The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has released a draft of a health care bill which I have just started wading through (pdf available here). This is just a draft, with debate to begin in the near future, and any final bill is likely to differ. So far I have noticed some things I like and some things I do not and want to complete reading this to comment in detail. (There is even one aspect where a recent Republican proposal was better.)
Of course conservatives don’t have a similar regard for fact or accuracy. Ed Morrissey has already begun attacking the bill based upon a false statement about what it contains, which I’ll mention now as other blogs are picking up his claim. Morrissey quotes this section from pages 39-40:
(1) IN GENERAL – A State shall keep an accurate accounting of all activities, receipts, and expenditures of any Gateway operating in such State and annually submit to the Secretary a report concerning such accountings.
(2) INVESTIGATIONS – The Secretary may investigate the affairs of a Gateway, may examine the properties and records of a Gateway, and may require periodical reports in relation to activities undertaken by a Gateway. A Gateway shall fully cooperate in any investigation conducted under this paragraph.
Morrissey then makes a false statement in interpreting this provision:
“Gateway” means “provider,” and this appears to do away with that pesky Fourth Amendment, which normally requires search warrants and probable cause to access the records of individuals and businesses. Not under ObamaCare! Now, everyone belongs to the government … rather than the other way around. George Orwell, call your office!
Provider is commonly used to refer to physicians and others who provide health care services. Reading Morrissey’s post made me concerned that this bill would give the government even more authority to investigate my records and patient charts (although in reality they already have considerable ability to do so). Checking out the actual bill revealed that this section means something quite different from what Morrissey suggests. The term Gateway is actually defined on page 23. The bill calls for the creation of American Health Benefits Gateways (subsequently referred to as Gateway) to facilitate the purchase of health insurance products. It makes sense that there be considerable transparency in the operation of such Gateways. Reviewing the records of such Gateways is quite different from having every one’s medical record belong to the government.
Update: I should have also noted that page 24 specifically includes a clause on the voluntary nature of Gateways. It both says that an individual will have a choice of whether or not to enroll in a Gateway and a second part states that “no individual shall be compelled to enroll in a qualified health plan or to participate in a Gateway.”
Update 2: Page 35 deals with Empowering Consumer Choice and allows insurance companies to still offer, and individuals to still purchase, insurance plans that is not a qualified health plan under this proposal. In other words, if you are paranoid about Gateways and other requirements of this proposal you can still purchase insurance outside of this plan. I have no idea if there will be any desirable, affordable insurance policies availalbe outside of this plan, but it sure isn’t easy to find desirable, affordable insurance on the individual market at present.
Update 3: I have more on the plan here.
