Obamacare: A Few Curious Points
Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 04:22PM I've been reading the current House form of the bill. (http://www.scribd.com/doc/18554561/Healthcare-Plan-Full-Document-Obama) Honestly, it is not as scary as I figured it would be in the black and white. However, I've had a few items that jumped out at me.
According to page 127 of the bill, there are two classifications of doctors "PREFERRED PHYSICIANS" and "PRTICIPATING, NON-PREFERRED PHYSICIANS." However, that wording implies a third category: NON-PARTICIPATNG PHYSICIANS. Does this mean that doctors can opt out of this program? Possibly.
Starting on page 197, "Subtitle D—Other Revenue Provisions....SEC. 441. SURCHARGE ON HIGH INCOME INDIVIDUALS," apparently, if you make too much money, the goverment will tax you more in order to pay for this plan. It's graduated from 1% to 1.5% to 5.4% over an about $650K spread. No surprise. However, we find a kicker on the bottom of page 198 through 199. "In the case of any taxable year beginning after December 31, 2012," the two lower brackets double so the graduation becomes 2% to 3% to 5.4%. Thankfully, there are a couple exceptions that follow; they essentially say that if the government has enough money in savings ($150B to $175B), then the adjustment will not take place. And if the money in savings is over $175B, it will never take place. When was the last time we had heard of our government actually having money growing in savings? Exactly. We can safely assume that the graduated rates are actually going to be 2%, 3%, and 5.4%.
There is no language that I can find which excludes any person from partcipating in the Universal Healthcare Progam. Which means, therefore, that all Federal employees must join along with Senators and Representatives, correct? So would argue that Senators and Representatives have their own sepearate, government-run insurance already. That's true, but they get to pick from private insurers. So as long as they don't eliminate private insurers, Senators and Representatives don't have to use it, but they still have to pay in. If this bill's language changes to eliminate private insurers, then the Senators and Representatives get stuck on this quality of care with everyone else.
That's all I have for the moment. If anything else strikes me as interesting, I'll note it.