There was much misinformation and inaccuracies in Dianne Joyce’s letter that need to be corrected. Let’s start with the US Constitution.
The Preamble to the Constitution: In order to from a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Article 1. Section 8. The Congress shall have the Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States: but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform through out the United States.
The new Health Insurance Reform Law does just what the framers of the Constitution said “provide for the general Welfare” and that is what John Conyers D-MI referred to. If you don’t get insurance the fine or tax you will have to pay comes under Congress’ authority to lay taxes, so good luck with that law suit.
The SCHIP program does not cover all children. Virginia Foxx voted against it by the way. Under the new law insurers can not deny children with pre-existing health conditions starting 6 months from when the bill was signed into law, September this year by my counting. For adults pre-existing conditions aren't banned until 2014, until that time high risk pools will be set up. You can start purchasing across state lines in the new exchanges in 2014 until then if you have a pre-existing conditions in the new high risk pools.
The Medicare Drug dough-nut hole will start to be closed this year. Children staying on their parents insurance until age 26 starts this year. Insurers can no longer drop you if you get sick starting this year, life time limits are eliminated this year and annual limits are restricted. A tax credit for small businesses to provide health insurance coverage for their employees starts immediately. The insurance companies are now required to spend 80-85% of premiums on medical claims. The bill increases Medicare taxes on those making over $200,000 per year, how many in Surry County will pay that?
Two things that start next year Medicare will pay primary care doctors arnd general surgeons a 10% bonus. Medicare beneficaries will be able to get a free annual wellness visit and personalized prevention visit with their doctors paid by Medicare with no copay.
There are other parts of the new law that will go into effect this year and 2011 throght 2014, I can't list them all here. This was to give the insurance companies time to comply with the law and give the government time to set up the high risk pools and the new insurance exchanges. You can't do everything on day one. Why 2700 pages? To keep you from being screwed over by the health insurance companies and they will try their best to do so as everybody well knows.
No, the IRS will not be hiring 16,000 new agents and the IRS will not be responsible for overseeing health care. You have been watching too much of the Fake News channel. The bill subjects members of the Executive Branch and members of Congress and their staffs to the same reforms and requirements as the rest of the American people.
Tort reform has always been a State's Right issue, they can change the tort laws anytime they want. Texas and other states have done so, it made little or no difference in the cost of malpractice insurance.
No death panels, no throwing Grannie under the bus, no denial of care, all were just scare tactics by the Republicans and Health Insurance Industry to keep the bill from passing. There are over 100 Republican admendments in the new law so it isn't just a Democratic bill. The back room deals everyone gripes about were revoked by the Reconciliation Bill passed by the Democrats on Thursday, every Republican voted to keep the backroom deals.
Virginia Foxx talks the talk but does she walk the walk? George W. Bush ran up over 5 TRILLION dollars in debt during his eight years in office with a Republican Congress during the first six of those years. Did Virginia Foxx object to any of that spending other than the TARP? Just this year she voted against the Pay as You Go Bill which requires you to either cut spending or raise taxes in order to pay for new spending. That is the same law that Bill Clinton and Congress operated under that balenced the budget and starting paying down the national debt. When Geoge W. Bust and Republican Congress took over in 2000 that bill went the way of the dodo bird. So don’t give me the old bull about Republicans being fiscally responsible, it just isn't true. If you look at Virginia Foxx's voting record she has consistently voted against bills that would have benefited the people of the Fith District, being a multi-millionare Foxx’s attitude seems to be “let them eat cake”.
If Republicans want to run on repealing all the things listed above and put you back under the tender mercies of the Health Insurance Industry, then GO FOR IT!
Herbert C. Gullatt
Mount Airy
Post a Comment
