House Health Care Reform Bill Released

[BeachSiO2]

Here is the link to the brief, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety Page Affordable Health Care for America Act that was released today by the House of Reps...

COMMITTEE ON RULES - H.R. 3962 - Affordable Health Care for America Act

Also of interest to some might be

The side by side comparison with HR 3200

Top 10 changes to health insurance reform bill

Top 14 provisions that take place immediately

 

[Mango]

Sio, do you know if the 14 provisions that take place immediately are only if the Bill passes?

 

[BeachSiO2]

Sio, do you know if the 14 provisions that take place immediately are only if the Bill passes?

The short answer is yes. Nothing in this bill would take place until after it passes the House and Senate. Changes to this bill can and will occur during the debate in the House before it is passed. Then the Senate will either take the passed bill and debate it in the Senate and vote on it with no changes (highly unlikely), make changes to this bill and vote on it, or vote on their own bill (most likely). If the Senate passes a bill that is different then the bill passed by the House, it will have to be "conferenced." Conferencing would involve members picked by the House and Senate leadership creating a compromise bill. That compromised bill would then have to be voted on again by the House and Senate.

 

[kkddbb]

of the nearly 2000 pages that have been released, its amazing how much government intervention, tax increases and penalties that come with this plan.

if most people read this bill, most would understand this isnt the way to go or even close.

there is no tort reform or freedom of purchasing insurance over state lines in this bill. both of which both parties have acknowledged are a must in order to reform health programs.

this is driven by the far left of the dem party and is cleary for political gain and nanny state addictions..... will never pass the senate-period. more wasted time while our system is falling apart before our eyes.

 

[AlphaCrab]

Thanks BeachSi02 for the new thread

I downloaded and forwarded the both the 14 Provisions and 10 Changes sections of it to my family and friends--I will also post on Facebook and ask folks to forward it to their fb friends as well. I am very excited now...

It is not perfect, but I am obviously more optimistic than kkddbb in post #4 . And, after watching all the crap that led up to this, the scary "death panels," seniors being put out on the street like the garbage, the possible death of the insurance industry, etc., I am now very hopeful that this will pass as is...Sounds like large quantifiable savings in several areas, in time, over the current system for those frantically worried about their children's burden and having to deal with their parents debt....

I am very optimistic!

 

[BeachSiO2]

Here are some more supplemental docs released by House Dems taken from The Hill.

1. A timeline of when various portions of the bill would take effect.

2. An outline of the changes between the individual House Committee bills and the final bill.

3. A basic summary of the bill.

4. An outline of the "immediate investments" the bill will make.
5. The official revenue estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation.

6. A description of each section of the bill.

 

[30ashopper]

What happened to the provision to tax high perks health plans? I guess that was only in the Senate - this bill generates all it's revenue from a tax on the rich and a medical device tax. (The latter seems to go contrary to the whole idea of improving our heathcare doesn't it?)

 

[kkddbb]

can anyone tell me what about these provisions costs less and provides better health coverage and most importantly health quality? it seams most people are interested more on when it begins than anything else. noone seams to look at the details and the cost of this.

there are some good things in this bill, but......

1) it doesnt insure more people for less money. there will still be an estimated 30million people without insurance. there are already approx. 30million people unisured now. nearly 18% are unregistered citizens and there is a estimated 12% that can afford it, but chose not to purchase.

2) how do we pay for this? by penalities and charging the rich? its the rich that is keeping south walton alive right now, along with most communities. less money for them, less money for them to build additions, build new, buy tv's etc etc etc etc. penalties? at least the dnc can say they didnt raise taxes on the middle class on the campaign trail as promised, instead they will penalize them. can anyone tell me the difference?

3) why no tort reform or the oppurtunity to purchase insurance over state lines like every other insurance policy ie car and home. it will drive prices down overnight, why not do it? thats too easy to answer......

4) medicare gets cut by approx. $500 billion. is that looking out for the elderly? how does that help better the system?

this is simply a giant government run system being shoved down our throats during a certain time during a certain administration. its a way to say to the folks before election day how they saved health care. by the time this bill really starts having an effect, many of these people will have been re-elected and likely someone else in these elected positions to take the heat. can anyone tell me a gov system that ran well and was economically sound?

i want reform ,but like usual there are many out there that are taking the bait from politically driven politicians. once again real change is something the american people wont get, but we'll hear about it constantly

 

[TooFarTampa]

kkddbb, there have to be cuts to Medicare, either now or in the future, better to do it now. What we have in place is unsustainable. Our budget is creaking under the weight of it.

As for the device tax, 30ashopper, I don't know a ton about it, but I do know there were lobbyists working very hard against it and apparently got the government to slash it in half, from $4 billion to $2 billion. The initial amount was a shock. I don't know if the final amount is fair or not. It may force some layoffs and pay cuts but maybe won't affect innovation quite as much. I do know that the companies were expected to benefit somewhat from having more people on the healthcare rolls; maybe the addition of new patients will make it close to a wash. Raising prices to offset the tax won't be an option.

I have no other thoughts at the moment, haven't even attempted to read a summary yet, but I hope we can all keep in mind the complexity of all the give and take involved.

 

[kkddbb]

kkddbb, there have to be cuts to Medicare, either now or in the future, better to do it now. What we have in place is unsustainable. Our budget is creaking under the weight of it.

As for the device tax, 30ashopper, I don't know a ton about it, but I do know there were lobbyists working very hard against it and apparently got the government to slash it in half, from $4 billion to $2 billion. The initial amount was a shock. I don't know if the final amount is fair or not. It may force some layoffs and pay cuts but maybe won't affect innovation quite as much. I do know that the companies were expected to benefit somewhat from having more people on the healthcare rolls; maybe the addition of new patients will make it close to a wash. Raising prices to offset the tax won't be an option.

I have no other thoughts at the moment, haven't even attempted to read a summary yet, but I hope we can all keep in mind the complexity of all the give and take involved.

i agree with you that cuts will be needed. but, the dems shouldnt be going out there blaming the opposition because they say medicare recipients wont get nearly the quality coverage they have now under this bill when its exactly what will happen. medicare is already over budget because of the size of people benefiting from it. and then it will only increase as the babyboomers age and begin taking advantage of medicare. if anything we should increase it, but we cant because of the waste. waste isnt even top priority in either of these bills. they ignore waste and penalize the middle-class while saying no taxed increases. we wont even begin to talk about what will happen when rationing begins which economics 101 in this country. this will absolutely lead to that, not now but no doubt in the future. amtrak yesterday released a study that they lose $6 dollars per ticket. need i say more......

its beyond ticking me off that a real bill that will actually better our system cant be proposed. the gop has offered a great plan, but the media and the dnc dont want it because its not political expediant. they are certainly not looking out for the folks thats for sure....