Senate Health Care Bill Posted On Line

The full text of the Senate health care bill is now on line. It is 2,074 pages. I don’t think I can handle reading through all of this and watching all six hours of  the remake of The Prisoner the same week. I think I’ll watch Glee tonight and wait for Fox or the right wing blogs to review the plan. Then I’ll assume that the actual facts are the opposite.

7 Comments

  1. 1
    Arthur Shatz says:

    What’s scarry is that not many of the Senators will read it!

  2. 2
    Ron Chusid says:

    Probably not as there is a lot of legal jibberish in a 2000+ page bill. What is more important is that they have a good summary as to the actual substance of the bill. I have gone through some of the previously proposed bills which were sometimes over 1000 pages, and even then had to skim through parts. A 1000 page bill is hard enough go get through. To actually read over 2000 pages is too much. It would also probably be more practical for interested groups to divide up the bill among different people to make sure there aren’t any surprises hidden in all those pages.

    While too much to read, it will probably come in handy to have a copy of the bill. When previous versions of the bill were posted many of the right wing blogs were making claims about the contents which were quite different from what was actually in the bill again. While I doubt I’ll read through all of this, it does provide a reference to check claims made about the bill.

    I am also throwing a copy on my ebook reader in case I have any problems falling asleep while traveling next week or I have some time to kill.

  3. 3
    Ed Rodda says:

    Sorry for butting in… I was looking for a copy of the bill so I will be able  to converse with my Senator somewhat intelligently.   

    I just gotta say, you guys are absolutely amazing.  Here, let me make the bill easier for you to understand…  When you go see the doctor have him send me the bill.  I bet that will make you sleep easier at night.

    Oh, and on your travelling, I would recommend you get that all done in the near future cause it is gonna get real expensive once the Church of the Glorious Climatologists, who have billions of years of history tied to less than two hundred years of data (that they no longer can provide), take over.

    All the best,
    Ed Rodda

  4. 4
    Ron Chusid says:

    That’s so kind of you Ed, but my personal bills aren’t a problem. The problem is with my patients who are screwed when their insurance companies find a way to avoid paying their bills, or drop their coverage when they get sick. An even bigger problem is all the people out there who should be seeing a doctor but cannot afford to do so under the current system. Can I just send you the bill for such people.

    After you read the Senate bill (which actually is a mistake to read in full considering all the amendments already made) you should read up on global warming considering how little understanding you have of both the scientific evidence for the problem and considering how you buy into the exaggerated fear stories from the oil industry about the costs of a solution.

  5. 5
    Ed Rodda says:

    Sounds like you are a doctor so you are already sending me the bill through Medicaid.  I understand the amount Medicaid pays is not anywhere near what you want which is why Congress has to back the doctors up with a yearly stipend.  In any case, if you want to look at what the government option will look like from a doctor’s point of view check out these two URL’s.

    http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7541
    http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5326078&page=1

    I wish you luck in your endeavor to put food on the table and provide a college education for your kids once you get on the government pay scale for your specialty.

    You might also want to look at the following URL to see what they are planning for the “health corps”.

    http://help.senate.gov/BAI09A84_xml.pdf

    It doesn’t have a number yet but it looks like you should be worried…

    Regarding global warming, the cost of the solution is Congress buying in to the Religion and forcing you to reduce your standard of living to the point you move somewhere else (because you will no longer be able to live at the level you have become accustomed to).  Unless, of course, you have a Nobel Peace Prize, an Oscar, and a private jet scooting you around to proselytize.  But hey, I am just a blue collar worker paying rent and driving a 17 year old truck so what do I know, right?
    All the best and Merry Christmas,
    Ed Rodda

  6. 6
    Ron Chusid says:

    Ed,

    First you are mixing Medicaid and Medicare here, which are two different things.

    With regards to Medicare, the problem is a flawed payment formula which every year calculates a pay cut (which is what would lead to doctors bailing out of Medicare). Every year Congress steps in and overrides the formula.

    One aspect of the health care reform legislation is to fix this formula, which is one reason why the American Medical Association and other physicians groups support the legislation. What you are unintentionally doing here is making an argument for the reform, not against it.

    Global warming is not a religion. It is based upon strong scientific evidence and is the consensus view of the scientists actually working in the field.

    “But hey, I am just a blue collar worker paying rent and driving a 17 year old truck so what do I know, right?”

    The problem is that there you are intentionally being misled. The oil industry is spending a fortune to spread false information on climate change. The insurance industry is spending a fortune to spread false information on what the health care legislation would do. In both cases the industries have a vested in preserving the status quo, even if this is otherwise undesirable. In both cases the right wing media and Republican Party are spreading their misinformation.

  7. 7
    Maguire says:

    The rejection of the public option by the Senate is very sad. There is a very large demographic of people that are being overlooked right now, and a public option would benefit them.
    Eva Mor author of (Making the Golden Years Golden) responded beautifully to a key part of the problem:
    “The administration of the existing health delivery system is bloated with waste and unnecessary cost. If information was shared by all providers of health services and all insurers by using computerized systems to store all medical records, it would cut costs and reduce errors that would save and improve lives.” http://www.ourblook.com/component/option,com_sectionex/Itemid,200076/id,8/view,category/#catid107
    To regulate costs in the medical industry and update the existing Information and communication technologies would certainly cut a large portion of spending, which has featured as primary complaint in this debate all along.
    I do hope that the fight for health care continues and does not find its way under the carpet as it did back in the 90’s.

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