Let's go with the good news: You can read it in the Internet!
Let's go with the bad news: It is unreadable and incomprehensible!
This is from POLITICO:
"It runs more pages than War and Peace, has nearly five times as many words as the Torah, and its tables of contents alone run far longer than this story.
The House health care bill unveiled Thursday clocks in at 1,990 pages and about 400,000 words.
With an estimated 10-year cost of $894 billion, that comes out to about $2.24 million per word."
By the way, high school English teachers, as well as the attorneys called to interpret this monstrosity, will love this paragraph:
"“(a) Outpatient Hospitals – (1) In General – Section 1833(t)(3)(C)(iv) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395(t)(3)(C)(iv)) is amended – (A) in the first sentence – (i) by inserting “(which is subject to the productivity adjustment described in subclause (II) of such section)” after “1886(b)(3)(B)(iii); and (ii) by inserting “(but not below 0)” after “reduced”; and (B) in the second sentence, by inserting “and which is subject, beginning with 2010 to the productivity adjustment described in section 1886(b)(3)(B)(iii)(II)”."
What in the world does that mean?
And you thought that your private insurance was hard to read?
Wait until you have to read Pelosi's bill and the taxes that come with it! (CBO Puts House Health Bill Total Cost At $1.055 Trillion)
Ed Morrissey has more info on the taxes:
"Employer Mandate Excise Tax (Page 275):
If an employer does not pay 72.5 percent of a single employee’s health premium (65 percent of a family employee), the employer must pay an excise tax equal to 8 percent of average wages.
Small employers (measured by payroll size) have smaller payroll tax rates of 0 percent (<$500,000), 2 percent ($500,000-$585,000), 4 percent ($585,000-$670,000), and 6 percent ($670,000-$750,000).
Individual Mandate Surtax (Page 296):
If an individual fails to obtain qualifying coverage, he must pay an income surtax equal to the lesser of 2.5 percent of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) or the average premium. MAGI adds back in the foreign earned income exclusion and municipal bond interest.
Medicine Cabinet Tax (Page 324)
Cap on FSAs (Page 325)
Increased Additional Tax on Non-Qualified HSA Distributions (Page 326)
Denial of Tax Deduction for Employer Health Plans Coordinating with Medicare Part D (Page 327)
Surtax on Individuals and Small Businesses (Page 336)
Excise Tax on Medical Devices (Page 339)
Corporate 1099-MISC Information Reporting (Page 344)
Delay in Worldwide Allocation of Interest (Page 345)
Limitation on Tax Treaty Benefits for Certain Payments (Page 346)
Codification of the “Economic Substance Doctrine” (Page 349)
Application of “More Likely Than Not” Rule (Page 357)
Back to the bill: It is confusing and that's the point of this mindless proposal.
As I mentioned in a previous post, we could fix much of what ails our current system by doing two things:
1) Tort reform, i.e. let doctors treat patients rather than perform defensive medicine; and,
2) Letting consumers buy across state lines from the 1,300 insurance companies.
Of course, that's too logical and it does not create dependence, the underlying intention of BO-Care!
Also, we could take care of the 5-8 million people who can't afford insurance by simply having the state governments provide them with a private insurance policy.
Again, that's too simple!
We agree with IBD: A 1,990-Page Medical Monstrosity
"Both the House and the Senate are set to wreck the greatest health care system in the world — unless those now taking it for granted raise a ruckus, and fast."
On Tuesday, voters will speak.
It looks great for Republicans in Virginia, a state that voted Democrat in 2008 for the first time in 45 years. However, there is a lot of buyers' remorse in that state!
It looks very tight in New Jersey, a state driving residents out because of high taxes and regulations!
Let's see how Pelosi's bill looks after voters speak on Tuesday.
I have a funny feeling that voters will send a message to all of those Dems seeking re-election in 2010, specially all of those running in rural and suburban districts that voted for McCain!
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