"Looking for something to read in addition to a dog-eared paperback novel in the waning days of summer?"
I clicked "Read More Story." I'm not looking for something to read. I'm actually behind on my reading due to all this blogging and collecting signatures, but I was game.
It turns out Congressman Gerlach made copies of HR 3200 America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 available in his offices and certain libraries throughout his district.
The Congressman notes:
"This 1,017-page tome may not be as exciting as the titles topping the New York Times Best Sellers List, but the public deserves a chance to read the legislation before Congress votes this fall,” Gerlach said. “That’s why I believe it’s important to make copies of the bill available throughout communities in the 6th District."Something told me he wasn't really expecting anyone to read the darn thing, let alone understand it. That's why he mentioned the number of pages and "gave away" the ending.
"I hate to spoil the ending for readers. However, the plan House Democrat leadership proposes would allow the federal government, rather than doctors and patients, to make more decisions about treatments ranging from knee-replacement surgery to chemotherapy for cancer patients. The plan also will impose higher taxes and burdensome mandates on small business owners, family farmers and other job creators as they attempt to shrug off the effects of the worst recession in more than two decades. That’s why I oppose this attempt to usher in an era of government-controlled health care that the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan researchers for Congress, concluded would fail to stem the rising cost of health care and balloon our national debt to staggering levels."
Well I decided to call the Congressman's bluff and his office, which is just a few miles from my house, to see about getting a copy of this thing. As noted here many times, I worked in benefits. I had to read and understand ERISA and various other arcane acts of Congress and amendments to the Internal Revenue Code so it didn't daunt me. Unfortunately, I would not have been able to take the copy away with me, which I knew I would want to do since I was sure it would refer to other laws I'd want to check out online, like Medicare. However, as the person who answered the phone helpfully pointed out, the Congressman's page included a link where I could read it online.
I'm about halfway through, and it is going quite well. I'm pretty impressed, and I will keep you posted on what I learn. However, I'm a little confused because the bill I'm reading is only 328 pages! Congressman Gerlach (and he isn't the only one) says it's over 1000 pages. It has been implied by some that the bill is so long and arcane as to cover up what they are really trying to do––which in and of itself is stupid because length leads to precision not the other way around. So what's the deal? If I add on the committee markups (all the specific amendments by House members who want to add things like Autism Awareness,etc) I get another 72 pages. If I include the CBO estimates they add on, say 20 pages. That comes to a total of about 430.
So where are the missing 587 pages that would add up to 1017? Beats me. In between my reading of the bill, which really isn't so bad when you consider about a third of it is tables of contents and about another third is boilerplate stuff, I will have to take a ride over to the Congressman's office and compare his version to the on online.
I'll keep you posted.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment