Dx: Fear Rx: The Facts about Health Care Reform – Government Bureaucrats
by Alta Price, M.D.(cross posted at Quadsville.com in Dr Dx's Blog)
Are the scary government bureaucrats going to take over the health care system? I wish! If I had to choose between government bureaucrats under the control of we-the-people running things or private insurance company bureaucrats beholden only to the bottom line, I guess I’d go with the former. But we don’t have to choose – HR 3200 doesn’t turn over health care completely to either the government or the private sector.
And as a physician having to deal with both government plans (like Medicare) and private insurance plans, I don’t really want either one to manage the whole system. Just as those on the far left would like the government to provide all the health care programs (single payer), those on the far right would like to eliminate the government’s role in administering and regulating health care plans, forcing everyone in Medicare and Medicaid either into private plans or making everyone pay out of pocket for their health care as a way to control costs (free market). While these may be legitimate policy differences, they are irrelevant to discussion of current proposals likely to pass into law.
Dr Dx
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Here are some of the false claims regarding government control of health care made about the House bill, HR 3200 (you can read the full text of the bill here). The Truth comes from Health Care for America Now , one of the lead coalition groups fighting for health care reform.
“Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.”
TRUTH: Page 58, in the context of a discussion of administrative standards, mentions that “determination of an individual's financial responsibility at the point of service and, to the extent possible, prior to service, including whether the individual is eligible for a specific service with a specific physician at a specific facility…may include utilization of a machine-readable health plan beneficiary identification card.” In no way does the bill state that such a card would be national, or that it would be issued to every person, or that it would, in fact, be used at all.
“Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.”
TRUTH: Page 59 continues the discussion of administrative standards, and authorizes electronic transfers of money within the government. In no way does this provision grant the government access to individual bank accounts.
“Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.”
TRUTH: This is a gross overstatement. For the purposes of determining affordability credits for Americans who need financial assistance in purchasing health insurance, employees of the Health Choices Administration will have access to tax information that the federal government already keeps. As is clearly stated on page 196, “Return information… may be used by officers and employees of the Health Choices Administration or such State-based health insurance exchange, as the case may be, only for the purposes of, and to the extent necessary in, establishing and verifying the appropriate amount of any affordability credit described in subtitle C of title II of the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 and providing for the repayment of any such credit which was in excess of such appropriate amount.''
“Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (healthcare by phone).”
TRUTH: This section merely expands existing Telehealth programs, which supplement but do not replace other health coverage, and provide a vital resource to Americans in rural and remote areas.
“Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government intervenes in your marriage.”
TRUTH: Covering marriage and family therapy, as many private insurance plans do, does not mean that the government “intervenes in your marriage.” The types of individuals who are recognized as therapists are clearly defined on page 491; in brief, professionals only, not bureaucrats.
“Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.”
TRUTH: This section expands government coverage for mental health services under various government programs, and ensures that all mental health services will be offered by qualified professionals.
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