Did you read the bill?

Congressman Tom Perriello touts his vote for ObamaCare as a good one. He’s proud the new law covers children to age 26, has no lifetime coverage limits and nobody can be denied health insurance because of a precondition. Oh yeah, it supposedly reduces the deficit. But truly, Congressman Perriello, did you read the bill?

If you had, you would have discovered that the administration costs weren’t included and will have to be paid with future appropriations. This has already eliminated any deficit reduction, and ObamaCare’s mandates have forced health insurance companies to raise premiums by double-digits just to stay in business.

President Obama promised, “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.” ObamaCare gives employers punitive mandates, half a trillion dollars in new taxes, and a burdensome regulatory compliance regime which is already thwarting economic recovery. Former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin argues that as many as 43 million people covered by employer-sponsored insurance may lose their current coverage.

The fast-food restaurant chain McDonalds has already announced that its mini-med plan can’t meet a 2011 requirement to spend at least 85% of its premium revenue on medical care because it’s simply unrealistic. So, that’s another 30000 to be added to the oft quoted millions of uninsured with another 1.4 million in jeopardy. Congressman Perriello, did you read the bill?

ObamaCare also drastically curtails health savings account (HSA) and flexible spending accounts (FSAs). According to the New York Times, “Flexible Spending, a Little Less So,” in 2011 OTC medicines won’t be reimbursable without a prescription. In 2013, ObamaCare will also reduce contribution limits to $2500.

In order to make this trillion dollar new entitlement (with $38 trillion in unfunded liabilities) look deficit neutral, Obamacare pretended to cut doctors’ Medicare reimbursement payments by 23%. Congress has already delayed these cuts to December and probably will delay them again in the lame duck session after the election exasperating the growing deficit.

If the cuts do go through, it will only accelerate the dropping of Medicare patients. For example, after Obama touted the Mayo Clinic as a national model for efficient healthcare, they stopped accepting Medicare patients in 2010 at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the government’s reimbursements were simply insufficient.

ObamaCare will also make it next to impossible for doctors to establish their own hospitals and will burden them with thousands of hours of new reporting requirements along with overburden emergency rooms. The massive expansion of Medicaid, which reimburses doctors at only 56% of the private practice rate, will result in a shortage of 300,000 nurses and 100,000 doctors by 2020. Congressman Perriello, did you read the bill?

Obamacare imposes a 2.3% excise tax on medical devices (like powered wheelchairs, hearing aids, breast-milk pumps, prosthetics, replacement joints, and diagnostic tools like MRI and CT scanners) as well as additional annual fees on health insurance providers. And these fees only increase every year. Only the cruel and heartless would hike taxes on much needed medical devices. Congressman Perriello, did you read the bill?

Medicaid spending already is about 21% of the typical state budget. Obamacare will significantly increase that. Of the 34 million Americans who gain health insurance through Obamacare, over half (18 million) will receive it through Medicaid. Only a state with a “Cornhusker Kickback” will avoid the looming budget crisis, and neither Virginian senator was smart enough to hold his vote until he got it.

Obamacare gives states bailouts through 2016. But in 2017, state taxpayers will have to shell out for Medicaid’s ever-expanding expense. If Medicaid spending increases by the projected 41%, in 2011 it could consume nearly 30% of the average state budget.44 states report that they’ve already exceeded projected Medicaid enrollment and spending targets for this year, and Obamacare will only make that worse. Congressman Perriello, did you read the bill?

The President’s own Medicare Actuary projects that the record-breaking payment reductions will hit hospitals, home health agencies and nursing homes. ObamaCare will make 15% of these providers unprofitable and possibly “jeopardize” seniors’ access to care.

On top of that, payment cuts to Medicare Advantage plans will hit seniors especially hard. Enrollment in these plans is expected to drop from 14.8 to 7.4 million. By 2017, the average annual per-capita cuts for Medicare Advantage enrollees will be about $3,700, a 27% reduction from today’s levels.

Congressman Perriello, did you ever read this bill? You probably didn’t and just accepted without question the lies like a good little Poodle of Pelosi, who actually said, “The bill must be passed before we can know what’s in it.” But even if Perriello had read the bill that would be worse since he would have been well aware of the horror being wrought upon America that’s fast becoming an ObamaMare.