Health Care Reform: Tax and Spend (and abortion on tax dollars)

(Editorial correction: Sermo was not begun by the AMA. It is a private group, possibly funded originally by pharmaceutical companies. But, no one there knew the funding source.)
(The vote is now nearly 11,000, and still against the new plan.)

How about a simple solution to the rising government expenditures for health care: don't "force Congress" (See President Obama's press statement video, here. At 6 minutes 40 seconds, he says "force Congress.") to spend more money!

Or, we could try Biden's plan to spend more so we won't go bankrupt as we bankrupt the insurance companies and increase the numbers of people on government-paid health care and increasing mandates that health care funding cover more and more "benefits."

The AMA started a blog-type website that can only be accessed by licensed physicians in the US. 94% of the 2949 docs who have responded to the poll on that site, Sermo, oppose the AMA's endorsement of the current House plan. 96% say that the AMA does not speak for them. The top concerns that the doctors have include interference in the doctor-patient relationship (34%) and malpractice/tort reform (32%).

I've already sent my request to the AMA Board of Trustees to rescind their endorsement. CBS news reports that

"Separately, the White House urged Speaker Nancy Pelosi to toughen the emerging bill so it will hold down the future increases in Medicare payments to doctors, hospitals and other providers. The request, in a letter from Budget Director Peter Orszag, came one day after Congress' top budget official warned that as drafted, the legislation fails to slow the growth in health care costs nationally."

The House Bill still doesn't have a bill number. It's gone from 300 pages to 600 pages, to the current 1018 pages. It's here http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf

All of the Democrat-controlled committees in the House and the Senate have blocked amendment after amendment that would have limited or blocked taxpayer funding of abortion. This is at the same time that the House Finance Services legislation passed, which will allow tax money to pay for abortions in the District of Columbia!

The House's plan will make it impossible to have private insurance if you don't have it at the time the plan passes and those plans will be restricted from changing, except for adding costly benefits that the House mandates. They won't be able to charge anyone any copays for "preventive services" - well child care, physicals and colonoscopies, etc. These requirements will bankrupt the insurance companies.

Everyone who does not have a plan at the time the House "reform" goes into effect will be forced onto the public plan on day one. If they don't sign up, they pay a fine of 2% of their income - this is in addition to the new employer tax and the new "surcharge" tax on the rich - or as Speaker Pelosi says, "a very few people will help with the revenue stream."

(Cross posted to Comal County GOP blog)