Health Care Bills Are Everywhere!

The question is; what will come of these bills once melded together?

Here is where you can find all of the bills. There are four different pieces of legislation now. Here are links, names and numbers:

HR3200: America's Affordable Health Choices Act

HR3962: Affordable Health Care for America Act

S1679: Affordable Health Choices Act

S1796: America's Healthy Future Act

All information can be found here:

http://thomas.loc.gov/

Now let's stop for a minute and look at what the proposed legislation equals in total page length. If you add them up you come up with a whopping 7,805 pages! It breaks down like this...

HR.3200.IH .... 1017 pages

HR.3200.RH .... 2454 pages

HR.3962.IH .... 1990 pages

S.1679 .......... 840 pages

s.1796 .......... 1504 pages

How can you have legislation which in total equals 7,805 pages, but claim that it is not a takeover of the health care system? Is there a need for 7,805 pages worth of regulations? What could possibly need to be regulated to that extent --in a free country?!

There is one part I read about the other day which is really interessting. Take a Peek at HR.3962.IH pages 1431 - 1432...

page 1431

1 SEC. 2531. MEDICAL LIABILITY ALTERNATIVES.
2 (a) INCENTIVE PAYMENTS FOR MEDICAL LIABILITY
3 REFORM.—
4 (1) IN GENERAL.—To the extent and in the
5 amounts made available in advance in appropriations
6 Acts, the Secretary shall make an incentive payment,
7 in an amount determined by the Secretary, to each
8 State that has an alternative medical liability law in
9 compliance with this section.
10 (2) DETERMINATION BY SECRETARY.—The
11 Secretary shall determine that a State has an alter-
12 native medical liability law in compliance with this
13 section if the Secretary is satisfied that—
14 (A) the State enacted the law after the
15 date of the enactment of this Act and is imple-
16 menting the law;
17 (B) the law is effective; and
18 (C) the contents of the law are in accord
19 ance with paragraph (4).
20 (3) CONSIDERATIONS FOR DETERMINING EF-
21 FECTIVENESS.—In determining whether an alter-
22 native medical liability law is effective under para-
23 graph (2)(B), the Secretary shall consider whether
24 the law—

page 1432

1 (A) makes the medical liability system
2 more reliable through prevention of, or prompt
3 and fair resolution of, disputes;
4 (B) encourages the disclosure of health
5 care errors; and
6 (C) maintains access to affordable liability
7 insurance.
8 (4) CONTENTS OF ALTERNATIVE MEDICAL LI-
9 ABILITY LAW.—The contents of an alternative liabil-
10 ity law are in accordance with this paragraph if—
11 (A) the litigation alternatives contained in
12 the law consist of certificate of merit, early
13 offer, or both; and
14 (B) the law does not limit attorneys’ fees
15 or impose caps on damages.
16 (b) USE OF INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.—Amounts re-
17 ceived by a State as an incentive payment under this sec-
18 tion shall be used to improve health care in that State.
19 (c) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary may
20 provide technical assistance to the States applying for or
21 receiving an incentive payment under this section.
22 (d) REPORTS.—Beginning not later than one year
23 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary
24 shall submit to the Congress an annual report on the
25 progress States have made in enacting and implementing

Did I just miss something, or does this legislation punish states which impose laws limiting attorney's fees, or caps on awarded damages? This legislation would effect states negatively if they have, or wish to pass any kind of Tort reform. Can someone explain to me how that is going to improve health care?

The director of the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) Douglas W. Elmendorf, mentions in his blog that the effect of Tort reform could benefit both the private sector, and increase federal tax revenue.

Tort reform could affect costs for health care both directly and indirectly: directly, by lowering premiums for medical liability insurance; and indirectly, by reducing the use of diagnostic tests and other health care services when providers recommend those services principally to reduce their potential exposure to lawsuits. Because of mixed evidence about whether tort reform affects the utilization of health care services, past analyses by CBO have focused on the impact of tort reform on premiums for malpractice insurance. However, more recent research has provided additional evidence to suggest that lowering the cost of medical malpractice tends to reduce the use of health care services.

Enacting a typical set of proposals would reduce federal budget deficits by roughly $54 billion over the next 10 years, according to estimates by CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee of Taxation. That figure includes savings of roughly $41 billion from Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits program, as well as an increase in tax revenues of roughly $13 billion from a reduction in private health care costs that would lead to higher taxable wages.

So, why would the health care reform legislation attempt to punish activity (tort reform) that can benefit everyone?

All those stories you've heard about democrats being "in bed" with trial lawyers are starting to sound a little less conspiratorial huh?

--> My two cents...

Also I would like to add this, for all of those who think that tort reform would NOT lower the cost of health care. To you, I ask one simple question. If frivolous law suits were not really an issue; why are the majority of new businesses in the U.S. registered as LLCs (Limited Liability Companies)?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124698320557906557.html

...LLCs and LLPs. Since the 1990s these have been the entities of choice for virtually all new businesses, and many old ones converted to them as well. They offer the liability protection of a corporation combined with a partnership's freedom from double taxation. Pretax profits and losses flow directly to investors, who report them on their individual returns.

There are fewer tax benefits than those available from law suite. Why else would LLCs be so popular? This is just a guess, but I bet it has something to do with frivolous law suites.

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