Pro | Con |
Provide universal health care (declared objective) | Universal health care is already provided under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1986 requiring hospitals and ambulance services to provide care to anyone needing emergency treatment regardless of citizenship, legal status or ability to pay.
Millions would be left without insurance coverage under this bill; estimates as to how many million would be left without coverage vary dramatically. |
| House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged passage of this bill “so that you can find out what’s in it”. The American Policy Roundtable predicts that it will take until September to thoroughly understand this bill This bill includes 858 occurrences of “the Secretary Shall” and 303 occurrences of “the Secretary May” indicating that a substantial amount of the law will be written by unelected and unaccountable government employees, without a recorded vote. |
| Medical treatment is granted or withheld by unaccountable government employees based upon “Quality Adjusted Life Remaining”; patients, doctors and families do not have a voice in the matter. |
| The White House promised to sign an Executive Order prohibiting taxpayer funding of abortions in order to secure passage of the bill by Congress last winter. In July, $160 million of federal tax monies was allocated to financing abortions in Pennsylvania. |
| This bill appears to be an unconstitutional usurpation of individual liberty and state sovereignty. A multitude of states are challenging this bill as being unconstitutional. Ohio citizens are petitioning to put the HealthCare Freedom Amendment on the ballot. |
Reduce the cost of health care (declared objective) | The independent bi-partisan Congressional Budget Office has already disavowed the $1.3 trillion cost estimate that it provided prior to the bill being passed, as well as the assertion that this huge addition in spending would actually reduce the national debt. The bill has 71 occurrences of the language “such sums as necessary” granting blank-check spending authority to government agencies without authorization by a recorded vote in Congress. |
| Does nothing to replace the “Third Party Payer” system that discourages people from being cost-conscious in obtaining health care. |
| Adamantly avoids any litigation reform to diminish the effects on health care costs due to malpractice suits in which lawyers frequently get 40% of the “award”. |
| Inhibits the extra tests and procedures done by medical professionals to protect themselves from attack lawyers. |
| Does nothing to increase portability of insurance coverage across state lines, or permit competition of insurors across state lines. |
Preserve the quality of health care (declared objective) | Under this bill mammography is no longer covered until a woman reaches 50 years of age, contradicting the philosophy of early detection and treatment. |
| Under this bill prostrate screening is no longer covered for men. |
| We have the best health care in the world. This bill will increase demand without increasing the supply of medical professionals and facilities; thus quality will necessarily be diminished. |
| A very high percentage of medical professionals have declared that they will discontinue practicing medicine or retire rather than work as dictated by this legislation. A reduction in the availability of medical professionals must necessarily result in higher cost, reduced quality, or a combination of the two. |
| Medical care is likely to become the next industry shifted overseas because of the increasingly adverse political/economic climate in the U.S. |
| Since passage of this bill, many companies (especially small companies) are pursuing alternatives to providing health care coverage to their employees. |
| Uncertainty about health care requirements and costs resulting from this bill is preventing many potential employers from hiring additional employees. |
| Government bureaucracies will make the decisions that are currently made by citizens and their doctors. |
| Congressmen and high level government officials will continue to be exempt from this legislation. |
| Private insurance companies and policies will be “squeezed out” by 2013, after 2012 presidential election. Anyone whose current health care insurance is changed (e.g., change of employers) is automatically and involuntarily transferred to the “public option”. |