HR 3926—Congressional Graffiti?
By Pat Racimora on November 10, 2009 at 1:15 PM in Current Affairs, Health Care
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.
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LOL!!!
You just cannot make stuff like this up!
Although they say that parts of it are unConstitutional, the section you referred to clearly is not since the Constitution does not ban jibberish.
I think the time for impeachment is now. This definitely proves that no one in congress is mentally competent. Let’s get them all out ASAP! Future generations will take one look at this and know why we did it!
Impeachment? The foxes are currently guarding the hen-house.
Voting out the bastids is the only realistic option we have.
Virginia and New Jersey have made a good start in voting them out. I never thought I would say this, but I am so glad our two Senators in TX had the good sense to vote against this bill. Even Chet Edwards, a conservative Democrat in the house, voted against it.
Senators haven’t voted yet. They’re next.
I feel big time for the poor souls in state governments who’ll have to try to comprehend this mess.
Maybe there are experts who can?
What really needs to happen is that this thing gets tossed. Besides saving an entire park of trees, it’s not going to help and I fear greatly what it is going to do to Medicare.
Yes, there most definitely are experts who know exactly what it says. The lobbyists who wrote the damn thing! This is nothing but another one of Obama and Pelosi’s criminal enterprises designed to screw the poor people while convincing them they are helping. Exactly like Obama did in Illinois with Rezko!
I think we need to elect fewer lawyers and more “real people”…
EXACTLY - and not so many millionaires.
But are they millionnaires *before* or *after* they are elected? I don’t know the stats, but I’d like to. I’m guessing for plenty of them, the answer is *after*. They make plenty to live on, but not so much that the job itself makes them rich. I think it’s the kickbacks, or maybe special information they get that helps them increase their nest eggs. Or maybe they’re serving as “consultants” in some way. If the latter, perhaps we need a law which requires them to only work at the one job.
And you know, we pay for them to have huge pensions for the rest of their lives… why? If they get voted out, they still have a huge ability to get a new high-paying job…
Btw, Rep. Dennis Kucinich voted against this bill!
Great post and toon, Pat!
I used to live in Lakewood, OH, in Dennis Kucinich’s district. He may seem a little eccentric, but I can guarantee he is for the people. He listens to his constituents and takes the time to reply personally.
Yes, I’ve always liked him. He’s given speeches about how bad the Fed Resv is for the American people. He seems very brave & very intelligent.
It’s true–even the pages where there are complete sentences are so rambling and complex that I don’t know who could understand them
(2) The entity uses a multistakeholder process
9 that creates consensus-based companion guides, in
10cluding operating rules using a voting process that
11 ensures balanced representation by the critical
12 stakeholders (including health plans and health care
13 providers) so that no one group dominates the entity
14 and shall include others such as standards develop
15ment organizations, and relevant Federal or State
16 agencies.
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Hey, mamakay–I see you speak the language!
Tell us what it all means, Obi Wan.
I agree with lorac’s comment regarding lawyers.
Admittedly, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights are the only two government documents that I’ve ever read. And, of course, those are beautifully written. But, what do most contemporary government documents read like? Like those two or the Health Bill? I honestly don’t know…
My hunch is that you are hardly alone, Marvin. I have read more than a few, and it is true that some are like this but most read easier.
Ironically the first version of the Senate Health bill (which I also read) was very coherent. I was not happy with some of the content, but you could easily read and understand most of it.
Gibberish is an understatement.
Maybe Bill Clinton can read through the code?
WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats are looking to former President Bill Clinton to jump-start their push to overhaul America’s health care system, hoping a battle-scarred veteran of past health care fights can motivate their ranks to finish the politically tricky job this time.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091110/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul
The point is that it is not enough to read this bill; you would also have to read all the bills it alters or amends.
How can one know what a certain line in this bill alters if one is not familiar with the earlier legislation being altered?
One cannot know.
It is all hopeless and Congress knows that. They can insert whatever crap they want to and very few people will be able to comprehend what has been changed and if it makes something better or WORSE.
This bill is pure evil and is really nothing but a huge transfer of wealth FROM the middle class TO the insurance giants that donated to the campaigns of the major players in Congress (and to Obama).
how many transfers of wealth has that been under B0 now?? Anyone keeping track??
And now, they are up in the senate threatening, cracking heads, and breaking legs to pass this horrendous thing. Today, they have even sent President Clinton up to help out. (You know, that “racist” who’s wife dared to run against the “anointed one”.)
And what, may I ask has “private nonfarm business multi-factor productivity” got to do with healthcare? Jibberish, pure drivel! It is, as if they threw the letters of the alphabet up in the air and let them land willy nilly on a piece of paper to form this document. What an insult to the American people!
So true Jimmy and we have to pay money out for this unexplained healthcare reform? UGH
Does anyone think that this incoherence is not done to confuse and obfuscate? Remember that insurance policies have their own special language, too.
My new home owners policy now states that (I’m gonna paraphrase here, but the essence is correct….I just can’t type all their gibberish) in the event my home is destroyed in a cataclysmic event (think tornado), I am not covered. However, in such an event, my windows are covered!!! I am not making this up!
Good at least we will see you through a glass screen must sound good to your ins co!
Is eye surgery covered? because I swear I need it after trying to read only a few lines of that…
Heck, my head blew apart after 3 lines.
As I wrote in more detail on another thread, creating impossibly complex laws is a trademark of totalitarian dictatorships. No matter how hard anyone tries, they’ll always be unintentionally in violation of one law or another, and vulnerable to capricious arrest by a government more interested in controlling the people, than serving them.
As with the humongous tax code, I’m sure this insane legislation is filled with legal contradictions; by complying with one provision, you’ll be inadvertantly violating another. This unfathomable, contradictory complexity is intentional.
Since we’ll all become de facto scofflaws, and always vulnerable to arrest, we will all need to be very carefull with our criticisms of the current regime, or risk being hauled off in the night on arcane charges.
This bill has absolutely NOTHING to do with the prosperity or health of the people, it’s a huge jackboot on the neck of a once free nation. It’s control!
Control… yes, everything now is controlling the message, controlling the damage and controlling the people. Control is all we have left. I think the correct word here might even be Fascism, though this is some corporatist hybrid of it. Whatever this is, it isn’t our republic anymore.
I agree with you Doc. Huge control, especially of women’s reproductive rights. He will continue to roll on id not stopped. Watch for communications to be one of the next big targets.
I’m lazy, I usually just get the Cliff Notes, but in this case, I think I’ll just wait for the movie!
No wonder he needs a teleprompter.
This is what comes of electing lawyers.
We don’t need another lawyer President for at least a hundred years. There is no upside to having a first lawyer.
Docelder: Having a business CEO president was the worst disaster ever, or did you think Dubya did a great job? I cannot understand anyone who thinks the mess we’re in wasn’t Bush and Cheney’s doing.
Well Pat, this is hot stuff! Just look at all the “striking” and “inserting” that goes on in this brief snippet. Violent sex! But I can’t imagine reading all 2000 pages–a couple of minutes is more than I can take.
I also notice that in the cited snippet there are repeated mentions of some mysterious “subclause”–subclause this, and subclause that. But what what I want to know is: Where is the clause that promises me goodies for free? Yes, I’m looking for the Santa Clause . . .
O’s A–LOL!!!!!!!!!!
Whoops meant oowawa–but you are both good!
Don’t you mean Obama Claus(e), like the Obama money that some poor woman thought was coming her way.
This was never about health. Climate change was never about the environment. Then again, NAFTA was never about free trade but rather was more about controlled trade. To know what is happening here we are going to have to take a hard look into the truth and the truth is going to burst a lot of bubbles. None of this just happened since January.
They’ll need a Housetta Stone to decifer it!
(oops! This was for oowawa below here)
LMAO Onofre’s arm. It could happen this way: A thousand years hence, the Inheritors will dig it out of the rubble, smell it, shuffle through it, mutter in awestruck tones . . . “BIG! LOTS!” And then, if it has not crumbled apart too much, they will take it all back to the cave to use as TP. No Housetta Stone needed!
LOL! Yes, I believe in that case they will have decifered it perfectly, and it will have eventually been used to it’s maximum purpose.
But that’s the beauty of it, don’t you see? It’s so utterly nonsensical that it allows for any interpretation the administration cares to make.
It’s carte blanche for the “health czar” I’m sure is coming. Brilliant!
Ah–the way this huge volume is laid out in sections with line numbers reminds me of something else . . . The Bible! Thousands of years hence, after civilization has collapsed, will the hairy inheritors of the Earth look in awe upon the ancient fragments of this nigh-indecipherable mystic manifesto and regard it as scripture? Will it become the basis of some inscrutable new religion that leads life forward to a New Golden Dawn?
Great cartoon that can stand alone and needs no explanation! Though I do appreciate the fact that you took the time to actually look at the bill and try to see if you or anyone can understand it.
I also want an improvement in health care as well as long term care. To improve does not mean something that feels good in the moment but can kill you in the end. This is like taking a drug that makes you feel good, but only makes the disease worse.
However, I am afraid that most people just want to feel good in the moment. That is why we spend too much, eat too much, want instant gratification, and when the future comes and asks for its payment or the consequences of our action come to light, we are surprised.
I would bet that even those who voted on the bill did not really understand the consequences of the bill. They only feared the consequences of not passing a health care bill before the next election cycle.
Rich
“I can no more disown Section 2 1888(e)(4)(E)(ii)(V) than I can Section 1886(j)(3)(C)…”
“That’s not the SEC. 1103 that I knew….”
This is “Change We Can Believe In”
and “The One We’ve Been Waiting For”
That resembles the secret scrambled code I use to log on to my wireless connection . . .
And how they WEP’ed
Evidently the Almighty Spam Filter lost patience with my weisenheimering on this topic, because he did “strike” my last comment. Administrator, please search the spam garbage heap and find and re-”insert” my remark. Thank you.
I dug it up and it shows now–amusing thought!
Thanks, Pat. I am beginning to think that my literary style is “Spammish” in some way I don’t recognize.
OH, what I wouldn’t give for a good, honest politician!! LOL
let your senators know you don’t want this so-called reform. it’s said that a FAX has the most influence on a politician, a phone call to their office is second, and an e-mail third. but why not go for the trifecta? do all three, and keep contacting them until the ‘reform’ is killed. could it be improved, made acceptable? yes, but this is congress we’re talking about so don’t expect that.
you could even write letters and mail them. letters will have to go through a lot of security checks but i don’t think the senate will rush into voting in this bill so your senators could even get your letters before voting on ‘reform.’ bombard them with your opinion and do it repeatedly.
the bill would force everyone to buy insurance and those who couldn’t afford to buy insurance would be subject to a fine and a jail term. debtors’ prisons are a step back a few centuries. how can anyone support this?
Smart Blonde, you’re right about faxing and mailing. Anything that produces a hard copy carries an advantage. A piece of paper must physically be dealt with by someone who had to read it. Phone calls and e-mails are simply tabulated as tic marks on a scoresheet.
Snail mail letters used to be the gold standard in communicating with your representatives but I can see where they might be slowed down by security measures. Fax seems to be the best alternative, barring a face-to-face encounter.
Of course, all this is assuming they want to hear from us in the first place…
I like the idea of faxes because it costs them money for the print-out pages. Just another small way to hit them where they hurt the most.
Sadly, creeper, I believe their message is that our thoughts and desires are irrelevant.
Please don’t waste the paper on faxes that may well go in the garbage. Phone calls do just fine.
I have been thinking more about this cartoon and the subject matter.
To those who are celebrating the passage of this bill that does not cover the illegal aliens, who is going to pay for them when they get sick? Are you just going to say “go away and die?” If not, and if we are not going to create a revenue stream from them, who will cover the cost for their health care?
For those who are so excited I ask you to consider the following. You know that your home needs some serious repair. You call a contractor who has no experience in taking on the kind of work you need done. Regardless of that, because he or she seems nice and you must do something, you decide not to wait but instead decide to hire this person. The contractor then gives you a contract to sign that not even a lawyer with nothing to do for a week can understand. Now what would you do?
We know what the House of Representatives did and aren’t we proud of them.
Rich
Illegal aliens currently get treatment at emergency rooms; they can’t be turned away, and their citizenship isn’t even checked. People go through the emergency department and are made inpatient even for radiation and chemo. No different than citizens without insurance. The difference between illegal aliens and citizens with coverage is preventative care. I suppose they could pay for the preventative care out of pocket.
I don’t like the idea of people not being able to get the help they need, but something I’ve been thinking a lot about in the New Age of Obama is, what is the difference to be between citizens and non-citizens? If there is no longer a difference, then “citizenship” becomes moot.
Without citizenship, the movement between countries would become unprecedented, and will lead, IMO, to a level of cultural discord that we’ve never seen. Furthermore, with ever increasing public funds going to support new arrivals, every society will see a drastic decrease in standard of living.
I’m starting to think that every country needs to have its own primary language and culture. New arrivals will bring new ideas and traditions, and slowly some of that will enrich and change the existing culture (as has happened traditionally in cultures). But making illegal immigrants into de facto citizens by erasing the demarcation between citizen and noncitizen will only cause chaos. It will attract more illegal immigrants, and by virtue of their numbers they will be less likely to assimilate, and that’s a recipe for disaster, IMO. And that’s not even touching on how it might affect the problem of “homegrown” terrorism…
lorac: with you 100 percent! It’s not that I don’t have sympathy for these people, but we can’t support the entire third world. A recent survey showed that 700 million people around the world want to leave their country and live in the U. S. The environment and resources can’t stand it.
Also, I think other countries have higher quality of living because the people have a shared history, culture, traditions, language and heritage. Those things bind people to a country and make them care about their society. Here, we have hodgepodge. The most enduring tradition in this country is mega corporations combining in huge trusts to rip off the public for more and more billions.
Lorac, actually it’s a negative to have citizenship in light of this bill. After all, it’s against the constitution to deny care, they’re not in the system so no fines for not having HealthCare coverage; no jail time. Native born citizens…penalized.
In the olden days quotas on immigration were so that we were not overwhelmed by any particular culture; people who were unhealthy or would be a burden on the state. Quotas were staggered to allow time for assimilation. After WWII, one of the early radio serials was “Life With Luigi” with J. Carroll Nash. It was a humorous continuing story of an Italian immigrant’s path to becoming a citizen. He was a lovable character as I recall; no one thought it was racist to laugh at language errors, etc., and there were no slurs made against the old country. That’s the way it was. Many after WWII were taking citizenship classes, learning the cultural ways of the US and took great pride in being a part of the melting pot. My, how life has changed. And, I’m sure that today the PC police would find something to rant about; then we were happy to welcome people who wanted to do their part to be successful after the world upheaval.
Don’t worry there’s tons of loopholes for illegals. What needs to happen is our government needs to change the system that brings illegals into this country. Our Congress never addresses the root cause, only tries to capitalize on consequences of bad policy. Serious CHANGES need to occur in the Global Economy so people in other countries aren’t left without their livelihoods and their countries.
Rich,
I’ve brought up the conundrum of coverage for the illegal immigrants whenever someone asked why people are upset about the bill. One small piece is that we will still have people who are here without legal status and if they have no coverage, they get emergency treatment or they can go to the local health department. Our system still bears the load of uncompensated care and that fact is not addressed in the bill. I’m not advocating that we let people have babies at home or ignore serious medical concerns because they aren’t covered. EMTALA laws say that we will care for anyone without insurance if they present to the hospital emergency room or if they are in active labor. But no one is being compensated for what they do.
To have any impact, immigration policy will need fixing first.
Yeah, ain’t gov.speak grand?
Here’s a detailed summary in 10 pages:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/health_care/hr3962_DETAILEDSUMMARY.pdf
Unfortunately, this bill is already DOA headed to the Senate, which will alter it, twist it, and wring it out to dry, before they pass it, and it will resemble nothing like the current bill.
What’s it all about, Alfie?
I appreciate the summary link, Mountainaires, BUT we all should beware of summaries. This thing has to be interpreted, so those wearing “other glasses” will summarize quite differently.
True, but if you want to get the general structure and outline, this is a good one. At any rate, it’s past history already, so what’s the point of even reading the summary?
Ha! Nevermind.
I know Bill Clinton can help the Democrats. I know Bill Clinton can help the Healthcare Bill. The question is why would Bill Clinton do that and why not the Presentident. Do any of us believe that a woman’s reproductive rights restriction would have been allowed anywhere near a Hillary Clinton’s Presidency. All of a sudden I’m hearing and reading about Clintonites, etc. The media and blogs are overlooking the Obamanation’s hand in all this. That dog won’t hunt.
Great work Pat. The running joke in my house. When an elected or appointed official is asked “Did you read the Bill” and they say “Yes”, my iimmedatte impulse is to ask;
1) How did you do that?
2) Why isn’t eye care part of the bill, becasue if you did read it, you would need glasses after finishing it.
3) Why isn’t mental health in it? ’cause if you read it and are not in need of a Shrink, you are not human.
It is just a pile of ^&*( but it Should be read. I hear it’s a page turner. Geuss what I am doing this weekend? Going blind reading the bill.
I see The One had to call Bill Clinton in to shake up the Dems in the Senate. Obama should just wear a sign pinned to his back: “Does Not Know How to Lead.” Wonder if he still thinks Bill Clinton is a joke.
I wonder if he still thinks Big Dawg is a racist, tek? For a party that had so many “problems” with the Clintons, they’re sure quick to call in Bill when they get in trouble.
I think I have it figured out.
Take one page, three times a day, with a full glass of water.
Side effects may include anxiety, insomnia, loss of appetite, and an urge to vote republican.
LOL! And so true!
We need this healthcare reform? I dont think so.
The people writing these laws only care about increasing their power and influence over the rest of us little people.
This bill has little to do with improving the lives of Americans and everything to do with improving the position of our political class.
I cannot believe this is going to pass and that anyone would think it is a good thing.
I think one of the biggest problems with understanding the bill is the hodgepodge of amendments. It began by making some sense and became horribly complicated by trying to incorporate everyone’s little changes. Like “no way will I vote for this if you don’t make this change.” The goal was to get it passed whether the end product made sense of not.
If you think the House bill has problems, wait till you see the Senate’s contribution, and later, an attempt to reconcile the various versions, if it gets that far. I don’t think you will see the President’s signature on a final bill this year It’s just politics as usual in Washington.
The reason most people cite for tne need to reform health insurance is growing cost of private insurance. Replace private with public and we hold the cost down they say. Dirty secret every time a Medicare Medicad or Tricare (government health care) the government does not pay the hospital or the Doctor the true cost of the service by a rate the government forces them to accept. The Doctors and the hospitals then cause private insurance to pick up a part of the cost. This is the government in effect taxing people who have private insurance.
Yikes–how does this work exactly? I mean, where does private nisurance come in–just by raising their rates to help cover costs?
I was following you until you said that the doctors and hospitals then make the private insurers pay. So, Paul comes in with Medicare, the doctors and hospital are paid the lowered agreed upon rate from Medicare - ok - now the doctors and hospital - what? - bill some random private insurance?
Why would that private insurance pay for a person who is not on their plan? Doctors/hospitals can’t make a private insurance pay more than they are obligated to pay for someone they insure, how an they make the private insurance pay for someone they DON’T insure? I’m just not following you.
I think the point is that the insurance companies pay MORE than they normally would to providers to offset the losses that Medicare/Medicaid generate, so the Insurance companies naturally raise their rates. In effect, customers of private insurance are paying more for premiums to cover the losses incurred by providers when they take Medicare/Medicaid, and yes, illegal and uninsured, patients. Call it an invisible, or laundered tax on private insurance holders. It’s done in this round about way because people would become outraged if they ever realized the huge amount extra they pay for insurance to subsidize failing socialist programs like Medicare, and people would become far more vocal and active regarding the illegal alien problem. And greater government involvement (especially single payer)will only increase the overall costs of healthcare until rationing, long wait times, and a drastic decrease in quality will be the inevitable result.
This is no different than the increased rate you pay for car insurance to cover un-insured motorists. This extra amount is at least separately listed on your car ins. policy. I wonder what would happen if your health insurance also broke out the added expense you pay for the medically un-insured.