Government takeover of health care must be stopped

By Rep. Rich Cebra

 The health care horror that President Barack Obama and his minions are trying to cram through Congress must be stopped. This $1.6 trillion monstrosity would end private insurance, throw millions of people out of work and force most Americans into a gigantic nationalized health care program run by government bureaucrats. The mind-blowing cost, coming on top of a $12 trillion national debt, will push the nation closer to bankruptcy.

I’m going to describe some of the provisions of this bill, and I want you to keep in mind that the Democratic congresswoman from our district, U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree, stands behind this plan 100 percent. We can’t be sure she has read all 1,017 pages of the House bill. President Obama himself admits he’s not familiar with the details, even as he barnstorms frantically for its passage. But even sight unseen, Rep. Pingress is gung-ho to inflict this ruinous legislation on our nation. It does not seem to matter to her that the American people have turned against the thing. Her mind is made up.

Let’s begin with illegal aliens. Nobody knows how many are here, but 15 million is a conservative estimate. Under the bill, all non-U.S. citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free health care services. Taxpayers will foot the bill. Like everyone else, illegals will be issued a National ID Healthcard.

If you think our border crisis is bad now, just wait. We can expect an outright stampede into our country from throughout the Third World. If we have 15 million illegals now, we could have 50 million before long. President Obama is an open borders guy; his amnesty bill for illegal aliens is in the pipeline. If our country extends free health care to all illegals who can get here, the $1.6 trillion cost will explode wildly.

And get this. Any individual who doesn’t have acceptable health insurance (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5 percent of their income. Any employer who doesn’t offer insurance will pay a fine of 8 percent of payroll. What’s more, employers must provide health insurance for part-time employees and their families. But non-resident aliens (illegals) will be exempt from all such penalties and taxes. Rep. Pingree apparently supports that.

Here’s another gem. The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer. Anonymous bureaucrats will be able to tap into your checking account or savings account whenever they want.

Meanwhile, taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans. Obama, of course, comes out of the community organizer world of ACORN, which reportedly received billions of dollars from the stimulus program. Even though ACORN is under criminal investigation in more that 12 states for massive voter fraud, the House bill stipulates that the government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for government-run health care. In many respects, this plan is a reparations program that would span generations.

Abortion on demand will be covered and paid for by taxpayers, many of whom regard abortion as murder. Tough luck. The president is most pro-abortion chief executive in history, and this is what he wants.

All private health care plans must conform to government rules to participate in something called the Health Care Exchange. The rules include guaranteed issue and community rating, the same mandates that have destroyed Maine’s insurance market. But all private health care plans must participate in the Health Care Exchange. In short, there will be total government control of private plans, and the obvious goal is to make them so expensive that that they won’t be able to compete with the taxpayer-subsidized public option. Employers will dump employees wholesale into the government plan. Hundreds of thousands of insurance workers, maybe even millions, will be thrown out of work. Evidently, that outcome appeals to Rep. Pingree.

The plan admits that health care will be rationed. A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get, and there is no right of appeal. Older citizens – the ones who have paid taxes for decades – are especially vulnerable to denial of care. The bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid, disproportionately affecting seniors and the poor. At the same time, the government will have the authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage plans. Cancer patients and people needing hip replacements and the like will very likely be denied care if the federal bureaucrats think they are too old. The emphasis is on cost reduction, not quality care.

But don’t worry; the government will mandate a program that orders end-of-life counseling. Basically, government will dictate how your life ends. This is one step away from euthanasia. Rep. Pingree supports this. Why else would she vote for it?

Doctors will see their incomes drop dramatically. The government will set a value on their time and second-guess their judgments. They will be prohibited from owning or investing in health care companies. Doctors who treat a patient during an initial hospital admission that results in a readmission will face financial penalties. The government will set a minority quota system for admission to medical school, assuring that affirmative action physicians will proliferate. Hospitals will be stressed to the breaking point by sharply reduced government reimbursements for Medicare, Medicaid and the public option.

There are many other appalling features of this plan that I’ll explain in another column. There are ways to improve health insurance, but a total government takeover isn’t the answer. It would destroy the best health care system in the world. No matter what happens, Rep. Pingree will be unaffected. She voted to make sure that Congress is exempt from this atrocity.