The Final ObamaKennedyDeathCare House Bill: Nasty Bits

Here are some of the nasty bits that people are already identifying:

The bill contains the word "shall" 3,425 times. But I'm sure all those are used to tell you how the government "shall" stay out of your health-care decisions, right?

Pg. 1516 regulates vending machines: In the case of an article of food sold from a vending machine that ‘‘(I) does not permit a prospective purchaser to examine the Nutrition Facts Panel before purchasing the article or does not otherwise provide visible nutrition information at the point of purchase; and ‘‘(II) is operated by a person who is engaged in the business of owning or operating 20 or more vending machines, the vending machine operator shall provide a sign in close proximity to each article of food or the selection button that includes a clear and conspicuous statement disclosing the number of calories contained in the article.

Pg. 31, under a section titled, "Sunshine on price gouging of health insurance issuers": The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with States, shall establish a process for the annual review of increases in premiums for health insurance coverage. Such process shall require health insurance issuers to submit a justification for any premium increases prior to implementation of the increase.

The "doc fix"— coming in at about $200 billion—is yet to come, and will be handled in a separate piece of legislation, just as the Senate tried.

The bill adds a new section to the federal tax code: "'PART VIII:HEALTH CARE RELATED TAXES.' Among the new taxes are penalties for individuals who don't purchase insurance and employers who don't provide insurance, income tax surcharges of up to 5.6% to those earning more than $1 million, and a 2.5% excise tax on medical devices."

Pg. 132: The bill creates the Office of the Ultimate Bureaucrat Health Choices Administration headed by the Health Choices Commissioner. Among the commissioner's duties (he will be appointed by the president and approved by the Senate): "establishment of qualified health benefits plan standards," "administration of individual affordability credits under subtitle C of title III, including determination of eligibility for such credits," auditing insurance exchange participants to provide "accountability" for meeting his established standards and billing those insurance companies for the audits, collecting unspecified "data," penalizing, suspending payments to, and terminating insurance plans that don't meet exchange standards, establishing " effective and efficient administration of the Health Insurance Exchange," and "development of standards for the definitions of terms used in health insurance coverage, including insurance-related terms."

And:

The bill defines which businesses are subject to the health care tax based upon the dollar amount of employee payroll. There even is a sliding scale right in the bill (section 501, at page 276) which tops out at 8% for businesses with $750,000 of annual payroll. Annual payroll is defined as the "aggregate wages" paid by the employer.

This provision creates incentives for businesses to keep down payroll. One way would be not to hire anyone whose compensation would fall under the definition of payroll under the bill.

In other words, outsource whatever you can. Hire a software engineer in India, or ship manufacturing to China, or structure your business in such a way that you send 1099s not W-2s to the people who work for you (and hire an accountant and tax lawyer to navigate IRS rules on independent contractors).

The message of the bill is that whatever you do, if you want to grow your business without paying the health care tax, do not add employees.

Obama does not understand these provisions. Obama gave a speech this morning in which he stated that these provisions are directed at small businesses operating on thin margins. But these provisions have nothing to do with profit margins. This is a wage-based tax.

And:

-- Page 183: The Commissioner (i.e. the health insurance czar) can contract with “appropriate entities” to engage in “outreach to specific vulnerable populations” about the new programs in the bill. The bill includes no prohibition on ACORN receiving this funding, meaning that the Administration could consider ACORN an “appropriate entity,” allowing them to receive taxpayer funding for “outreach…”

-- Page 1432: States can get funding for liability demonstration projects only if they do not cap damages or attorneys’ fees.

-- Page 1925: There is funding for sexual predators through the Indian Health Service in the bill.

-- Page 122: The federal government and the new insurance czar will be giving us lessons on how to speak in “plain language."

-- Page 1255: The health care bill makes veterinary students eligible for federal grant funding, including scholarships and loan forgiveness.  All told, there is $283 million in spending authorized under these sections – meaning we could be spending hundreds of millions to pay for veterinarians while we have a deficit of over $1 trillion.

 --  Page 1213: There is language in the bill regulating vending machines, to ensure everyone will see nutrition labels on items before purchasing their food.

Some more fun facts:

--  Did you know? The bill also omits language in the discussion draft of H.R. 3200, saying that the bureaucracy established to create minimum benefit standards should “ensure that essential benefits coverage does not lead to rationing of health care.”  In other words, there’s no clear prohibition on the federal government rationing health care.

-- Did you know? The bill reauthorization was stuck on to the back of the health care bill.  This matters to folks who are pro-life because the Democrats have not been able to move this bill for the past three years. This is because there were votes in the Energy and Commerce Committee to add an amendment preventing the Indian Health Service from funding abortions. In other words, it’s another end-run around a vote to ensure federal funds won’t pay for abortion, just as President Obama promised.

 -- Did you know? During the press conference, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer claimed it was an open and transparent process to develop the health care bill. This begs the question, why did they prevent the American people from attending their publicity rally?

-- Did you know? In addition to the major bill, there is a 13-page bill to repeal the sustainable growth rate caps on Medicare spending. This bill will cost more than $200 billion, and is not paid for, which breaks President Obama's promise to Congress.

-- Did you know? The Democrats' health care bill is 1,990 pages long and contatins the word "shall" 3,425 times.

--  Did you know? An organizer that participated in the 9/12 march writes: "When we planned the 9/12 March, we were specifically told that this is the people's property and that we could not legally prohibit anyone from walking where they wanted on the grounds.  We could ask them but if they insisted we had to allow them."

-- Did you know? There were multiple reports from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's press conference on health care this morning of the public being turned away from the event.

In short, this bill will put the entire American health care system under government control, hammering the middle and upper classes with new taxes and cutting Medicare to pay for it.

There's my two cents.

Related Reading: 

1,990-Page Health Care Bill Pays for Abortions, Cuts Medicare, Raises Taxes, Fees, and the Deficit