The Impact of the Government Health Care Plan

-- From A Benefit Provider's Perspective

MillerWade Group - "Mastering Benefits"
http://www.millerwade.com

Many of our clients have relied on our agency for understanding of government employment regulations. I have tried to keep you all abreast of the laws, how they will need to be safely implemented and their effect on your business. There are many inaccurate statements being made about the proposed health care bill, so I thought I would put down my concerns and then back them up with the actual bill for you to compare.

I send this to you today, to try and proactively educate you on the proposed health care reform bill, and provide you a means to easily communicate your concerns to your Senator and Representative. This process only takes 5 minutes. My hope is that this "E-mail" is forwarded to all the companies in the U.S. in an effort to educate people on what is perceived as a massive government take over or our health care system. Most people agree that our health care system has some problems, and these can be fixed without complete government take over. There are other proposed reforms that the insurance industry has already agreed to implement: No pre-existing condition clause, portability of coverage, etc. We may also consider tort reform which would significantly reduce cost of care by eliminating the need for so many unnecessary tests.

What will not help our country, our economy, or your business is the below sections of this bill or the 53 NEW GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS, OFFICES & BUREAUCRACIES created for the proposed government health care Program.

The following are excerpts from the proposed bill:

• Page 22 of the HC Bill: Mandates that the Govt will audit books of all employers that self insure!!


• Page 50 Section 152 in HC bill: HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise


• Page 58 HC Bill: Govt will have real-time access to individuals finances & a National ID Healthcard will be issued!


• Page 59 HC Bill lines 21-24: Govt will have direct access to your banks accounts for elective funds transfer.


• Page 145 Line 15-17: An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into public option plan.


• Page 126 Lines 22-25: Employers MUST pay for HC for part time employees AND their families.


• Page 149 Lines 16-24: ANY Employer with payroll 401k & above who does not provide public option pays 8% tax on all payroll.


• Page 150 Lines 9-13: Business's with payroll between 251k & 401k that don't provide public option pays 2-6% tax on all payroll.


• Page 167 Lines 18-23: ANY individual who doesn't have acceptable HC according to Govt will be taxed 2.5% of income.


• Page 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill: Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes.


• Page 195 HC Bill: Officers & employees of HC Admin (GOVT) will have access to ALL Americans finances /personal records.


• Page 203 Line 14-15 HC: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax"
  

While it is true this would significantly impact my industry, I believe those provisions I've outlined will effectively disable many of yours as well. I have also listed below the additional government agencies that are proposed to be created under this legislation -- these have to be paid for somehow!

Regardless of your political persuasion, I believe now is the time to protect industry.

It is easy to contact your Senator or Representative and write a quick e-mail. It only takes 5 minutes. Click on the below links to locate your Senator or Representative, click on their contact information (which will take you to their web site), and find their "e-mail me" or "contact me" section. It may appear that this proposed legislation is in trouble, but the President will be speaking to the House and Senate to try to push through government run health care. I would encourage each of you to educate yourselves on this legislation (see below link) and its impact on American business.

House of Representatives -- https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Senate -- http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

White House - http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/

Click below for the most recent version of the House Tri-Committee bill - this takes a minute to download due to its size. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3200ih.txt.pdf

Massive costs -- Governments own estimates, http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/104xx/doc10464/hr3200.pdf

53 NEW GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS, OFFICES & BUREAUCRACIES created for the proposed government health care Program:

1. Health Benefits Advisory Committee (Section 123, p. 30)


2. Health Choices Administration (Section 141, p. 41)


3. Qualified Health Benefits Plan Ombudsman (Section 144, p. 47)


4. Program of administrative simplification (Section 163, p. 57)


5. Retiree Reserve Trust Fund (Section 164(d), p. 70)


6. Health Insurance Exchange (Section 201, p. 72)


7. Mechanism for insurance risk pooling to be established by Health Choices Administration Commissioner (Section 206(b), p. 106)


8. Special Inspector General for the Health Insurance Exchange (Section 206(c), p. 107)


9. Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund (Section 207, p. 109)


10. State-based Health Insurance Exchanges (Section 208, p. 111)


11. "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 221, p. 116)


12. Ombudsman for "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 221(d), p. 117)


13. Account for receipts and disbursements for "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 222(b), p. 119)


14. Telehealth Advisory Committee (Section 1191, p. 380)


15. Demonstration program providing reimbursement for "culturally and linguistically appropriate services" (Section 1222, p. 405)


16. Demonstration program for shared decision making using patient decision aids (Section 1236, p. 438)


17. Accountable Care Organization pilot program (Section 1301, p. 443)


18. Independent patient-centered medical home pilot program under Medicare (Section 1302, p. 462)


19. Community-based medical home pilot program under Medicare (Section 1302(d), p. 468)


20. Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research (Section 1401(a), p. 502)


21. Comparative Effectiveness Research Commission (Section 1401(a), p. 505)


22. Patient ombudsman for comparative effectiveness research (Section 1401(a), p. 519)


23. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1412(b)(1), p. 546)


24. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for nursing facilities (Section 1412 (b)(2), p. 548)


25. Special focus facility program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1413(a)(3), p. 559)


26. Special focus facility program for nursing facilities (Section 1413(b)(3), p. 565)


27. National independent monitor pilot program for skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities (Section 1422, p. 607)


28. Demonstration program for approved teaching health centers with respect to Medicare GME (Section 1502(d), p. 674)


29. Pilot program to develop anti-fraud compliance systems for Medicare providers (Section 1635, p. 716)


30. Medical home pilot program under Medicaid (Section 1722, p. 780)


31. Comparative Effectiveness Research Trust Fund (Section 1802, p. 824)


32. "Identifiable office or program" within CMS to "provide for improved coordination between Medicare and Medicaid in the case of dual eligibles" (Section 1905, p. 852)


33. Public Health Investment Fund (Section 2002, p. 859)


34. Scholarships for service in health professional needs areas (Section 2211, p. 870)


35. Loan repayment program for service in health professional needs areas (Section 2211, p. 873)


36. Program for training medical residents in community-based settings (Section 2214, p. 882)


37. Grant program for training in dentistry programs (Section 2215, p. 887)


38. Public Health Workforce Corps (Section 2231, p. 898)


39. Public health workforce scholarship program (Section 2231, p. 900)


40. Public health workforce loan forgiveness program (Section 2231, p. 904)


41. Grant program for innovations in interdisciplinary care (Section 2252, p. 917)


42. Advisory Committee on Health Workforce Evaluation and Assessment (Section 2261, p. 920)


43. Prevention and Wellness Trust (Section 2301, p. 932)


44. Clinical Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 941)


45. Community Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 947)


46. Grant program for community prevention and wellness research (Section 2301, p. 950)


47. Grant program for community prevention and wellness services (Section 2301, p. 951)


48. Grant program for public health infrastructure (Section 2301, p. 955)


49. Center for Quality Improvement (Section 2401, p. 965)


50. Assistant Secretary for Health Information (Section 2402, p. 972)


51. Grant program to support the operation of school-based health clinics (Section 2511, p. 993)


52. National Medical Device Registry (Section 2521, p. 1001)


53. Grants for labor-management programs for nursing training (Section 2531, p. 1008
    

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Scott W. Miller, RHU
*MillerWade Group - "Mastering Benefits"*
1031 W. Center St., #302
Orem, UT 84057
Office: 801.377.1990
FAX: 801.812.8219
Toll Free Office: 800.508.1144
Toll Free FAX: 888.205.0792
www.millerwade.com

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Thanks Mr. Miller.

and . . .

I'm Karl