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August 12, 2009
Who Wrote H.R. 3200?
.
I think we have the right to know the NAMES of the people who came up with this bill. Who are they, specifically? It’s obvious that our own representatives didn’t write the bill because they don’t know what’s in it! What kind of neo-Nazis came up with this idea among the dozens and dozens of others, all designed with total control in mind??
Here is what is says at the beginning of the Bill:
Mr. DINGELL (for himself, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. STARK, Mr. PALLONE, and Mr. ANDREWS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Education and Labor, Oversight and Government Reform, and the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
So who knows who wrote it, who wrote what parts, what corporations were involved in the writing - This is a real question, I cannot find the answers. Does anyone know? Or do we need to file a freedom of information act.
Here is some more information:
Amendments to the bill are listed by number and name/representative at the link. (scroll down).
The America’s Affordable Health Choices Act (H.R. 3200), developed jointly by the Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor Committees.
Chairman Miller Statement at Committee Mark-Up of H.R. 3200,
the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009
U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA),
the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, for a committee mark-up of H.R.
3200, the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.
AND HERE IS A SECOND ONE...PLEASE CLICK
OK now there is this...this is a huge article so I took notes on it. I have the links below you can click on to read the whole thing.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are officially on break; however, this is a working summer for legislators. That includes Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, and Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, who both represent the Lake Travis area.
Smith, Doggett agree to disagree on H.R. 3200
Lake View Travis View
August 7th, 2009
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, worked on some portions of the bill and advocates its passage. “There is no doubt that there is room for improvement,” Doggett told the Lake Travis View. “While I was personally involved in writing some of it, it wasn’t written as I would have done it, where I writing it myself. But I still think it merits approval.”
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. “It’s inexcusable. It’s a system we have in place that we have to stop.”
Windell Potter, a former insurance executive-turned whistleblower, has detailed some of the industries tactics to Congress, as well opinion pieces and in an interview with PBS’s Bill Moyers. Included in his revelations was an alleged insurance industry campaign developed against Michael Moore’s “mockumentary” “Sicko.”
One of the key criticisms of H.R. 3200 is that if falls well short of the quality health care provided to members of Congress. However, health care reform advocates generally believe the bill, if passed, is necessary and could be amended over time as faults surface.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio believes the President is moving too fast and that H.R. 3200 is one more aspect of the Administration’s attempt to place much of the U.S. economy under government control.
“I am not really convinced this bill will pass a House vote once Americans have a chance to review it and understand what it actually is,” Smith told the Lake Travis View. “And despite what the Administration says, it essentially is European-styled health care. I think the Administration will have serious problems getting it passed. I just completed an open town meeting on health care and in the course of it, about 83 percent of my constituents opposed the bill and our polling was totally random.”
Smith is predicting that even moderate Democrats are going to meet stiff opposition to the bill as they present the plan to their constituents.
“If they are true moderate Democrats - not just moderate at home and liberal in Washington, D.C., along with most Republicans, I can’t help but believe there will be a backlash from the public,” Smith said. “There are so many flaws in the bill that I think the public will end up letting their representatives know their true feelings about it — which I think will be largely negative.”
Smith said he believes H.R. 3200 will fail because it is “a bad bill from top to bottom.”
“It goes the wrong direction as far as the cost goes,” he said. “It goes the wrong direction on government interference goes — at least in my judgment. We are seeing that about 80 percent of the American people are happy with their health coverage that they have now. Why do we want to change that for the 80 percent that are happy just to cover the 10 million people who need it?
“Frankly, they [the Obama Administration] are looking for an excuse to continue its attempt to take over much of the private sector,” Smith continued. “The government now owns and runs the largest automobile manufacturer in the nation, the largest bank, the largest insurer, the financial institutions, and now they want to make it inevitable that they will run the largest health care system.”
Smith maintained that government has not proven to be very efficient at managing traditionally private sector enterprises.
“The government is not exactly known for avoiding waste, fraud and abuse — and I don’t believe the American people want the government to be making decisions about what medical procedures they can and cannot have,” Smith said. “This is particularly true for those who are older.”
One phrase that consistently pops up throughout H.R. 3200 is “comparative effectiveness,” which Smith incorrectly called “competitive effectiveness.”
“The ‘cover’ has now been blown on that,” Smith said of the phrase. “Competitive effectiveness is a nice phrase for health care rationing. The Administration has all but admitted it. Every time the president has been asked about it, he has dodged the question. But what it means is that this country would do exactly what is done in European countries in their health care delivery systems. When people get older [in European nations with nationalized health care], they [the government] literally finds out what the cost of the procedure is, divide the number by the years you are likely to live, and then the government officials and commissions decide whether or not to allow you to have the procedure under their health care scheme.”
That, Smith said, would undermine the original intention of Medicare and Medicaid — current government systems that he believes are flawed — but less expensive than H.R. 3200 would prove to be, if made law.
“In some instances, Medicare and Medicaid work,” Smith said. “But to fix the problems with those systems, you can do one of two things: Provide more aid or provide more incentives to offer private health care coverage.”
According to the Administration, the proposed health care plan would not put the insurance industry out of business; however, Smith sees that as a smoke screen.
“Under this bill, which has passed through the committees, if you have private health care and you give it up — whether you change jobs or whatever — you don’t have an option to get private health care again. You have to buy the government health care plan.”
While Smith adamantly opposes H.R. 3200, he does believe there is a need for health care reform. Smith said the existing problems health care could be fixed with a few simple rules and at a much lower cost to the American taxpayer.
“I think there are four components that must be included in any health care reform,” Smith said. “First, individuals should be able to choose their own doctors. Two: We should cover the 10 million people who cannot afford insurance. Third: We need to reduce the overall cost of health care — which is two to three times the rate of inflation. I think that is best achieved by increasing the competition between health insurance companies, particularly by allowing them to compete nationwide. And finally, I do not condone any kind of health care rationing, nor would I want health care decisions being made by government employees.”
From Smith’s perspective, the Administration’s estimate that more than 47 million Americans are uninsured is simply untrue.
“They have built their premise on a house of cards,” Smith said. “Their estimates that there are 47 million uninsured is wildly inaccurate. It is used as their excuse for a government takeover of health care. That number is totally fraudulent. If you subtract the 14 million people who are eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, but are simply not signed up for it, along with those who can afford health care insurance but simply choose not to use it; and subtract those who are without health insurance for less than two months; and subtract the illegal immigrants that should not even be eligible for it — you get to a number of about 10 million people. Some say it is as low as six or million.”
Smith said the primary problem with H.R. 3200 is that it is too expensive.
“For a fraction of the money the Administration proposes to spend, you could give everyone in America ‘gold plated insurance,’” Smith said. “But we do need to address the concerns of the uninsured, either through tax credits or some other type of subsidy.”
When asked why does Smith perceive the current bill as being too expensive, he said it attempts to make insurance a “one size fits all” choice.
“There are numerous components of the proposed health care plan that many Americans may not want,” Smith said. “It would force small businesses to carry a very expensive form of health care. And in truth, the bill may well be covering 10 million illegal immigrants, and from what we [House Republicans and other opponents] cans see, that is exactly what they plan to do, despite the Administration’s claims to the contrary.”
Part 3 is mostly about what Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin had to say.
Notes from Part 4
What the CBO says
Smith is correct concerning the CBO’s assessment of H.R. 3200’s potential impact on the national deficit; however, the observations only concern some aspects of the bill, but do not include a comprehensive analysis.
According to CBO Director Doug Elmendorf, who was appointed last January to the non-partisan oversight committee, H.R. 3200 is all but certain to cause the deficit to swell, despite claims by the Obama Administration to the contrary.
Please go to Part 4 to read more on the CBO.
The same with Part 5 .....How medical associations see it
I apologize for the extreme length of this post, but I have been so curious about who wrote it and even all of this information is not enough. We still don't know who added what and who is responsible for each part in the bill.
Maybe we never will know, but we certainly have the right to know!
Thank you for reading this ~ Wild Thing
President Ronald Reagan said, “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”
Posted by Wild Thing at August 12, 2009 06:48 AM
Comments
It would be nice to know who wrote what, but we have some consolation that we know which side wrote it.
Posted by: Lynn at August 12, 2009 08:19 AM
I'm going to read this this afternoon. I've been looking at other stuff, too, like the food regulation bill they are passing. I'm going to save the above for my afternoon break...thanks WT!
Posted by: Eden at August 12, 2009 08:54 AM
Thank you Wild Thing for reading all this and giving us the report.
I think this bill was written in part by most of the Democrats in Congress. Those that wanted to could add their input into this bill. Then it was fine tuned and added to more by professional House staffers and House lawyers. No four or five Congressmen could come up with 1100 pages of crap like this. Also, a lot of this bill was written during the first two years Democrats controlled Congress, 2007 and 2008. They were waiting until they became the supermajority and they hoped they would have a Democratic president. That has all come together for them now. I will bet obama and his staffers worked on parts of this bill when he was a Senator.
You can see the size and complications of this health care bill the Dems are trying to stuff down our throat. It is designed for complete govt control of the field of medicine. One of the most important and telling aspects of this bill is who is exempt from it. Congress and Federal employees. I have also heard that union members will be able to have their own health plans. The Cap and Trade bill will be even larger and more complicated as it is designed to completely control all aspects of our lives.
As a Texan I am proud of Lamar Smith. I am not proud of Lloyd Doggett, but then he comes from the Austin area which is our Berkeley or Boulder.
Posted by: TomR at August 12, 2009 01:05 PM
WT we must be prepared to raise money for the opponents of any sponsors of this monstrosity.
Posted by: Avitar at August 12, 2009 05:40 PM
As noted they had a couple years to write the bill, It stinks of Pelosi and Reid.
The injured Marine pretty much sums it up:
A U.S. Marine squad was marching north of Fallujah when they came upon an Iraqi terrorist, badly injured and unconscious. On the opposite side of the road was an American Marine in a similar but less serious state. The Marine was conscious and alert and as first aid was given to both men, the squad leader asked the injured Marine what had happened.
The Marine reported, “I was heavily armed and moving north along the highway here, and coming south was a heavily armed insurgent. We saw each other and both took cover in the ditches along the road. I yelled to him that Saddam Hussein was a miserable, lowlife scum bag who got what he deserved, and he yelled back that Ted Kennedy is a fat, good-for-nothing, left wing liberal drunk who doesn’t know how to drive. So I said that Osama Bin Laden dresses and acts like a frigid, mean-spirited lesbian!
He retaliated by yelling, “Oh yeah? Well, so does Nancy Pelosi!”
“And, there we were, in the middle of the road, shaking hands, when a truck hit us.
Posted by: Jack at August 12, 2009 09:52 PM
Lynn, yes your right and that does
help too.
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 12, 2009 11:48 PM
Eden, thank you so much.
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 12, 2009 11:50 PM
Tom, thank you so much.
I loved reading what Lamar Smith said, he
is a good guy.
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 12, 2009 11:52 PM
Avitar, very good yes.
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 12, 2009 11:54 PM
Jack, OMG, Hahahahahahaha
Posted by: Wild Thing at August 12, 2009 11:59 PM
Look up Meridian Institute and you will see who wrote the HR 3200 and the Cap and Trade. The person who this is Tim Mealey @tmealey@merid.org
This company has been writting porps for years.
Posted by: DOn at August 16, 2009 12:24 PM
