The Clinton Health Care DisasterHow Clinton's Health Plan Will Devastate Your Medical Care,Income, and Privacyby Jarret Wollstein
Bill Clinton says that America's health-care system is broken and the government must fix it. He wants "universal coverage . . . health care that can never be taken away." That sounds compassionate. But compassion has little to do with how Clinton's Health Security Act will actually affect you. I've read all 1,342 pages. Once you get past the legalese, you'll find. . . Universal coverage really means universal compulsionClinton's plan will take away your freedom of choice in medical care, force you to pay huge new "health-care" taxes, and eliminate your medical and personal privacy. You'll have no choice about participating in Clinton's plan. Page 15 of his Health Security Act clearly states, you . . . "must enroll in an applicable health plan," and "must pay any premium required." (HSA page 15, emphasis added) The "health plan" that you must join, is a government monopoly on all basic medical care in your area (called a "regional health alliance"). No independent alternatives are permitted. A few government plans will replace hundreds of competing insurance companies, giving you little choice. If you don't voluntarily enroll, your mandatory premium automatically doubles (HSA, p. 145). And if you don't promptly pay "any premium required", you face civil monetary penalties of "$5,000 or three times the amount of the liability owed, whichever is greater." (HSA, p. 167). There is no limit on the amount of your mandatory health-care premiums. They won't be set by Congress or by any elected body, but by a 7-member, politically-appointed, National Health Board. Your mandatory health-care premiums are actually a second, unlimited tax on your income. How much will you pay? About 10% of your salary, on top of all your other taxes, in just the first year. Up to 1 in 8 of us could be put out of workYour employer will pay 80% of your mandatory health-care premiums. But that's just a technicality. Hundreds of thousands of businesses are just hanging on by their fingernails. If forced to pay huge new health-care taxes, they will have to cut salaries, lay off workers, or relocate factories outside the U.S. Small businesses will be hit particularly hard. According to a study by Consad Research - "The Employment Impact of Proposed Health Care Reform On Small Business" - up to 16.5 million people - 1 in every 8 workers in America - could lose their jobs if Clinton's plan passes. The National Health Board will tell you what medical tests and treatments you can receive. Clinton has also promised more "equitable" health care. "Equality" will be achieved by nationalizing 95 % of basic medical care - and by making inequality of care a federal crime. A "National Health Board" will determine "age-appropriate immunizations, tests, and clinical visits." [HSA, p. 89]. Any tests, treatments - or doctors - they don't like can be banned through "utilization review," "prior approval for specified services," and "exclusion of providers." [HSA pp. 130-131] Government attorneys and bureaucrats - who haven't had a single day of medical training - will control what treatments and tests your doctor will be allowed to give you. Your doctor will be forced to practice recipe-book medicine, with little concern for your personal needs and desires. If your doctor deviates from Health Board orders, his medical license can be revoked, he can be denied payments, and his home and bank accounts can be seized. Under Clinton's plan, the exercise of medical freedom of choice will become a federal crime. You could be imprisoned for spending your own money on the health care of your choice. Under Clinton's plan, the frequency and kind of medical care you are legally allowed will be strictly rationed. If you attempt to get better or even different medical care than your neighbor, (e.g., by spending your own money for a covered operation), both you and your doctor will be committing a federal crime. "Health-care providers have no legal right to seek payment from eligible individuals for any covered items or services (other than enrollees' obligations under cost-sharing arrangements)." [HSA, p. 103] The punishment for buying or selling any covered medical services outside Clinton's Plan is "a civil monetary penalty in an amount not to exceed $50,000" (HSA, p. 947) PLUS a minimum of 5 years in prison. As former assistant Secretary of the Treasury Paul Craig Roberts warns: "Mr. Clinton's plan turns normal patient advocacy into a federal criminal offense.... a doctor who wants an earlier date for surgery for a needful patient can be accused of using wrongful influence or accepting a bribe, and sentenced, along with the patient, to 15 years in prison." (Washington Times, 12-31-93) If the violation results in "serious bodily injury," your doctor can be imprisoned for "life or any term of years." (HSA, p. 952). The new health-care crimes are so vague that any doctor or patient could be charged. Simple paperwork errors will be federal criminal offenses. U.S. criminal law will also be amended so that all of your doctor's assets - including his or her home, bank accounts, and retirement savings - can be confiscated if he or she is convicted of a health-care "crime." 105 new federal agencies will have life and death power over every doctor and patient. No wonder up to half of all doctors surveyed say they may quit medicine if Clinton's plan - or anything like it - passes. Clinton's plan will result in rationing of every basic medical service - with deadly consequences. Making medical care a legal "right," with minimal out-of-pocket expenses for everyone, will result in life-threatening shortages of many medical services. As John Goodman and Gerald Musgrave explain in their book Patient Power . . .
In every country where government has taken over medicine, there are frightening shortages of medical care. According to the National Center for Policy Analysis, in England, over 9,000 people a year die because they are denied kidney dialysis at government- run hospitals. In Canada, 250,000 people, out of a population of 25 million, are now on hospital waiting lists for surgery which can stretch to years. And 45% say they are in pain. In the U.S., look at how the government runs Veterans Administration hospitals. You'll frequently find conditions bordering on barbarism: filthy facilities, indifferent or hostile attendants, shortages of everything. That's the future of medical care for all of us if the government takes over our health-care system. The end of your medical and personal privacyUnder Clinton's plan, your doctor will be forced to turn over all of your medical information to a federal computer center. Your children will be registered with the state from birth. If your doctor withholds any information, he can be fined $10,000 per violation, without trial. (HSA, p. 871) You will also be forced to carry a government-issued smart card, that can hold up to 1,600 pages of information about you. Your mandatory smart card and government health files will make nearly every detail of your life an open book to millions of bureaucrats, IRS agents, and police officers. Once they run your card through a scanner, they'll know everything you've ever written on a medical form or told your doctor: your address, phone number, employer, drug history, every physical and mental disorder, pregnancies and abortions - and even your doctor's personal notes. Federal "health-care police" will be able to enter your home at willYou will have no refuge from federal health bureaucrats. Clinton's plan creates 105 new government agencies, and greatly expands the power of 42 others. Hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats will monitor you and your doctor, reeducate your children, and enter your office and home at will. The Plan's "Comprehensive School Health Education" initiatives authorize the government to shape your children's behavior involving "Tobacco use; alcohol and other drug abuse; sexual behaviors . . .; behaviors resulting in intentional and unintentional injuries; dietary patterns resulting in disease; and sedentary life styles . . ." (HSA, pp. 607-608) Federal health-care police are also authorized to enter your home without search warrants for "indoor air-quality inspections" and "well baby" visits. If they decide you have an unhealthy home environment, existing child-abuse laws authorize them to immediately take your children away without even a hearing. Stopping the Clinton health care disasterClinton's health-care plan is not a program of compassionate reform. It's a plan of cradle-to-grave slavery for all of us. It must be stopped now. Our greatest defense against the Clinton health-care disaster is the truth. Would you voluntarily sign up with a medical plan that gives the insurer an unlimited claim upon your income . . . triples your medical premiums if you don't pay them promptly . . . makes it a crime for you to spend your own money on medical care you choose . . . causes the sick and elderly to suffer and die prematurely . . . and lets federal agents enter your home at will and take away your children? Of course not. But if you don't get the word out now, you may have no choice. The International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL) is an association of men and women in over 80 countries promoting individual liberty, prosperity and peace. An ISIL membership includes our international newsletter, 27+ issue papers, book/tape catalog, world directory and more - only $35/yr. For a full ISIL information pack with sample newsletter, book catalog and literature, send $2.00 to cover p&h. INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY 1800 Market Street, San Francisco California 94102 USA Tel: (415) 864-0952 Fax: (415) 864-7506
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