House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Fransico) recently introduced her “new and improved” plan to facilitate a government takeover of the health care system. This 1,900+ page bill is nearly twice as long as the one proposed earlier this year that prompted the outrage at rallies and town halls across the country.
The new bill, titled “The Affordable Health Care for America Act” (H.R. 3962), has been scheduled to go to the House floor for a few hours of debate. A vote could come soon after debate concludes.
Take ACTION: Send an email or a fax to your U.S. Representative now by clicking HERE. Ask him or her to vote against H.R. 3962, the healthcare “reform” bill!
Please also lift this issue up in prayer.
Background
We believe that the government option, if it passes, will be the “camel’s nose under the tent” that will eventually work to put private insurers out of business and then lead to a fully-nationalized, single-payer system within 15 years, which President Barack Obama has said is his clear preference.
Among some of the bill’s troubling provisions are the following:
Page 94-Section 202(c) prohibits the sale of private individual health insurance policies, beginning in 2013, forcing individuals to purchase coverage through the federal government
Page 110-Section 222(e) requires the use of federal dollars to fund abortions through the government-run health plan-and, if the Hyde Amendment were ever not renewed, would require the plan to fund elective abortions
Page 111-Section 223 establishes a new board of federal bureaucrats (the “Health Benefits Advisory Committee”) to dictate the health plans that all individuals must purchase -and would likely require all Americans to subsidize and purchase plans that cover any abortion
Page 211-Section 321 establishes a new government-run health plan that, according to non-partisan actuaries at the Lewin Group, would cause as many as 114 million Americans to lose their existing coverage
Page 225-Section 330 permits — but does not require — Members of Congress to enroll in government-run health care
Page 255-Section 345 includes language requiring verification of income for individuals wishing to receive federal health care subsidies under the bill (while the bill includes a requirement for applicants to verify their citizenship, it does not include a similar requirement to verify applicants’ identity, thus encouraging identity fraud for undocumented immigrants and others wishing to receive taxpayer-subsidized health benefits)
Page 297-Section 501 imposes a 2.5 percent tax on all individuals who do not purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health insurance — the tax would apply on individuals with incomes under $250,000
Page 313-Section 512 imposes an 8 percent “tax on jobs” for firms that cannot afford to purchase health coverage; (according to an analysis by Harvard Professor Kate Baicker, such a tax would place millions “at substantial risk of unemployment”
Page 336-Section 551 imposes additional job-killing taxes, in the form of a half-trillion dollar “surcharge,” more than half of which will hit small businesses; according to a model developed by President Obama’s senior economic advisor, such taxes could cost up to 5.5 million jobs
Page 520-Section 1161 cuts more than $150 billion from Medicare Advantage plans, potentially jeopardizing millions of seniors’ existing coverage
Page 733-Section 1401 establishes a new Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research; the bill includes no provisions preventing the government-run health plan from using such research to deny access to life-saving treatments on cost grounds, similar to Britain’s National Health Service, which denies patient treatments costing more than $35,000
Page 1174-Section 1802(b) includes provisions entitled “TAXES ON CERTAIN INSURANCE POLICIES” to fund comparative effectiveness research
Please take a moment to contact your Congressman today and ask him or her to vote against this health care takeover bill.
Read more:
- AARP’s tacit endorsement of Medicare cuts line its pockets, but shortchanges seniors (Chicago Tribune)
- Decision day for health care in the House (World Magazine)
- The Pelosi Plan (The Weekly Standard)
