The amendment process surrounding the health care ‘reform’ bills in Congress exposes the fact that President Obama and his allies are not being honest with the American people regarding their plans for ObamaCare. While the supporters of ObamaCare are making statements like “you can keep your plan”, “the plan will be deficit-neutral”, and “there’s no coverage for abortion or illegal aliens”, the actions of Congressional Democrats show this simply is not the case. The following list of amendments and their associated votes exposes the real truth about ObamaCare (source – FactReal).
OBAMACARE WON’T LET YOU KEEP THE PLAN YOU LIKE
Government will determine what is “acceptable” health insurance coverage and benefits.
Amendments to protect freedom to choose a plan you like: BLOCKED
i.e., high deductible plans, Health Savings Account (HSA)
● Amendment from Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) to ensure that nothing in the bill could prevent individuals from keeping their current health benefit plan
● Amendment from Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT), and Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) to include HSAs plans in the bill’s definition of a “qualified health benefits plan.”
● Amendment from Rep. Rep. John Kline (R-MN) to give employees greater say regarding the preservation of their employer-sponsored health insurance (This amendment was soundly defeated, with 28 Democrat members voting no.)
● Amendment from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to let Americans keep the insurance they like by striking the government-run plan
(Democrats defeated this amendment: 25-15)
OBAMACARE WON’T ALLOW YOU TO ENROLL IN PRIVATE INSURANCE
Americans would be prohibited by law from enrolling in a private individual health insurance plan and would be forced by the federal government to buy a different health plan in the national Health Insurance Exchange. The Democrats’ bill says that beginning in 2013 the health plans that provide coverage for Americans enrolled in individual market health plans could no longer enroll new members.
Amendment to allow Americans to choose private coverage: BLOCKED
OBAMACARE TO DENY DOCTORS & HOSPITALS THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE IN WHICH PLANS TO PARTICIPATE
Government could force anyone to offer services in ObamaCare that will underpay doctors and hospitals
Amendment to allow doctors & hospital to choose plans they want: BLOCKED
Presently, all government-subsidized health care plans (SCHIP, DOD, Medicaid, etc.) prohibit abortion coverage. In HR3200 & Senate bills, there are no provisions that would prevent federal officials from mandating that health insurance plans include abortion services. There is nothing to prevent the Secretary of HHS from including abortion coverage since the decisions over benefits are left to the Secretary of HHS and to a newly created Health Care Benefits Advisory Committee. Based on the failure of anti-abortion amendments, taxpayers would end up financing abortion since the federal government could mandate that abortions be covered by health insurance plans available through the national health insurance exchange.
Amendments to prevent taxpayer-financed abortion: BLOCKED
to prohibit any federal requirements on insurance plans to cover abortions (Democrats defeated it: 23-18)
● Amendment from Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
to prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortions
(Democrats defeated this amendment: 22-19)
● Amendment from Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN)
to prevent requirements to cover abortions in group health plans
● Amendment from Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN)
to prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortions
● Republican Senators in the Senate HELP Committee
attempted to exclude abortions services from the bill but were defeated
● Amendment from Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)
to specifically prohibit federal funds from being used to cover abortion services
● Amendment from Roy Blunt (R-MO), Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) to block any government requirement on health insurance networks to include abortion
● Amendment from Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) to require at least one insurance plan to cover abortion in each geographical region, to cover ALL abortion services, and allow affordability credits (taxpayer-funded subsidies) to be used for health insurance plans that cover abortions.
OBAMACARE NOT DEFICIT NEUTRAL
ObamaCare will increase the deficit: According to the CBO’s and JCT’s assessment enacting H.R. 3200 would result in a net increase in the federal budget deficit of $239 billion over the 2010-2019 period. What’s wrong with high deficits? The CBO director explains: “Large budget deficits would reduce national saving, leading to more borrowing from abroad and less domestic investment, which in turn would depress economic growth in the United States. Over time, accumulating debt would cause substantial harm to the economy.”
Amendment to keep ObamaCare deficit neutral: BLOCKED
To help Obama keep his promise that his health care reform will not add to the deficit, these Congressmen proposed these amendments:
● Amendment from Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) to prevent major provisions of the bill from being enacted/implemented, if the Director of the Office of Management and Budget found that they were not deficit-neutral.
The House bill has an employer “pay-or-play” mandate, which include a tax on employers of up to 8 percent if they do not offer a federally approved benefits package to their workers. Taxes on employers are generally passed on to employees in reduced wages or other compensation, including job loss.
Amendments to protect jobs: BLOCKED
● Amendment from Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) to strike new tax increases in the bill:
(i.e., an 8% payroll tax on employers who can’t afford to offer health insurance to their employers; offer health coverage to their employees but government considers it “insufficient”; offer “sufficient” coverage but the employee enrolls through a spouse’s employer; or aren’t paying at least 72.5% of an employee’s premium)
(Democrats defeated it: 26-15)
The House bill calls for increased Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) to gather data & determine which treatments are the most cost-effective. Government officials may be able to use CER to make payment, treatment, and coverage decisions.
Amendment against government making medical decisions; government rationing & control: BLOCKED
Amendment for government to set prices: PASSED
OBAMACARE = LONG WAITS
Federal officials may resort to rationing care and controlling access to physicians to save money. Based on the experience of other countries, this process would result in long wait times for patients. The Brady amendment failed on a straight party-line vote.
Amendment to protect Americans from long wait times: BLOCKED
● Amendment from Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) to eliminate the public plan if its enrollees experienced longer wait times than in private health plans. These people would then be able to enroll in private health plans offered on the Health Insurance Exchange.
OBAMACARE WILL COVER ILLEGALS
The House bill does not offer clear guidelines to ensure that illegal immigrants cannot access taxpayer-funded health care benefits.
It will be unsustainable to give benefit to millions of illegals already in the U.S. and the many millions to come if Obama passes his open-border immigration reform.
The Heller amendment failed on a straight party-line vote.
Amendment to keep illegals out of ObamaCare: BLOCKED
SENIORS TO FINANCE OBAMACARE
Bill proposes reductions to Medicare Advantage (MA)
Amendment to stop the payment reductions to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans: BLOCKED
Amendment for government to set prices in Medicare: PASSED
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS WON’T ENROLL IN OBAMACARE
If ObamaCare is so good, why members of Congress, Senate & Obama Administration will be exempted from getting ObamaCare?
This Heller amendment failed, with 21 Democrats voting no.
Amendment to require Congress to enroll in ObamaCare: BLOCKED
Here is how easy it will be for Obamacare to lead to single-payer (a.k.a state-run, government-run health care, universal, co-op….whatever name they give to it, it’s about government control)
Amendment to adopt a state-based system of socialized medicine: PASSED
Democrats side with trial lawyers instead of lowering health care costs.
Amendment to reduce health costs: BLOCKED
● Amendment from Rep. John Linder (R-GA) to limit participation to states with meaningful medical malpractice reforms to reduce frivolous lawsuits (Democrats defeated it: 26-15)
OTHER REPUBLICAN AMENDMENTS BLOCKED BY DEMOCRATS
Democrats block common-sense changes to Health Care bill
● Prohibit new taxes until Medicare fraud rate is reduced to below 1%
● Prevent bureaucrats from making personal medical decisions for patients
● Establish a $1 trillion deficit cap
● Waive the employer mandate if it will cause layoffs, worker salary cuts, or reductions in hiring
● Protect employers from unfair taxation
● Protect employers who offer health care coverage to their workers
● Create small business health plans
● Require the government-run plan to operate under the same rules as private health plans
● Specify that Congress should read the health care bill before voting on it
● Keep President Obama’s tax pledge not to raise taxes
● Ensure that workers who like their current health plan can keep it
● Ensure Americans cannot be forced into a government-run health care plan
● Stop seniors from being stripped of their health care choices
● Prohibit unfair advantages for government-run health plan
● Keep the federal government from choosing “favored” physicians
● Allow states to opt out
● Slow Medicare’s march toward bankruptcy
SOURCES – THE HOUSE BILL H.R.3200:
The three House committees (Education and Labor, Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce) which have been working together on health insurance reform, have now each approved health care legislation. H.R.3200 is expected to be considered by the full House in September.
● House Committee on Education and Labor: markup, and here, members (Democrat majority), roll call: passed 26-22
● House Committee on Ways and Means: markup, members (Democrat majority)
● House Committee on Energy and Commerce: markup, and here, members (Democrat majority), roll call: passed 31-28
● Democratic Leaders Block 31 Common-Sense Changes to Health Care Bill
● The House Education and Labor Markup: Making a Bad Bill Worse
● The House Health Bill: The House Ways and Means Amendments
● The House Health Bill: Energy and Commerce Amendments
SOURCES – THE SENATE BILL:
● Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee: passed a health care overhaul along party lines, No transparency
● The Senate Health Bill: Chock-Full of Bad Health Policy