Health Care reform - HR 3200 review, Part 5

It's Friday. Time to finish up the health care bill. Follow along at http://edlabor.house.gov/markups/2009/07/hr-3200-americas-affordable-he.shtml. Today's highlights are :

• P. 900 thru P. 913 line 12 creates the Public Health Workforce Corps (PHWC). Both loans and scholarships will be available for people who sign up to help pay for their medical education. They will have to work for the government in the Corps to pay off the loans. They will also be paid stipends and salaries. The cost to taxpayers - $588 Million. It will be available for doctors, nurses, dentists, dental hygienists, and veterinarians. Yes, you heard right - veterinarians. We, the taxpayers, will pay to train people to care for animals. Apparently, not only has ACORN got its hand in the cookie jar but now PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and the Humane Society do, too. One other thing - the Corps will include both Regular and Reserve Officers. What is this - the healthcare draft ??
• P. 913 line 13 thru P. 914 creates affirmative action in the PHWC.
• P. 915 thru P. 917 line 8 mandates that health care professionals be bilingual. Is this so they can treat illegal aliens ??
• P. 932 thru P. 937 line 5 creates the Preventative and Wellness Trust Fund by transferring nearly $31 Billion from the Public Health Investment Fund (see yesterday's post). The money will be used to create a national strategy to identify specific goals and objectives for prevention and wellness activities such as diet improvement. Sounds like the government is wanting to control us.
• P. 980 line 5 thru P. 980 line 11 creates a massive government bureaucracy to implement the new public health infrastructure including best practices going forward, grants, and health information systems. When has the government ever known anything about best practices ?? Do we really need or want this "Big Government" ??
• P. 993 line 1 thru line 11 establishes school based clinics.
• P. 994 line 23 thru P. 995 line 2 says the school based clinics will be "integrated" into the school environment. What does that mean, exactly ??
• P. 1001 line 9 thru P. 1002 line 4 establishes a National Medical Device Registry that will require all manufacturers of medical devices (i.e. - pacemakers, insulin pumps, etc.) to furnish the Secretary of Health and Human Services with a list of Americans that have their devices and identifying information (serial numbers) of those devices. Doctors and the manufacturers are already keeping this information for each patient. Why does HHS need it, too ?? More bureaucracy and red tape.
• HHS is gonna keep this medical device information for a number of reasons including for "other postmarket device surveillance activities of the Secretary (of HHS) authorized by this chapter" (P. 1003 line 9 thru line 11). Surveillance ?? What are they gonna do - put a GPS tracker in my pacemaker to track me ??
• P. 1008 line 4 thru P. 1012 line 6 creates grants to health services entities for education expenses for people who want to become nurses due to the nursing shortage. However, the entity MUST meet certain requirements in order to be eligible for the grants. It must offer the nurses benefits required by the Federal government, be unionized, and have partnerships with community organizations. Sounds like payback to unions and ACORN.
• P. 1018 line 6 thru line 19 sets requirements for State participation in universal healthcare.

Well, that basically covers it except for the amendments. I've read a few of them but not all. There are 40, and the very first one is over 1000 pages. I decided to do this series after receiving an e-mail from a friend that outlined many of the items I've listed this week. I included some of those things and added a few of my own that I picked up on when reading the bill. The outline was put together by Mathew D. Staver who is Founder, Chairman, Dean, and Professor of Law for the Liberty Counsel at the Liberty University of Law. I like to verify stuff I read. So, I took the points in his outline, downloaded the bill from the House website, and began reading through it to see if what Staver listed was actually what the bill said. In most cases it was, but in others I did not read it the same way he did. That's one of the biggest problems with the bill. It is so vague and wordy that it can be understood to mean different things to different people. That's what makes it dangerous, too. For instance, the portion from P. 425 thru P. 430 that has caused all the controversy about end-of-life issues and possible euthanasia is a great example. I have read that passage multiple times. In my opinion, it could be about informing someone about their options for dying, and it could also be telling us that we will have to get the government's permission to receive expensive health care in order to live. We might have to justify why we think we deserve to live. Either way, it is a part of our lives that the government needs to stay out of. These things are a personal decision that should be left to us and our families - period.

The other big problems that I have with the bill include the creation of a huge bureaucracy, all the mandates which take away choice and freedom, the amount of intrusion into our private lives, the costs that will only increase, and what amounts to political payoffs of IOU's to ACORN and unions.

Some have asked if I believe all the stuff I've mentioned this week will come true. The truth is I do not know. The scary part is that with the way the bill is worded it is all possible. Lastly, we've heard recent news reports where the White House has asked for people to inform them of any "fishy" e-mails they receive regarding health care reform. Basically, they want Americans tattling on each other. In fact, Fox News has reported cases where Americans have received unsolicited e-mails from the White House that they received because they believe they were reported. It's very possible that my blog has been reported to the White House by someone at sometime this week. Am I worried about it ?? No, not at all. After fighting a brutal 11-year battle with heart disease and surviving a heart transplant, I don't scare to easily. The blog is my way of serving my country and I will continue doing it for as long as the Lord sees fit to give me a breath and a pulse.

P.S. Today, I am celebrating the 2 1/2 year anniversary of my heart transplant. I am thankful everyday to be alive and I pray I have many more.