Inside ObamaCare

This information comes from Dr. C.L. Gray, who has been speaking out on how world views find their expression in public policy since 1999. He has studied the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (AKA ObamaCare) in more detail than most of us could handle. The following facts come from his recent lecture in Newark, Delaware.

Before I relate specific issues with the bill itself, refer to my last post describing the Complete Lives System published by a member of the White House panel that drafted this legislation. The paper was written in 2009, when our national debt was "only" $10.6 trillion. It is now $15.7 trillion, and interest alone adds up to $640 billion more per year. We hear on the news about the terrible impact of debt on our European allies, but did you know that US debt exceeds the debt owed by the entire Eurozone and UK combined? Americans owe more per capita as well.

These facts necessarily impact the amount of federal funding available for healthcare. In 2010, the federal government spent $524 billion on Medicare for the elderly and $427 billion on Medicaid for the poor. This explains why the PPAFA cuts $500 billion from Medicare over the next 10 years; there just isn't enough money available to meet the need.

The bill itself is over 2,000 pages long, but the regulations written so far to implement it exceed 10,000 pages. The bill grants authority to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to determine "appropriate" costs and levels of care, and whether the quality of care meets required limits for expenditures per patient. Dr. Gray showed us just two pages from Section 3007 of the bill. He highlighted 21 times in just those two pages where power was transferred from the physician providing the care to the HHS bureaucracy. In other words, the fact that your physician believes a particular course of treatment is in your best interest is no longer a valid reason for you to receive the treatment. Federal bureaucrats will make those decisions instead.

Section 3404 of the bill is just as disturbing. That is the section that implements the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB. This 15 member panel is to be appointed by the President. They are not accountable to the voters in any way, and the members of this panel will have sole discretion to "reduce the per capita rate of growth in Medicare spending."

In a truly hypocritical political maneuver, the recommendations of this IPAB automatically become law unless the Senate votes TWICE to reject their specific policies. This means your US Senator can vote against the board once to claim your support, while ignoring the second vote and allowing the recommendations to become law.

Doctors themselves have woken up to how destructive this plan will be. According to a recent study, 43% of doctors may retire in the next five years, and 9 out of 10 would not recommend healthcare as a profession. The American Medical Association may have heartily endorsed the PPACA, but that group only represents 14-15% of physicians in this country, and most of those are in academics, not patient care.

The health care system in this country has problems, no doubt. As someone with a chronic illness who is dependent on medications and durable medical equipment to get through the day I know that better than most. But the current plan proposes a cure that is far worse than the disease. Knowledge is power, so arm yourself with the facts and join this important national conversation. Next post - another way forward....