Here is a good article about Obama's Health Care Reform Bill. http://www.naturalnews.com/026733_health_health_care_healthcare.html You can download a pdf of HR 3200 from THOMAS Library of Congress website. What's Really in Obama's Health Care Reform Bill - A Plain English Translation (NaturalNews) Mrs. Bouchard seemed upset. I can't afford health care as yet. The new health reform bill Made her sickly and ill But I'd rather have cancer than debt! What's really in Obama's health care reform bill? Almost no one knows, and here's why: It's 1,017 pages long and written in an alien form of bureaucratic English that can barely be decoded by earthlings. And yet, astonishingly, a U.S. Army translator has been found who speaks Washington Doublespeak and he was kind enough to decode the bill and post his plain-language findings over at FreeRepublic.com (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f...). Below, we reprint what he found in the health care reform bill. As you read this, keep in mind that some of these translations are a bit loose with the interpretations, but I've personally spot-checked these points, and they are indeed all contained in the bill in one form or another (shrouded in Doublespeak language, of course). Editor's note: I don't personally agree with every interpretation listed here, and some of the bill's provisions are actually good ideas (like banning doctors from owning stock in health care companies). But overall, this interpretation points out many alarming provisions in the proposed health care reform bill... From CMS at FreeRepublic.com: • Page 16: States that if you have insurance at the time of the bill becoming law and change, you will be required to take a similar plan. If that is not available, you will be required to take the government option! • Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure! • Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed! • Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process) • Page 42: The Health Choices Commissioner will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None. • Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services. • Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard. • Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer. • Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (example: SEIU, UAW and ACORN) • Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange. • Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans) • Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: illegal aliens • Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan. • Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter. • Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No judicial review is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed. • Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages. • Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government- run public plan. No alternatives. • Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families. • Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll • Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll • Page 167: Any individual who doesn't have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income. • Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them). • Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records. • Page 203: The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax. Yes, it really says that. • Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected. • Page 241: Doctors: no matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!) • Page 253: Government sets value of doctors' time, their professional judgment, etc. • Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries. • Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs. • Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing! • Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions. • Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government. • Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies! • Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval. • Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on community input: in other words, yet another payoff for ACORN. • Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-_base_d measures: i.e., rationing. • Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc. • Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals. • Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (healthcare by phone). • Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia? • Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time. • Page 425: Government provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death. • Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends. • Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient's health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT. • Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life. • Page 469: Community-_base_d Home Medical Services: more payoffs for ACORN. • Page 472: Payments to Community-_base_d organizations: more payoffs for ACORN. • Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government intervenes in your marriage. • Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.

http://www.naturalnews.com/026733_health_health_care_healthcare.html You can download a pdf of HR 3200 from THOMAS Library of Congress website. What's Really in Obama's Health Care Reform Bill - A Plain English Translation (NaturalNews) Mrs. Bouchard seemed upset. I can't afford health care as yet. The new health reform bill Made her sickly and ill But I'd rather have cancer than debt! What's really in Obama's health care reform bill? Almost no one knows, and here's why: It's 1,017 pages long and written in an alien form of bureaucratic English that can barely be decoded by earthlings. And yet, astonishingly, a U.S. Army translator has been found who speaks Washington Doublespeak and he was kind enough to decode the bill and post his plain-language findings over at FreeRepublic.com (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f...). Below, we reprint what he found in the health care reform bill. As you read this, keep in mind that some of these translations are a bit loose with the interpretations, but I've personally spot-checked these points, and they are indeed all contained in the bill in one form or another (shrouded in Doublespeak language, of course). Editor's note: I don't personally agree with every interpretation listed here, and some of the bill's provisions are actually good ideas (like banning doctors from owning stock in health care companies). But overall, this interpretation points out many alarming provisions in the proposed health care reform bill... From CMS at FreeRepublic.com: • Page 16: States that if you have insurance at the time of the bill becoming law and change, you will be required to take a similar plan. If that is not available, you will be required to take the government option! • Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure! • Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed! • Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process) • Page 42: The Health Choices Commissioner will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None. • Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services. • Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard. • Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer. • Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (example: SEIU, UAW and ACORN) • Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange. • Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans) • Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: illegal aliens • Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan. • Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter. • Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No judicial review is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed. • Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages. • Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government- run public plan. No alternatives. • Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families. • Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll • Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll • Page 167: Any individual who doesn't have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income. • Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them). • Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records. • Page 203: The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax. Yes, it really says that. • Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected. • Page 241: Doctors: no matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!) • Page 253: Government sets value of doctors' time, their professional judgment, etc. • Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries. • Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs. • Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing! • Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions. • Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government. • Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies! • Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion.
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I appreciate the original email message, and I want to share in response a few of my ideas. First: Don't accept anything unless you read it yourself (from the original document). Second: We know the pitfall of translating a foriegn langauge (Washington Doublespeak) into English.  When translated, the translator inserts their bias, and the original message is sometimes miscommunicated. Third: You can see the author's bias by the fact they said Washington Doublespeak instead of something neutral like Washington Legalese Lastly: I looked up only a few of the items from the original document: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bi... And I wanted two point out only 2 of the items I looked at. Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer. Working as a software programmer in multiple industries I can also decode the document. The original phrase used in the document is electronic funds transfers .  The abbreviation is EFT, and this is just a technology that is used by companies to process bills through your bank.  EFT is what is used when you pay bills online, and it's what is used when you Bill-Pay your utilities for example.  Say for example you pay your cell phone bill online, the cell phone company sends and EFT to your bank very similar to a check, and then the bank processes the request and pays your cell phone company. The text I quoted above from the article was phrased in such a way that would make the common person very worried as to why they will have direct and real-time access to individual accounts. Page 203: The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax. Yes, it really says that. No everything in the article was misleading.  This particle item on page 203 is accurate.  Its a silly comment and not much more can be said about it.. Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them). This point from the article is misleading.  It needs to be taken in full context of the rest of the surronding article as well as with existing US Law...  I'm no expert but I can try to shed some light on it. The original document says that there are exemptions for 1) Dependents 2) Nonresident Aliens 3) Individuals Living outside of the US 4) Individuals Living in Possesions of the US I assume #3 to imply US citizens living abroad, and #4 to perhaps imply people in the military overseas such as Iraq. The subject though is regarding #2.  Depending on a persons bias or interpretation you can see this in at least 2 ways.  If you are biased towards illegal aliens, then you might think just like the author of the article that illegal aliens are exempt from paying taxes.  And then (Americans will pay for them).  But #2 doesnt say ILLEGAL aliens it says NONRESIDENT aliens.  Such blindness in my opinion. Reminds me of the Quran speaking about diseased brains that are deaf, dumb, and blind. What are examples of non-resident aliens? 1) Foriegn diplomats that visit the US. 2) Foriegn celebrities that visit the US. 3) Foriegn athletes that play games in the US. 4) Your foriegn relatives that get a temporary visa to visit. All these people are aliens that are not residents of the US, but they are not illegal aliens.  Should the French president for example pay health care taxes when he visits the US? Personally speaking, should these people pay a health care tax, perhaps not, but I would hope that they would pay any health care bills they have before they leave the counrty if for some reason they are hospitalized... I am not for or against the health care bill, I don't know enough about it to really decide, its 1000+ pages long.  But I do have something against the article writer's intent when he created the list of biased points. Appreciation to Amouna for sharing the article. My apologies if I misspelled something or if I said anything incorrectly, however I encourage you to do your own research and look at the original US document for the truth on the issue and not this article.. Peace and blessings. N. On Aug 10, 4:22 pm, Amouna < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it wrote: Here is a good article about Obama's Health Care Reform Bill. http://www.naturalnews.com/026733_health_health_care_healthcare.html You can download a pdf of HR 3200 from THOMAS Library of Congress website. What's Really in Obama's Health Care Reform Bill - A Plain English Translation (NaturalNews) Mrs. Bouchard seemed upset. I can't afford health care as yet. The new health reform bill Made her sickly and ill But I'd rather have cancer than debt! What's really in Obama's health care reform bill? Almost no one knows, and here's why: It's 1,017 pages long and written in an alien form of bureaucratic English that can barely be decoded by earthlings. And yet, astonishingly, a U.S. Army translator has been found who speaks Washington Doublespeak and he was kind enough to decode the bill and post his plain-language findings over at FreeRepublic.com (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f...). Below, we reprint what he found in the health care reform bill. As you read this, keep in mind that some of these translations are a bit loose with the interpretations, but I've personally spot-checked these points, and they are indeed all contained in the bill in one form or another (shrouded in Doublespeak language, of course). Editor's note: I don't personally agree with every interpretation listed here, and some of the bill's provisions are actually good ideas (like banning doctors from owning stock in health care companies). But overall, this interpretation points out many alarming provisions in the proposed health care reform bill... From CMS at FreeRepublic.com: • Page 16: States that if you have insurance at the time of the bill becoming law and change, you will be required to take a similar plan. If that is not available, you will be required to take the government option! • Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure! • Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed! • Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process) • Page 42: The Health Choices Commissioner will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None. • Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services. • Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard. • Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer. • Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (example: SEIU, UAW and ACORN) • Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange. • Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans) • Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: illegal aliens • Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan. • Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter. • Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No judicial review is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed. • Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages. • Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-
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I think public option is a must. Big insurance companies are making obscene profits from people's health. They are only middle men. United States does not have the best health care system in the world. Of course, it has the best health care for the filthy rich and majority of Americans are not filthy rich. I do not like big government; but I do not like big corporations either. In fact, I might have a chance to change the big government with my votes once a while, but the big corporations can get away with murder; especially when they bribe and intimidate the elected officials and use the big government to serve their interest. So, either small government and smaller corporations, or big government versus (yes versus!) big corporations. Capitalism or consumerism is not benevolent or self-correcting as the members of the capitalist religion want us to believe. The system is _base_d on greed and exploitation of the weak and resources, which care less about the public interest, environment, and the future of our children on this little planet. I do not understand the reaction to public option in health care system. If you wish to pay more to insurance companies continue doing it, but do not force health-profiteers on everyone. Don't you see the victims of the current system, especially those 40 plus million uninsured and many more million under-insured Americans. Peace, Edip

Salaam everyone, I personally do not see ANY WAY of covering the 40+ million uninsured Americans without a public option. In terms of how we should do it, why not expand Medicare to make this happen? It's easy, the oversight would be much less complex than one of these insurance cooperative ideas, and America already understands Medicare. I understand that many politicians don't like the idea of a universal single payer program, because it would be difficult to implement, and even though I know that it's the only real option that would control costs I'm willing to let go of single payer. But I'm not willing to let go of getting all Americans adequate health benefits. There is no compromising around this issue - poor people need our help. 40 million Americans that will go into lifelong debt if they get a chronic illness?!??!! This is pathetic. What would Jesus do? What would Muhammad do? Make sure that all 40 million Americans with no benefits get adequate health insurance. A public option would be about 50 million times more efficient than private plans, as private insurance companies would skimp and squeeze wallets until they made as much money as possible. There is no debate around whether or not private insurance companies are greedy and profit-seeking; there is TONS OF EVIDENCE that insurance companies have done this in the past and will continue to do so. Even if we have a health insurance cooperative, we will have to watch those companies like hawks to make sure that they don't pull any fast ones. And they will pull fast ones, and we will not watch them like hawks because the politicians we paid to watch them like hawks will be bought out by private insurance companies. I repeat - the only way to solve this problem is via a public option. Single payer is more ideal, but if even a wimpy public option gets 50,000 crazy 65-year-olds all riled up at town hall meetings....I think single payer isn't politically feasible at this point in time. Most of this protest against Obamacare at town hall meetings is cooked up and bankrolled by private insurance companies. Here's a few _link_s regarding this problem: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/former-exec-insurers-fomenting-to... http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/141860/inside_story_on_town_ha... http://counterpunch.org/lindorff08112009.html Remember......if this health care plan goes bust, Obama will lose a lot of political capital. That means that Democrats will have less of a chance to maintain their hold on Congress. And remember, our only choice other than Obama (in this two-party, broken political system) is the Republicans. And the Republicans have some highly polemical and bigoted factions within them. Don't even get me started on the global warming issue. Those are my two cents on health care. Peace, Matt

Why do you assume that I didn't read the bill? I happen to have looked it over and agree with most of the author's points.  As a matter of fact, I am a software engineer as well and have worked for most of my career for large corporations as a business analyst
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