{"id":404552,"date":"2010-03-08T17:43:51","date_gmt":"2010-03-08T22:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.szone.us\/f95\/what-house-would-have-swallow-senate-bill-40541\/"},"modified":"2010-03-08T17:43:51","modified_gmt":"2010-03-08T22:43:51","slug":"what-the-house-would-have-to-swallow-in-the-senate-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/404552","title":{"rendered":"What the House Would Have to Swallow in the Senate Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>On 03.08.10 02:00 PM posted by Kathryn Nix<\/p>\n<p>\n&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/pelosi_moron090305.jpg&quot;&gt;<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/pelosi_moron090305.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/>&lt;\/p&gt;Amidst all the intense speculation about quickly passing the President\u0092s health care agenda through the Budget Reconciliation process before the Easter Recess, ordinary Americans should remember one thing: the House of Representatives must first pass the 2,700-page, $2.5 trillion, Senate health bill. So, the next big step in the national health care debate is floor action in the House of Representatives, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi must round up at least 216 votes.<\/p>\n<p>Heritage analysts have conducted some extensive research and analysis of the provisions of the giant Senate bill. If the House passes the Senate bill and it goes to the President\u0092s desk for signature, it then would become the law of the land. For all intents and purposes, the legislative debate would then be over.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of Administration or Senate leadership promises to \u0093fix\u0094 the new law (the Senate bill) through the Budget Reconciliation process, there are no guarantees. Any \u0093fixes\u0094\u0097if they did come about\u0097would have to survive another round of Senate floor action. So it is worth recalling what the Senate bill would mean for Americans were it to become law.&lt;spanid=&quot;more-28332&quot;&gt;&lt;\/span&gt;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/bg2369.cfm&quot;&gt;Failure to      address the drivers behind rising spending in health care. The Senate bill attempts to control costs by imposing heavy new      federal regulations and punitive taxes on high-ticket medical expenditures      such as medical devices, prescription drugs, and high-cost insurance      plans. This top-down approach focuses on the symptoms, rather than the      causes, of increasing health spending. Health insurance premiums,      particularly in the individual market, will go up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/cda1002.cfm&quot;&gt;An individual mandate with disastrous unintended consequences. To expand coverage, the bill includes guaranteed issue of coverage combined with an individual mandate. However, rather than encourage \u0093young invincibles\u0094 to carry insurance, the mandate, which would be less expensive than insurance coverage, would create incentives for young and healthy adults to pay the penalty rather than buy and carry a costly health plan. This would destabilize the insurance market by reducing the spread of risk, leaving the elderly and sickly in insurance risk pools. Premiums would thus skyrocket\u0097further discouraging healthy individuals from obtaining care.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/wm2774.cfm&quot;&gt;Stringent      federal requirement push private insurers towards insolvency. The combination of an excise tax on high-cost insurance plans, a      federally-defined minimum medical-loss ratio, and federally-defined      required benefits could push private insurers to going out of business,      should they be incapable of meeting all three requirements and      simultaneously covering the cost of enrollees\u0092 care. Alternatively, it could mean that health      insurers, \u0093too big to fail\u0094, would become the next big industry recipients      of taxpayer bailouts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/bg2364.cfm&quot;&gt;A public      option in disguise. The Senate bill requires the Office of      Personnel Management to establish and manage health plans in the state      exchanges to compete against private health plans. The bill expands the      powers of this federal agency. This      could lead to a de facto public option with federally defined premiums,      benefits, etc: private insurance in name only. Of course, if the      government sponsored health plans do not effectively compete against the      other plans, it is likely that they will also be eligible for future      federal bailouts at the taxpayers\u0092 expense.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/wm2767.cfm&quot;&gt;Government      subsidies which penalize marriage. The structure of the      subsidies offered by the Senate bill to purchase insurance are      inequitable, offering more financial assistance to non-married couples      than to a married couple with comparable income. This is bizarre social      policy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/wm2756.cfm&quot;&gt;Trillions in      new federal spending, questionable savings. Congressional liberals claim that their health care proposals      are deficit neutral. In fact, they are based on budgetary gimmicks and      hidden costs. When these are      accounted for, the real cost of the Senate bill skyrockets, further      augmented by the implausibility of the many promised savings in the bill.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/wm2757.cfm&quot;&gt;A special      Medicaid deal for Nebraska. The Senate bill would force      all federal taxpayers to cover the extra cost of expanding Medicaid in Nebraska. It is      worthy to note that the President\u0092s      proposal would extend the taxpayer subsidies to all states, increasing the      total cost of the bill.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/wm2744.cfm&quot;&gt;Expanding      Medicaid on the states\u0092 budgets. Though      the federal government would initially cover most of the cost of expanding      Medicaid, states would eventually have to pick up a portion of the      cost. This comes at a time when      states are cutting spending in Medicaid and other areas to accrue savings      and avoid increasing debt. In fact, &lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/wm2712.cfm&quot;&gt;we show      that states could save significantly if they were to drop their      Medicaid programs altogether, which could become an appealing option after      adoption of the Senate bill.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/wm2737.cfm&quot;&gt;Encourages      employment discrimination. The structure of the bill\u0092s employer      mandate would &lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/wm2716.cfm&quot;&gt;discourage employers from hiring workers from low-income families and from offering insurance      to all employees if a large portion of a firm\u0092s workforce consists of      low-income workers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/wm2730.cfm&quot;&gt;Disparate federal      assistance for families of comparable income. The generous subsidies available to purchase      insurance in the exchanges would be available to only a select few of the      millions that fall within the eligible income bracket. This would result in thousands of      dollars in additional federal assistance for some individuals and little      to no assistance for others, regardless of equal income.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/bg2350.cfm&quot;&gt;Taxing families\u0092      health benefits. An excise tax on      high-cost insurance plans is included in the Senate bill with the      intention of lowering premiums. However, this tax on insurers would be passed down to the consumer,      further raising premiums.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/wm2706.cfm&quot;&gt;Numerous new      taxes\u0097and not just for the wealthy. President Obama has promised      not to introduce new taxes that would affect the middle-class, but the      Senate bill would impose several new punitive taxes on to Americans of      every financial background.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These policies are all embodied in the Senate health bill. For further analysis of the Senate bill,*&lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/bg2353.cfm&quot;&gt;click here.*Congress should take a different route and &lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/www.heritage.org\/Research\/HealthCare\/bg2377.cfm&quot;&gt;start over to do health care reform right.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/2010\/03\/08\/what-the-house-would-have-to-swallow-in-the-senate-bill\/\" >http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/2010\/03\/08\/&#8230;e-senate-bill\/<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 03.08.10 02:00 PM posted by Kathryn Nix &lt;ahref=&quot;http:\/\/blog.heritage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/pelosi_moron090305.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;Amidst all the intense speculation about quickly passing the President\u0092s health care agenda through the Budget Reconciliation process before the Easter Recess, ordinary Americans should remember one thing: the House of Representatives must first pass the 2,700-page, $2.5 trillion, Senate health bill. So, the next big step [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-404552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}