establish a reasonable timeline for when a readmission would be approved.
2. It gives the government the power to determine what constitutes an “applicable [medical] condition.”
3. It gives solely the government the power to determine who is allowed readmission into a hospital.
4. Determination for readmission will be made by statistics: when enough people have been discharged for the same condition, an individual may be readmitted.
5. It describes government rationing of healthcare and is plain and clear.
6. It is explicit that there will be no judicial review of decisions made here. The Secretary is above the courts.
7. The plan also allows the government to prohibit hospitals from expanding without federal permission: page 317-318.

Pages 167-168, section 401, TAX ON INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE HEALTH CARE COVERAGE, this section does the following:
1. This section amends the Internal Revenue Code to assess a special tax on individuals who do not meet the requirements of what the government considers a valid healthplan.
2. It empowers the IRS as the major enforcement mechanism for the plan.

Pages 26-30, SEC. 122, ESSENTIAL BENEFITS PACKAGE DEFINED, this section sets the essential benefits package to ensure the provision of quality health care and financial security. It does the following:
1. The bill defines “acceptable coverage” and leaves no room for choice in this regard.
2. It sets a minimum 70% actuarial value of benefits, the bill makes health plans in which individuals pay for routine services, but carry insurance only for catastrophic events, (such as Health Savings Accounts) illegal.

Pages 149-150, SEC. 313, EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS IN LIEU OF COVERAGE, this section addresses requirements for employers with more than $400,000 in annual payroll and does the following:
1. The bill does not prohibit a person from buying private insurance.
2. It requires small businesses, with as little as 8-10 employees to either provide insurance to federal standards, or pay an 8% payroll tax. Currently, business costs for health care are higher than this, especially considering administrative costs. Any competitive business that tries to stay with a private plan will face a payroll disadvantage against competitors who go with the government “option.” This pressures business owners to terminate the private plans in favor of enrolling their employees into the government plan. The result is that millions of Americans will lose their private coverage, and fewer companies will offer it.
3. The Commissioner (an appointed bureaucrat) will determine whether a particular network of physicians, hospitals and insurance is acceptable.
4. With private insurance starved, many people enrolled in the government “option” will have no place else to go because physicians who can, will close their panel to government plan members, much in the way they do for Medicaid and Medicare.

Pages 197-198, SEC. 441. SURCHARGE ON HIGH INCOME INDIVIDUALS, this section addresses the additional taxes that will be imposed to citizens who make $350-500K, $501-$1 million, and > $1 million. The section does the following:
1. This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, and
2. This bill levies tax surcharges on those with the highest incomes.

Page 124, Sec. 223, PAYMENT RATES FOR ITEMS AND SERVICES, this section addresses the role of the government to set rates for healthcare services rendered to citizens and does the following:
1. It gives the government basically unlimited authority to set payments, and
2. It enables the Secretary to decide what constitutes “excessive”, “deficient”, and “efficient” payments and services.

Pages 195-196, SEC. 431. DISCLOSURES TO CARRY OUT HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGE SUBSIDIES, this section gives the Secretary access to the return information of any taxpayer and does the following:
1. It amends the Internal Revenue Code to open up tax return information to the Secretary.
2. It supercedes laws that would limit government access and use of taxpayer returns by circumventing item (v), which allows federal officials to decide what information is needed.
3. It requires employers to report whatever information the government says it needs to enforce the plan.

Page 102, Section 205, OUTREACH AND ENROLLMENT OF EXCHANGE-ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS AND EMPLOYERS IN EXCHANGE-PARTICIPATING HEALTH BENEFITS PLAN, this section address the enrollment of members into the national plan and does the following:
1. It automatically enrolls members into the government option if they do nothing, and
2. It makes employers responsible for automatically enrolling people who still work.

Page 124, Section 223, PAYMENT RATES FOR ITEMS AND SERVICES, this section does not provide any opportunity for administrative or judicial review of a payment rate or methodology established under this section.

Page 256, SEC. 1123. PAYMENTS FOR EFFICIENT AREAS, this section amends the Social Security Act, to allow the Secretary to identify areas of the country that underutilize the government’s plan “based on per capita spending” and protects parts of the plan by setting them above the review of the courts.

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If you really think this proposed National Health Care Plan is a good idea you have your head in a cloud somewhere. Have you actually read it? I did, 1018 pages of it.
Do you actually understand what you read? I did.
This plan is a disaster. If you think you have to wait in line now for decent medical care just wait until there are in varying numbers from the whitehouse.gov email I received at 7:59 a.m. yesterday morning from David Axelrod, between 40 and 86 million additional people waiting in line to be seen. Try getting an appointment then, ladies.
I worked health care for over 7 years, I have family in the healthcare field. I know all about the “insurance company monster”. Let me tell you about the government health care monster who doesn’t even cover the cost of the serum for the flu shots healthcare providers are forced to provide let alone the needles, swabs, etc. Yeah, let’s have the CEO from GM handle the decision on who needs to have surgery and who can wait while your child’s appendix ruptures so instead you get alternative life style counseling.
And 5 years from now when your taxes have gone up 60% because even the financial advisors of the White House and telling them this can’t be financially covered with the figures they have projected, and they turn the Plan back over to the states to run see what additionally happens to your pay checks.
Ladies, get your heads out of the clouds and read!

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So let’s bus the moms to the town hall meetings to pack the meetings and then complain that the right wing loons are busing in their astroturf folks in to shout us down!

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It seemed to me that you have a very good and friendly staff! I think that it you can work very easy and pleasant!

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