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1969-12-31 18:00:00

Health care reform...what will happen?

Answer: I think that all depends upon “when” what will happen. That may not be the best grammar, but it’s accurate. Here’s what I mean. First…what’s going to happen in the short-term? Two…what’s going to happen over the next several months? Three…what’s going to happen in the long-term? As I continue, I ask again that you take what I write as only “fodder to ponder.” What’s going to happen in the short-term? I think health care reform is going to pass, even with Scott Brown winning the senate seat in Massachusetts. I think you can expect almost anything in the way of delays as his certification takes place. While I think it was a victory on a referendum of the current administration’s and congress’s policies, I think it will be a moot point insofar as the passage of this legislation. When it’s all done, it will pass with some of the most underhanded deals being cut that our country has ever seen. And yes, to all of you who believe differently…I will grant you that sadly, most every law Congress passes nowadays is negotiated in some way with underhanded deals being cut. It’s just that I don’t think it’s every reached this magnitude. It reminds me of a “looting mentality” that sometimes exists after a major catastrophe. Everything is out there for the taking. The “looters” feel if they don’t get it now, in the midst of all the chaos, they won’t get the chance again. Then it all turns into a frenzy. Health care reform is going to go down, apparently with little to no input from the Republicans, other than what these folks say and have said to the press. With 1/6th of our economy riding on this one area..this is sad. It affects us all, but only a few elected officials are going to make the decision, even though most of their constituents (if you believe the polls) don’t support what they’re going to approve. Perhaps the most ironic thing is that the deals that are being cut are being funded with our tax dollars paying the bill. It’s all going down in a back room. The conference hearings to reconcile the House and Senate bills have been tossed by the wayside. No matter that the President said (at least 8 times as a candidate), that the legislation for health care reform is going to have more transparency than any legislation has ever had, with CSPAN carrying all of the negotiations and discussions, and the final draft posted so every citizen can read it all and have input BEFORE it becomes law…this isn’t going to happen. Just as sad is that many, if not most Americans, are no longer surprised when things this President has promised do not happen, including those who elected him. Do you believe him when he said, “The Senate should not try and jam through health care reform until Scott Brown is seated?” This is very odd. He and Congress tried to jam it through before the August recess. They tried to jam it through before the Thanksgiving recess. They finally got the Senate to approve their bill on Christmas eve. Now, they shouldn’t jam it through until Scott Brown is seated? Really? The saddest part of it all, however, is the language that is included in these bills that precludes future congresses from repealing this legislation. How this can be I have no idea, but at press time for this publication, it’s part of the language of both bills. Why is health care reform going down like it is? I think it’s like other situations...when we have all gotten in our head we were going to do something, and whether or not it still makes sense as we move through the process, we are going to do it. Such is the case with health care reform. The Democrats have said for nearly 100 years they were going to do something, and whether or not all of it or any part of it still makes sense…they are going to do it. Among the several things I get to do professionally, is that I am a licensed life, health, property and casualty insurance agent. I have always felt that doing what I did was good. I am convinced the people who I have helped with claims for auto, hail, crop, fire, health, life, cancer, long term care and all of the others forms of insurance I represent, thought I was doing good when I helped them get their claims satisfied. But somehow, now I feel dirty. Is making, or trying to make a profit, wrong? I wonder who is going to provide all of the jobs that are needed if not private companies who continue in business because they are profitable. Or, will businesses go by the wayside and the only thing we have left is the government, for whom we will all work. Let’s see...what is this called again? If businesses do make a profit, this administration and congress want to tax them at higher and higher rates, plus tax them on things that have never been taxed before. Perhaps soon there will be a “jobs’ tax.” It would be imposed on companies who provide jobs. If you are a company and have a payroll, it must mean that you are successful in business. Therefore, the government will impose a 40% tax on the amount of your payroll! The insurance business has given me a unique perspective to digest all that I have heard and read over the past year and a half regarding health care reform. When it is stated that the only way insurance premiums for all of us are to be affordable, is if the younger generation takes out health insurance…you can believe it without reserve. Let me tell you about a company that I am very familiar with, which should relate to you a couple of reasons why this pending legislation is so “ill” thought out. We will call this company, ABC. ABC pays for half of the health insurance for each of their full-time employees, and part-time employees who work at least 30 hours per week, who are not covered by their spouse, or who do not have another group health plan of some kind (eligible employees). ABC is a small group. Last year, they only had three eligible employees. This year, one of their eligible employees who is in her early 30s, dropped the insurance because she is now covered by her spouse. Therefore, ABC only has two eligible employees covered for this year. You need to know that there are three criteria considered for a health insurance company to increase it’s premiums. One is the average age of the group being insured. Two, is the amount of claims of the group as compared to the claims for all groups for that insurance company in the state. Three, is the overall claims of the insurance for all of that insurance company’s insured groups in the state. The ABC group had no unusual claims this past year…in fact…it had less in claims than the previous year. And, if you look at ABC’s claims for the past three years, there have been no unusual or large claims. Further, ABC’s claims as compared to claims for all insured groups in Kansas for the insurance company were 6% less than they were in 2008…4.5% less than they were in 2007, and 8% less than they were in 2006. The only difference for ABC in 2010 is that a 33 year old dropped off the group, and the group was left with a 50 year old and a 59 year old. So, what happened? The average age of ABC’s group went from being 50.6 to being 54.5…a 7.7% increase. The rates went up 22%! Yes, even though two of the three criteria were less than what they were last year (both of which favored the insurance company). ABC chose to go with a $1,500 deductible per person instead of a $500 deductible, thereby having a 17% increase instead of the 22%. Each of ABC’s two employees will pay more out of pocket for his/her deductible. ABC and its two employees will pay 17% more in premium, which amounts to more than $2,000 for the year. Neither ABC or its employees receive anything extra for this additional $2,000. It’s just $2,000 for the same benefits they got last year, with a higher deductible. The employees have less disposable household income and the company has less money to operate the business and hire new people. So why do I bring this up? Here is why. Supposedly we have 48 million Americans without health insurance. There are 36 million Americans that are between the ages of 18 to 34. Half of these folks do not have health insurance…so 3 out of every 8 Americans without health insurance are between the ages of 18 and 34. The Senate Bill, which is most probably going to be adopted by the House for the sake of expediency (even with the new Senator Brown from Massachusetts in the mix), is going to require all people to have health insurance, or to pay a “tax” to the government of an average of $750 per individual and $2,250 per family, if they don’t take out health insurance. If they do take it, it’s going to cost them around $6,000 per year per individual and $12,000 to $15,000 per family. I would imagine, there is a strong likelihood that they will pay the “tax”, especially since they are younger and don’t use doctors and hospitals nearly as much as those who are older, AND because if something happens that they need health insurance, since there are going to be no pre-existing condition limitations, they can buy a policy at the check-in window at the hospital or the emergency room. Please keep in mind…the “tax” they pay does not go to the insurance companies…who could use it to help control their costs and keep their premiums down. This “tax” goes to the government. So, these younger folks who don’t have health insurance probably aren’t going to buy it…and the younger folks who have it…probably won’t keep it…because the premiums are going to increase well over what they are now since there are not going to be enough younger folks included in the “mix,”, and they can save money by paying the “tax”…knowing that if they need health insurance, they can get it…like I say…at the check-in window at the hospital or the emergency room. Take a moment and let all this sink in. What else rides on this health care reform? Lots of things you may not have even thought about...and some of which you may not believe. When I get input on things like this, I like to get input from someone who doesn’t have a “dog in the fight.” What I mean is, someone who just interprets things without he or she getting to benefit out of the way it goes down. The following is from an ol’ boy who absolutely has nothing to gain, other than being a citizen, and having to put up with…just like you and I…whatever this reform costs or does to us. He spent all of his professional life as a constitutional attorney. I might also mention, I like to listen to people who do or have done for a living, what they’re talking about. For instance, I don’t need input from some “loud-mouth, know-it-all” telling me how to put a roof on my home. I would much rather listen to someone who owns a roofing company, who has put on thousands of every kind of roof imaginable, tell me how to put a roof on my home. Or, I much prefer a doctor telling me about an illness or affliction I have, rather than someone who has spent his/her life in retail. So, when someone who has studied the Constitution all of his life, tells me what is going down…it’s a whole lot more credible to me than some pundit’s opinion like Bill O’Reilly, Ed Schultz, Glen Beck, Brian Williams, Katie Couric or Geraldo Rivera. Here is what he recently had to say… The Truth About the Health Care Bills - Michael Connelly, Retired Constitutional Attorney Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed Health Care Reform bill from the House, what most probably will be called The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I would like to tell you what the 2500 page Senate Bill says too, but there isn’t anything to read. It is being drafted in private. So, let me tell you about what I know. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected. To begin with, much of what has been said about the law and its implications is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the media are saying. The law does provide for rationing of health care, particularly where senior citizens and other classes of citizens are involved, free health care for illegal immigrants, free abortion services, and probably forced participation in abortions by members of the medical profession. The Bill will also eventually force private insurance companies out of business, and put everyone into a government run system. All decisions about personal health care will ultimately be made by federal bureaucrats, and most of them will not be health care professionals. Hospital admissions, payments to physicians, and allocations of necessary medical devices will be strictly controlled by the government. However, as scary as all of that is, it just scratches the surface. In fact, I have concluded that this legislation really has no intention of providing affordable health care choices. Instead it is a convenient cover for the most massive transfer of power to the Executive Branch of government that has ever occurred, or even been contemplated. If this law or a similar one is adopted, major portions of the Constitution of the United States will effectively have been destroyed. The first thing to go will be the masterfully crafted balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the U.S. Government. The Congress will be transferring to the Obama Administration authority in a number of different areas over the lives of the American people, and the businesses they own. The irony is that the Congress doesn’t have any authority to legislate in most of those areas to begin with. I defy anyone to read the text of the U.S. Constitution and find any authority granted to the members of Congress to regulate health care. This legislation also provides for access, by the appointees of the Obama administration, of all of your personal health care information, in direct violation of the specific provisions of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution. This includes all of your information, your personal financial information and the information of your employer, physician, and hospital. All of this is against unreasonable searches and seizures. You can also forget about the right to privacy. That will have been legislated into oblivion regardless of what the 3rd and 4th Amendments may provide. If you decide not to have health care insurance, or if you have private insurance that is not deemed acceptable to the Health Choices Administrator appointed by Obama, there will be a tax imposed on you. It is called a tax instead of a fine because of the intent to avoid application of the due process clause of the 5th Amendment. However, that doesn’t work because since there is nothing in the law that allows you to contest or appeal the imposition of the tax, it is definitely depriving someone of property without the due process of law. So, there are three of those pesky amendments that the far left hate so much, out of the original ten in the Bill of Rights, that are effectively nullified by this law. It doesn’t stop there though. The 9th Amendment that provides: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people; The 10th Amendment states: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are preserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Under the provisions of this piece of Congressional handiwork neither the people nor the states are going to have any rights or powers at all in many areas that once were theirs to control. I could write many more pages about this legislation, but I think you get the idea. This is not about health care; it is about seizing power and limiting rights. Article 6 of the Constitution requires the members of both houses of Congress to “be bound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution.” If I was a member of Congress I would not be able to vote for this legislation or anything like it, without feeling I was violating that sacred oath or affirmation. If I voted for it anyway, I would hope the American people would not hold me accountable. For those who might doubt the nature of this threat, I suggest they consult the sources, the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. There you can see exactly what we are about to have taken from us. Michael Connelly Retired attorney, Constitutional Law Instructor Carrollton , Texas Here’s the bottom line…and a good place for it…since I am close to the end of my article for this month. I think we all need to decide real quick what role we want to play in our country’s future. If you happen to be one who thinks there are enough voices out there to wage the battle and you don’t need to get involved in all of this, before it goes down, that is fine. If you think I, and the input I have presented, is all wet, half-baked and not the way it is, that is fine too. If you think you need to get involved and let someone who can do something about it know, that what is going down is wrong, and although many Americans agree some type of reform is needed, the last thing we need is something jammed through, behind closed doors, that has not been thought out well, has little to do with health care reform, and has more to do with big government getting more power…then so be it. As you make your decision…one fact is inescapable. Each of us will be a “product” of the decision we make.