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HR 3926—Congressional Graffiti?

By Pat Racimora on November 10, 2009 at 1:15 PM in Current Affairs, Health Care

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I want to see true health care reform. And the House just passed something that lots of people seem to be very excited about. Hoping to be part of the celebration, I did the only thing any one of us should do before jumping on board with HR 3926 —read the damn thing!

I went to an official site and started browsing though this 1,990 page tome. Here’s what I found…

The House has done it again! This bill cannot be comprehended. I don’t care who you are, it would take weeks, months maybe, to fully digest the whole thing and discern its intended meaning. I just copied two pages—376 and 377– at random to prove my point:

1 (b) DELAYED EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section
2 1888(e)(4)(E)(ii)(V) of the Social Security Act, as in
3serted by subsection (a)(3), shall not apply to payment
4 for days before January 1, 2010.
5 SEC. 1102. INPATIENT REHABILITATION FACILITY PAY
6MENT UPDATE.
7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1886(j)(3)(C) of the So
8cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(j)(3)(C)) is amended
9 by striking ‘‘and 2009’’ and inserting ‘‘through 2010’’.
10 (b) DELAYED EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment
11 made by subsection (a) shall not apply to payment units
12 occurring before January 1, 2010.
13 SEC. 1103. INCORPORATING PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVE
14MENTS INTO MARKET BASKET UPDATES
15 THAT DO NOT ALREADY INCORPORATE SUCH
16 IMPROVEMENTS.
17 (a) INPATIENT ACUTE HOSPITALS.—Section
18 1886(b)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
19 1395ww(b)(3)(B)) is amended—
20 (1) in clause (iii)—
21 (A) by striking ‘‘(iii) For purposes of this
22 subparagraph,’’ and inserting ‘‘(iii)(I) For pur
23poses of this subparagraph, subject to the pro
24ductivity adjustment described in subclause
25 (II),’’; and3962 SK29S0YB1PROD with BILLS
(Page 377 starts here)
1 (B) by adding at the end the following new
2 subclause:
3 ‘‘(II) The productivity adjustment described in this
4 subclause, with respect to an increase or change for a fis
5cal year or year or cost reporting period, or other annual
6 period, is a productivity offset in the form of a reduction
7 in such increase or change equal to the percentage change
8 in the 10-year moving average of annual economy-wide
9 private nonfarm business multi-factor productivity (as re
10cently published in final form before the promulgation or
11 publication of such increase for the year or period in
12volved). Except as otherwise provided, any reference to the
13 increase described in this clause shall be a reference to
14 the percentage increase described in subclause (I) minus
15 the percentage change under this subclause.’’;
16 (2) in the first sentence of clause (viii)(I), by
17 inserting ‘‘(but not below zero)’’ after ‘‘shall be re
18duced’’; and
19 (3) in the first sentence of clause (ix)(I)—
20 (A) by inserting ‘‘(determined without re
21gard to clause (iii)(II))’’ after ‘‘clause (i)’’ the
22 second time it appears; and
23 (B) by inserting ‘‘(but not below zero)’’
24 after ‘‘reduced’’.

I swear I didn’t change a thing, including how the words are split.

There are another 1,988 pages a lot like these two.

God help us all.