Day 6 of 206- reading the Senate Health Care Bill

Pressing on…
Today’s health care “summit” did not seem to alter the course of things, and it looks like Congress is going to push this bill through, so I am motivated to continue reading since this may indeed become a reality.

Pages 77-88
Continues to outline how the government will collect fees and penalties from insurance plans that [...]

Day 4 of 206- reading the Senate Health Care Bill

Pages 52-64
Section 1102 Reinsurance for Early Retirees
Gives federal money to insurance plans to cover part of the cost of insuring people who retire early from their job.

In other words, people who stop working at age 55 can receive Medicare-type coverage, but not exactly.  You must have a job that provides health insurance, and then if [...]

Day 3 of 206- reading the Senate Health Care Bill

Pages 41-52
Section 2794 Ensuring that Consumers Get Value for Their Dollars
Lets HHS establish a process to review insurance plans “unreasonable increases in premiums for health insurance coverage”.
Requires States who participate in the “Federal Exchange” (first time mentioned in the bill?) to report on premium increases in the State, and allows HHS to determine if the [...]

Day 2 of 206- reading the Senate Health Care Bill

Pages 30-40
Section 2717 “Ensuring the Quality of Care”
This phrase alone makes me shudder.  What makes government think it can “ensure” quality of care?  So far it has been unable to do so with the plan it does run, Medicare.
Says that the government will establish “reporting requirements” whereby health plans will have to show that they [...]

Day 1 of 206- reading the Senate Health Care Bill

As a physician in full-time practice, reading the 2400+ page Senate health reform bill seems a daunting task.  Indeed, most physicians I know have not read the bill, and we rely on the press or “expert” analysts to give us a summary version.  Yet, in my experience, these summaries are inadequate at best for getting [...]