Healthcare Madness
Published by Bob Foster
In following the furor created by the heated debate over the House healthcare bill (H.R. 3200), I began to wonder—“who has read this bill?” So, I acquired a copy and began to read it myself. You can get your copy (with all 1,017 pages numbered) here.
Now, keep in mind that our elected representatives do not actually write bills—they are written by their staffs. That’s why politicians have staffs…to read and/or write the mountains of paperwork that pass through their office. Consequently, it is highly unlikely that any member of Congress has actually read the bill they are promoting. They work off of “papers” prepared for them by their staffs.
Likewise, it is highly unlikely that many other people have actually read the entire bill. First of all, it is written by lawyers, in the form of a legal document (like all bills), so it is difficult for a layperson to understand much of what it says. HR 3200 also contains amendments to existing laws—which also have not been thoroughly read by most lawmakers and laypersons. This opens up unlimited possibilities for interpretation…and misinterpretation.
(Just for fun, I picked a paragraph at random from the bill, and included it below):
(C) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT TO CORRECT DUPLICATE SUBSECTION DESIGNATION. —Subsection (d) of section 226A of such Act (42 U.S.C. 426–1), as added by section 201(a)(3)(D)(ii) of the Social Security Independence and Program Improvements Act of 1994 (Public Law 103–296; 108 Stat. 1497), is redesignated as subsection (d).
(This was taken from page 422, but I wonder how many people actually followed this thread to determine what the impact was?)
The legalese notwithstanding, I looked for references to the infamous “Death Panel.” Even though the bill is written so a layperson cannot understand the real meaning, I did find an area that was rather disturbing. Somewhere around page 427 (in the “Advance Care Planning” section), there is a reference to a “coalition of stakeholders,” guiding life sustaining treatment. This coalition is made up of people from government and quasi-government agencies and associations—but excludes the patient and any family members. It is easy to see where the term “Death Panel” came from. It will take a great deal of study (and maybe a great deal of explanation) of this area of the bill to figure out exactly what is meant.
In fact, no one should probably comment on HR 3200 until they have read the bill and understands what it really means. There is no question about badly needing healthcare reform, but this bill affects every person in the U.S. and it is much too important to be rushed into law within such a divisive atmosphere. So, why doesn’t everyone just take a breather and stop the madness.
Certainly, Congress needs to acknowledge the concerns voiced by many people, and address those concerns in the bill. They then need to mount an educational program to get the truth of the bill out in language that regular people can understand.
Likewise, those in opposition need to back off and allow changes to be made and education to occur. Jumping to ill-informed conclusions from a difficult-to-read document is not going to help anyone. (And I won’t even mention politics and lobbyists.)
COST?
This is very interesting, and something that every business owner and wage earner needs to pay attention to. Watch this blog for a future post containing some numbers from Congress’s “fuzzy math.”
Comments
4 Responses to “Healthcare Madness”
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Well stated indeed. But also, let’s not get caught up in “marketing terms” generated to whip up this furor by the masses of the unread/uneducated – just for the sake of what they believe they should believe.
Roger Ebert wrote an interesting view on cause and effects of the term “Death Panel” – well positioned as a senior citizen himself. It’s worth a read: http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/08/death_panels_an_excellent_phra.html
But quite frankly, I’m not alone in considering the possibility of an alternative geographical relocation of my permanent residency to our neighboring North.
Jeff´s last blog ..Digital Storytelling – Creating the “Documercial”
Jeff – Good article by Roger. It was fortunate that he was not one of the 46 million without health insurance. As Roger points out there is considerable divisiveness between the political parties. And now, the liberals are angry with the White House and Congress because of the rumored compromise, and the conservatives are…just angry.
But the point I was trying to make is that healthcare is the biggest issue the American people have faced since WWII, and it cannot be rushed into law without involving the American people in the process.
Bob Foster´s last blog ..Healthcare Madness
Thanks, Bob, for a thoughtful post. Thanks to Jeff too for the Ebert article. In thinking about your comment above I could not help but to agree. We, the People, must get involved. But we are in a representative democracy where we elect those who should represent our interest in Congress. This becomes very difficult, however, when self-interest supercedes the interest of the People. It is also difficult when the People are not informed or apathetic.
Krugman wrote a good yesterday, “All the President’s Zombie.” Here is an excerpt as it relates to our representatives:
“‘It is difficult to get a man to understand something,’ said Upton Sinclair, ‘when his salary’ — or, I would add, his campaign contributions — ‘depend upon his not understanding it.’ In particular, vast amounts of insurance industry money have been flowing to obstructionist Democrats like Mr. Nelson and Senator Max Baucus, whose Gang of Six negotiations have been a crucial roadblock to legislation.”
Judith Ellis´s last blog ..Being Marvin Gaye
Judith – Thanks for your comment. As usual, you hit the nail square on the head. Our representatives, in this representative democracy, are totally out of touch with the people who vote them into office. Instead, they seem to work for the lobbyists of the special interest groups, or persons, who pay for their campaigns.
Of course, we are mainly a people who are both uninformed and apathetic. This makes fertile ground for the folks on “K” street to coach our representatives on legislation favorable to them. Somehow we have to get through the apathy, and get the facts to “we the people,” so we can have intelligent discourse on difficult issues.
Bob Foster´s last blog ..Microfinance