HR3962 Hype: Affordable Health Care for America Act

This article defines HR3962 in detail with links to the bill text and bullet points on what it does do. What about what it doesn't do? It is a compromise on what we really need in America ( a single payer system).

But is it worthy of a first step? Is it a health insurance industry bailout in disguise? If it is passed will Americans (who are now actively concerned and holding Congress' feet to the fire) remain steadfast and committed to push for real sustainable meaningful reform for a fair and affordable health care system for ALL Americans, not just 95% covered by this bill.

Estimates on the number of new people who stand to be covered under the various proposed public option plans range from 5 million to 20 million, and forsake the rest of the 50 million (and growing number) of people with no health care insurance at all. Is this what America needs or is it an appeasement to shut us up?

"You can keep your doctor and your current plan if you like them..." But will you have to keep them if you don't like them. Will all Americans be mandated to pay for health insurance giving the health insurance industry a guaranteed perpetual government enforced bailout? Pelosi and the other politicians touting HR3962 are careful to avoid these questions.

Do you see Congressmen Weiner or Kucinich supporting this bill (or bull)? Their amendments to allow states to have single payer plans or give us single payer options are not even going to be voted on. protesters who sat-in on Pelosi's San Francisco office were arrested in protest of these very points. Yet there is no mention of them anywhere in the news. What kind of bull crap are these people trying to pull?

There may be a few crumbs of reform in this bill. But it is hardly worthy of giving up the fight for real health care reform.

http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/legislation?id=0327
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Update: It Sucks.

Yes there are positives touted by Pelosi et al. But the negatives outweigh the positives:

- No effective cost containment mechanisms
- A negligible pubic option (you remember the public option don't you?)
- Will not result in making health care more affordable
- Many provisions that will benefit corporate stakeholders (no kidding, it was written by insurance lobbyists)
- This loophole has been added—“while making sure that such a change doesn’t further destabilize the current individual health insurance market.”
- No say over reimbursement and coverage policies

All of this from a progressive health reform website. The article contines with the following:
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In sum, this $1.055 trillion plan over ten years will not fix the major problems of cost and affordable access to health care in our deteriorating system, will add new layers of bureaucracy and complexity to the present system, is not fiscally responsible, and is not sustainable.

What to do now? Rather than accept an unworkable bill that is politically expedient, we would be better off to make a major course change. The best first option would be to call for a floor vote, as originally promised by the House Speaker Pelosi, for the amendment proposed by Anthony Weiner (D-NY) to substitute HR 676, a single-payer proposal, for HR 3962. If that fails, shelving this bill would be the best option, but if that is not possible, lawmakers should be pressed to retain the amendment proposed by Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) to allow states to experiment with single-payer plans, as a number of states would like to do (eg. California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, New Mexico, New York and Pennsylvania). That amendment has already been passed by a rare bipartisan vote of 27-19 in the House Education and Labor Committee.
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http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/blog/john-geyman-md-pnhp/2009/11/05/health-c...

See: "Hey Pelosi: Single Payer is NOT Off the Table" http://current.com/items/91210625_hey-pelosi-single-payer-is-not-off-the-table.h...

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