100 REASONS TO OPPOSE "OBAMACARE"

The AZ GOP distributed the following points during their executive board meeting on Saturday, August 22, 2009:

Limited choices
1. The Health Choices Czar will choose your healthcare plan for you.
2. A Government committee will decide what treatment procedures you receive.
3. Government will create a healthcare exchange to control private healthcare plans.
4. Government will dictate benefit packages for private healthcare plans under the healthcare exchange.
5. All individuals who are deemed Medicaid-eligible will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid.
6. It will prohibit the purchase of new private healthcare insurance from qualifying as acceptable coverage for purposes of the individual mandate after the effective date of the new regulations.
7. Will create one size fits all healthcare standards.
8. Government will decide which healthcare providers can participate in the public healthcare option.
9. Will require all employer-provided healthcare plans to be approved by the Department of Labor and a new Health Choices Administration (Czar).
10. Government will decide personal health decisions.
11. Government legislation will increase the cost and limit the healthcare choices for veterans.
12. The bill will lead to a "single-payer" system as private insurers are eliminated by a Government monopoly on regulations and controls.
13. Government plan will not create competition because federal government will impose a list of benefits that each plan will be required to offer.
14. Preventive care will be reimbursed, but patients will pay for all other routine doctor visits and tests with their own money from their HSA account.
15. Government will determine and provide approved list of end-of-life resources and procedures.
16. Government will control end-of-life treatment.
17. Government plan will eliminate diversity of plans and creativity in the healthcare insurance sector. Government Intrusion 18. Government will have real-time access to individuals' financial information.
19. Government may have direct access to your bank accounts for automatic funds transfer.
20. Individuals not having acceptable healthcare coverage, according to government regulations, will be taxed 2.5 percent.
21. School-Based Health Clinics will provide healthcare services for students without parental notification.
22. Will require cumbersome Government review of claims.
23. Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to financial and personal records.
24. Government bureaucrats will instruct and consult with individuals regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc.
25. Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as a patient's health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for an end-of-life plan.
26. Government plan will unleash the IRS on anyone who fails to sign up for a government-approved healthcare plan.
27. The IRS is authorized to verify incomes of those under the public healthcare options.
28. Government plan will lead to interference in families and the growth of intrusive Child Protective Service agencies.
29. Government is more likely to pass additional restrictions or increase taxes on smoking, fast food, etc., leading to a further loss of personal freedoms.

Limited Healthcare
30. Government will ration healthcare. You will only get so much medical care per year.
31. Government will have the authority to deny coverage to dependent family members of veterans.
32. Government plan will require people to be assigned a primary care doctor, and the doctor will control your access to specialists.
33. Government plan will reduce services for Medicaid covered patients.
34. Government plan will reduce spending for Medicare and Medicaid, resulting in rationing.
35. Government plan will suppress the development of new medical procedures by doctors and hospitals as they will not be reimbursed for their research efforts.
36. Government plan will make the medical profession less attractive and rewarding to people, which will lead to fewer people entering the field.

Financial Implications
37. Most of the population will be forced onto the Government plan until they will have no choice but to raise taxes on all Americans.
38. Will force young, healthy people, new to the work force with lower incomes than older workers, to pay more than their actual healthcare cost.
39. Government plan will subsidize older workers, who have private health insurance plans by limiting premiums.
40. Government plan will ban insurers from charging premiums based on the health of the individuals, thus most will pay more.
41. By mandating plans, Government will prevent individuals and employers from choosing less expensive plans that cover only major medical expenses.
42. No ability for cross-state shopping for a cheaper, better insurance plan.
43. The CBO says the current Democrat House plan would increase the deficit by $239 billion over 10 years.
44. Reductions to reimbursements similar to those made in Medicare by Government, could prompt health providers to charge private insurers more.
45. A sudden change due to government intervention in how payments for healthcare are made could significantly disrupt cash flows and financial strength of businesses.
46. Government plan doesn’t address the future infrastructure and capital financing aspects of healthcare.
47. Government plan could severely impact the financial strength of the U.S. drug companies, which employs hundreds of thousands of workers.
48. For taxpayers who earn between $32,490 and $43,320 a year, they will lose health insurance deductions, effectively a tax increase.
49. Government plan eliminates a provision in the Medicare prescription drug law, which would eliminate coverage for drug costs over $2,700 a year.
50. Patients aren't likely to curb their drug costs and doctor visits if healthcare is free; thus, total costs will be several times what they are now.

Government Mandates
51. Government will mandate linguistic appropriate services. For example, translators for illegal aliens.
52. No new private insurance will be allowed after passage of this bill.
53. For many employees in large corporations all ready covered by the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974, they will be required to choose only from approved plans after five years.
54. If an employer's health insurance co-pay, deductible, or coverage changes for any reason -- the employee must drop out and shop through the exchange.
55. Government will set mandated rates for public health insurance options.
Impact on Business
56. Government will audit the financial records of all small and large employers who self-insure.
57. Employers will be mandated to pay for healthcare for part-time employees and their families.
58. Employers with payroll of $400,000 and above, who do not provide a healthcare plan, will pay an 8 percent tax on all payroll to the government.
59. Employers with payroll between $251,000 and $400,000 who do not provide a healthcare plan will pay a 2 to 6 percent tax on all payroll to the government.
60. Will require employers to provide healthcare coverage for their employees or pay a tax penalty of $750 per year.
61. Half of all small businesses with 20-249 employees will have their income adversely affected by a surtax.
62. If the surtax on businesses doesn’t generate enough revenue to cover the costs of the government plan by 2013, the surtax automatically doubles.
63. Large employers will be required to automatically enroll workers in coverage, which will cost over $1 trillion.
64. Employers will be required to prove compliance under the proposed law to the Government.
65. Employers will drop their private health insurance coverage when offered a cheaper Government-run plan.
66. For small businesses, that can choose from a wide range of plans to offer their current employees will be forced to offer only "qualified" plans to new employees, via the health exchange.
67. Government plan will not allow businesses a deduction for employee health plan. Medical Profession
68. Government will set standards for doctor/patient time, professional judgment, methods, etc., thus determining the value of medical service.
69. Will impose new regulations on the individual and small group insurance providers.
70. Doctors will be financially rewarded for denying care, as HMO physicians were rewarded more than a decade ago.
71. No matter what medical specialty a doctor may have, all will be paid the same wage, thus suppressing individual effort, productivity and creativity.
72. Hospitals and clinics will be penalized for what the government deems to be preventable readmissions.
73. Possible penalties for Doctors who treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission.
74. Doctors would be prohibited from owning and investing in private healthcare companies.
75. Hospitals and clinics will be unable to expand without government approval.
76. Government plan could restrict drug companies' patents, which will lead to legal disputes, fewer new drugs and delay cheaper generic drugs.
77. Less income could force doctors to lay off fellow doctors, nurses and assistants.

Miscellaneous
78. Government may use partisan political groups such as ACORN to sign up individuals for government healthcare plan.
79. No company or individual can sue the government on price fixing. No "judicial review" against government monopoly.
80. Another federal bureaucracy, Health Choices Administration, will be created.
81. Will leave over 30 million uninsured based on Congressional Budget Office analysis.
82. Free healthcare for 12 to 13 million illegal immigrants.
83. Government will surcharge high income individuals.
84. Government legislation does not include tort reform. Trial lawyers will continue to cause unneeded defensive medical procedures by doctors.
85. The public option never has been and never will be cheaper (see Massachusetts', Canadian, British, and French plans).
86. No private company or individual will be able to sue the government for price-fixing.
87. Government will regulate rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.
88. Government plan will make abortion more widely available and more common by requiring insurers to pay for the procedures and providing funding to pay for abortions.
89. Workers and businesses already pay for everybody on Medicare and Medicaid and the Government plan would just add more people to them.
90. Government plan will require insurance companies to sell coverage to anyone at any time, which will allow people to buy insurance only when they need medical care.
91. Existing healthcare in the U.S. already covers over 90% of citizens.
92. No matter how much regulation or enforcement effort, no government healthcare plan will be 100 percent effective.
93. Government plan will establish price controls, which will lead to a black market in healthcare services
94. Real reform in healthcare should be market driven and not government controlled.
95. The unintended consequences of such a hastily assembled Government healthcare plan will be daunting and costly.
96. Government will mandate linguistic appropriate services. For example, translators for illegal aliens.

What it DOESN’T Do
97. Government plan will not allow for the adoption of health information technology.
98. Government plan does not provide guidelines to stop unnecessary medical procedures.
99. Government plan provides no incentives for quality and positive patient outcomes.
100. Government plan does not provide incentives to existing Medicare and Medicaid programs to reward more efficient and effective doctors and hospitals.