Quote:
Originally Posted by IIFFOFRDB
Hillhag and her minions wrote the bill back in the day. Baucus and his Bolshevik stooges dusted it off and updated the garbage...
Truth  |
Then what role did the Massachusetts legislation play in the ACA?
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/28/us...pagewanted=all
With respect to "authorship" .... you give HillaryNoMore WAY TOO MUCH CREDIT .... she wasn't "the guru" for the "plan" proposed. One can see that some provisions depart from the existing ACA even with the volumes of agency regs "tweaking" the statutory scheme.
From the link above a quote:
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Dozens of details, including these, emerged from the text of Mr. Clinton's proposed bill, which will not be formally introduced in Congress for several days:
*Abortion would be covered like other services deemed medically necessary and appropriate. But the proposed legislation includes a "conscience clause," stating that doctors and hospitals need not perform procedures to which they object because of religious belief or moral conviction.
*Health insurance purchasing groups known as regional health alliances would be responsible for collecting all the premiums owed by consumers and businesses. In addition, states would have to insure that the amounts are indeed paid. But the bill does not say how this goal would be achieved, or who would be financially responsible if the payments fell short.
*The Federal Government would put intense pressure on states to set up alliances guaranteeing health coverage for all state residents by Jan. 1, 1998. If a state did not meet that deadline, the Secretary of Health and Human Services could withhold Federal money and take direct action to set up and operate the alliances.
*A new agency, the National Health Board, would set a health budget for the nation and would regulate most private health insurance premiums. There would be "no administrative or judicial review of any determination" by the board on these questions.
*Starting in 2003, workers would owe Federal income tax on any employer-provided health benefits that exceed the standard package of benefits defined by Federal law. Currently, health benefits are not counted as income.
*The Federal Government would review the prices charged for new drugs that represent a significant advance over existing drugs, and it would publish its findings. Elderly and disabled people on Medicare would get a new benefit covering the cost of prescription drugs. To qualify for this program, drug makers would have to give the Government a discount of at least 17 percent off the average retail price of their old drugs. Regional Alliances
The amount of discounts on new drugs would be subject to negotiation with the Government. Federal officials could deny Medicare coverage for a new drug if the Government and the manufacturer could not agree on the discounts.
Under the Clinton plan, most Americans would get health insurance coverage through the regional alliances. A company with more than 5,000 full-time employees could operate its own health insurance program outside the alliances. People working at company headquarters would be in the corporate health plan.
Employees of a big company working in another state at an office with fewer than 100 employees could join the local alliance in that state.
There has been much debate about the role of these alliances, which under Mr. Clinton's proposal could be either private not-for-profit corporations or state government agencies. The alliances could set fee schedules for doctors who charge a separate fee for each service performed.
In a last-minute adjustment to placate doctors, the White House decided that physicians may conduct "collective negotiations" with the regional alliances, even though Federal antitrust laws would ordinarily prohibit such collective action to set fees.
Doctors said they needed this exemption from the antitrust laws to balance the economic power of the alliances. A typical alliance would be buying health care for hundreds of thousands or millions of consumers. Creating New Agencies
The Administration assumes that most Americans will enroll in health maintenance organizations or similar networks of doctors and hospitals, which provide comprehensive coverage in return for premiums set in advance. Under the Clinton proposal, all health plans, including H.M.O.'s, would have to give consumers an opportunity to use doctors who did not participate in the plan. Consumers would generally have to pay more if they used a doctor or a hospital outside the network.
Under Mr. Clinton's proposal, consumers who believe they have been improperly denied medical services or payments could file a protest with a "complaint review office." Each state would have to establish such an office. A consumer dissatisfied with the state's decision could appeal to a new Federal agency, the Federal Health Plan Review Board, and from there to a Federal appeals court and to the Supreme Court.
This scheme is intended to limit the number of claims getting into Federal court. But some lawyers predict that there will be a flood of lawsuits by people trying to enforce the new right to health care envisioned by Mr. Clinton.
The President made changes in his proposal to attract support from conservative Democrats and Republicans in Congress. But some changes annoyed liberal Democrats.
Some Democrats were upset over a provision to limit Federal spending on subsidies for low-income workers. "I think it undermines the credibility of the Administration's promise of universal coverage, insurance that will always be there, because it won't be there if they run out of money," Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, said.
Mr. Waxman heads the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health and is the architect of a half-dozen laws that expanded Medicaid to serve millions of pregnant women and young children in the last decade. Backing From Catholic Group
The American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Catholic Health Association, representing Roman Catholic hospitals, hailed the President's call for universal health coverage.
But drug makers and biotechnology companies asserted that the Clinton plan would discourage investment in research to find cures for AIDS, cancer and other deadly diseases.
Lisa J. Raines, vice president of the Genzyme Corporation, said tonight: "We are deeply disappointed that, after dozens of meetings, members of the Administration still do not understand that Federal review of new drug prices would have a devastating impact on the biotechnology industry. It's tantamount to price control. We have found that Congress has a deeper understanding of this issue." Arriving at Creating a Consensus
Mr. Clinton said his proposal would provide much more coverage of preventive services than is usually found in private health insurance plans. It would, for example, pay for immunizations, Pap smears, cholesterol screening, mammograms, blood tests and periodic medical examinations, all according to a schedule prescribed by the Government.
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