Additional References on Major Points regarding the Dangers Of Government Health Care Reform
by Nicholas Gonzalez, MD
In answer to questions raised by my previous article, I provide the following:
1. In the original House bill HR 3200, the establishment of the centralized bureaucracy determining acceptable treatments appears in section 123.
2. In the original Senate bill, the section mandating that enrollees meet certain health standards for such parameters as cholesterol or face stiff financial penalties appeared in section 2705. With mounting pressure against the legislation, in the final version there seems to have been some juggling of sections. I refer interested people to a very striking position paper against this provision written by a consortium of very mainstream groups, including the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and even AARP.
3. Consumer Reports also wrote extensively about this provision.
4. Currently, Medicare mandates penalties in the form of non-payment to physicians who do not provide treatments accepted by the Medicare bureaucracy. However, even within Medicare, physicians can be subjected to criminal investigation for fraud for providing non standard-of-care medicine. Though specific mention of criminal penalties appears to have been removed from the final House version, the experts at Liberty Counsel, as well as my contacts in Washington knowledgeable about the health care legislation told me specifically that based on the Medicare model this enforcement would continue into any health care reform bill. In other words, a physician not following the dictates of the central committee would be subjected to non-payment at the very least, and potential criminal investigation.
