eNews Commentary • Nov 2013 • Health Care Reform - Obamacare • Health Exchanges -Obamacare • Health Surveillance • • Medical Records • Patient Privacy • Rationing

Not Just A Website

 

November 6, 2013
 

 

“The Affordable Care Act is not just a website,” said President Obama two weeks ago.  This is truth, not spin. But Obama has not stopped spinning. He denies that he really meant, “if you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan”:
 
“What we said was you could keep it if it hasn’t changed since the law was passed.”
 
Note the added “if” clause. That is not what he has told us time after time for four years -- and at least 29 video accounts prove it. But also notice that he says “we,” not “I.” This is unusual because the president is quite fond of  saying “I” and “me” in his speeches. Apparently he does not wish to take full credit for these false statements.
 
Today, the Obamacare website still says “If You Like the Insurance You Have, Keep it,” said Republican Senators in a hearing that grilled HHS Secretary Sebelius. And that is exactly what President Obama promised on March 23, 2010, the day Obamacare was signed into law:
 
“If you like your current insurance, you will keep your current insurance. No government takeover. Nobody’s changing what you’ve got if you’re happy with it.”
 
Let’s go back to Obama’s true statement. There is much more to Obamacare than the website and there is more more to the Obamacare website – healthcare.gov -- than a website itself. The website is simply the public portal into the national Obamacare exchange system, which is a much bigger deal. The Exchange system is the federal government’s command and control structure to impose national health care.
 
Healthcare.gov is on the fritz at the moment (and filled with security risks), but that will not likely be the case forever. In states that have created their own “state exchange” (state-named website portal) and built the IT infrastructure to connect it to the Federal Data Services Hub -- the central server of the national exchange system -- the enrollment process is much better.
 
In addition, the federal Exchange database to collect data on anyone who has anything to do with an Exchange anywhere in the country, including curious bystanders that enter data into the website just to take a look, is up and running. Secretary Sebelius, at the October 30 hearing on Capitol Hill said they plan to email everyone who tried to enroll and couldn’t. This is one more reason to avoid the Exchange:
 
If you enter, the federal government has you on record. If you choose not to enroll, deleting your data may prove impossible.
 
The Democrats newest mantra is, “Fix it, don’t nix it.” The Obama administration is working feverishly to fix the federal website portal. They cannot nationalize health care without seizing control of the health care systems within the 36 states that refused to build a “state exchange.” Their current “fix-it” goal is November 30, but if it’s not fixed by then, they know they have time, the law, a boatload of determined bureaucrats, and three more years of President Obama. They do not intend to give up.
 
Nixing Healthcare.gov, the Exchange system, and the Obamacare law may soon seem like a great idea even to mom and pop Democrats. People all over the country, regardless of their political leanings, are learning some painful realities about the law that have nothing to do with the website, per se:
  • If you like your health plan you can NOT keep your health plan.
  • If you like your doctor, you can NOT keep your doctor.
  • If your insurance was affordable, it is now NOT affordable.
  • An “affordable” premium, subsidized by taxpayers, does NOT mean affordable coverage when out-of-pocket expenses are added in.
Surprisingly, one unhappy Obama supporter may cut his income or shift dollars to his retirement fund to qualify for taxpayer-subsidized coverage on the exchange rather than pay the increased premium for private coverage.
 
This is just the beginning of painful realities. The ACA is permeated with federal control. If you want a quick look at what is in the ACA, go to the 955-page version of the law itself and peruse just the first 19 pages. You will find a list of 451 sections numbered 1001 – 10909, plus a list of the 24 sections of the Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act which amended Obamacare just one week after its March 23, 2010 passage (Sections 1001 – 2303).
 
But if you want a really short list of a few of the most egregious Obamacare controls, here are 12 with citations:
  • 20 New Taxes, including Individual and Employer Mandates (Sections 1501/1513).
  • End of Insurance: Insurers must pay the medical bills of people with pre-existing medical conditions (Sec. 1101) and traditional major medical (catastrophic) insurance is eliminated for people over the age of 29. (Sec. 1302)
  • Control over Physicians: Insurers not allowed to contract with doctors who do not implement health care quality improvements as defined by HHS. (Sec. 1311)
  • Largest National Database Ever: The national Obamacare exchange system is a nationwide computerized data system to impose the federal takeover of health care. (Sections 1311 and 1321)
  • Sole Control of Coverage: HHS Secretary empowered to set “minimum essential benefits” for all coverage, regardless of cost or rationing. (Sec. 1302)
  • Rationing-Based Research: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) established and given $1.1 billion for comparative-effectiveness research. (Sec. 6301)
  • “Super Legislature.” The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is empowered to bypass Congress and use CER findings to ration care. (Sec. 4303)
  • National Strategy. The “National Strategy to Improve Health Care Quality” empowers federal bureaucrats to gather medical data and shift health policy away from patients to “populations.” (Sec. 3011)
  • Homevisiting programs: Government workers enter private homes opened voluntarily by unsuspecting citizens for the collection of data on homes, relationships, safety, and abuse. (Sec. 2951)
  • Seniors Inspected Annually: Annual Medicare wellness visits collect data on senior’s health risks including any detection of cognitive impairment. (Sec. 4103)
  • Expansion of Medicaid –Government dependency is expanded and taxpayers are on the hook for covering more individuals. (Sec. 2001)
  • Intruding in the Workplace: Government will assist employers with intrusive evaluations of employee health status, absenteeism, productivity, medical costs, and rate of workplace injuries. (Sec. 4303 and 10408)
 
There is only one answer to the dilemma we face as a nation under Obamacare: REPEAL. In the meantime, we must resist in every way possible.
 
Committed to stopping Obamacare,
 
Twila Brase, RN, PHN
President and Co-founder