Senate HCR Bill: Anti-Women, -Immigrants, -Unions, -Working/Middle Classes, -Patients, oh, and ... Anti-Anti Trust!

So let's examine the Senate bill, that Obama heavily PREFERS, that faux-progressives are touting as worthy of progressive support and worthy of loyal cronyism against the hypocritical corporatist Republicans and irrationally anti-government instead of anti-corporate teabaggers. (That is a massive amount of BLIND cronyism they are calling on.):

The Senate bill depends on healthcare funding from middle class with excise taxes on comprehensive plans, sabotaging their sustainability.

The Senate bill offers no public option, not even a toehold.

The Senate bill mandates that people without insurance purchase it or be penalized. This assures dramatic escalation of profits for the companies, and recruits the IRS to monitor the citizenry. Instead of ensuring monitoring of corporate abuses, time, energy, taxpayer money is to be directed to monitoring and penalizing a struggling citizenry.

The Senate bill pretends to enforce pre-existing condition protections but does not rein in exorbitant pricing which will prevent patients from purchasing care when they technically are eligible but not economically capable of care.

The Senate bill subsidizes fewer of the poor than the House plan.

The Senate plan dooms citizens to state control of exchanges. Cheapskate states can prevent the poor from subsidies.

The Senate bill allows cross-state purchasing. This will encourage proliferation of cut-throat, low quality health care plans.

The Senate bill allows states to prohibit abortion coverage in ALL plans offered in exchanges. It undercuts union negotiation for reproductive rights.

The Senate bill forbids undocumented immigrants for ALL coverage in exchanges and subsidies. Demands citizenship verification. This will encourage untreated contagious illnesses among immigrants, and more expensive emergency room visits. Also, it prevents younger immigrants from purchasing insurance thus lessening the amount from healthy clients in the general insurance pool of risk income. These are the pragmatic arguments. Dare we include the issue of compassion for the welfare and survival of fellow human beings?

The Senate bill doesn’t start until 2014. There will continue to be 45,000 American citizens prematurely dying each year until then. By then a minimum of 24 million will still remain uninsured.

The Senate bill sustains the Anti-trust Exemption for insurance companies.

The Senate bill supports a toothless version of a Medicare Commission.

In the Senate bill the pharmaceutical industry won 12 years of patent protection for certain classes of drugs, many of which were developed using public funding. The Senate rejected a proposal to allow the re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada.

The Senate bill expands eligibility for Medicaid and ends the disparity between states which is good, but this will drain money from the Medicare program.

There are few provisions to keep health care affordable.

There are few provisions to prevent waste and fraud.

Insurance companies can charge more based on age.

Insurance companies can continue to rescind policies after they have been written (often using fraud or intentional misrepresentation as pretext).

Insurance companies can cherry-pick new customers and limit payments for catastrophic illnesses.

Insurance companies can refuse to allow policyholders from choosing their own doctors and hospitals.

Insurers can charge up to four times more for policies based on age plus certain conditions, double charge for people failing “wellness” programs because of diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.

The Senate and House bill exempt state protections passed by allowing insurers now to set up in less regulated states. (ahem, remember when credit cards set up in Delaware?)

Consider Extorted Pork and Sabotage by Senators at Eleventh Hour with Senate Bill:

Senator Landrieu got $100 million in extra Medicaid funding.

Senator Ben Nelson was granted a complete exemption from Nebraska payments into enhanced Medicaid benefits.

Senator Baucus won automatic Medicare eligibility for asbestos-exposed citizens of Libby, MT (after blocking expansion of Medicare everywhere else in America).

Senator Ben Nelson added anti-abortion language into the final draft that will allow individual states to prohibit abortion coverage in all plans offered through the exchanges.

Senators Baucus and Lieberman prevented a Medicare buy-in for those 55+, eliminating any trace of a cost-curbing Expanded Medicare or even public option sensibility in the Senate bill.

[Again, please help “kill the bill”. Toll-free switchboard numbers for the Senate and House: 1-800-828-0498, 1-866-338-1015, 1-866-220-0044.

Contact info for Senators or Representatives here:

To send letters:

Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

or

House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Please join this vital fight now. As the adage goes, if we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem. And consider Edmund Burke’s powerful message, also, about how evil prevails when good people do nothing.]

Informational websites:

http://www.prosperityagenda.us/node/3097

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2010/january/an-inglorious-end-to-the-promise-of-reform

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2010/january/health-care-overhaul-the-devils-in-the-details

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=averting_a_health_care_backlash

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=deal_or_die_on_health_care

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=ten_things_to_watch_in_the_health_care_reform_conference

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2010/january/the-health-bills-in-congress-are-not-real-reform