The HAPI Plan for Mandatory Wellness

[Guest guest]

Just thought I would pass this on to the group:

The HAPI Plan for Mandatory Wellness

Whenever legislation comes out of Washington DC providing programs

with names like the HAPI Plan, you should know to be on high alert

because whatever it is - it won't be good. This is a long piece, but

warrants your review. Times they are a changing and it is coming

fast. Ingri has submitted this for our further research and I am

posting it here for your use.

NOTE FROM INGRI: This is SERIOUS! Please read the entire email and dig

a bit more on this. ~Ingri

In January of 2007, Senator Ron Wyden introduced Senate bill S.334

titled the `Healthy Americans Act (HAA!)'. On May 1, 2008, Senator

Wyden issued a press release regarding a CBO and Joint Tax Committee

on Taxation report saying that the act would achieve revenue

neutrality by 2014 and would produce surpluses thereafter. Since

Senator Wyden was on C-Span Washington Journal this morning talking

about this legislation and how it has bipartisan support - Senator

on the republican side, it's safe to assume that they

are going to try and move this legislation quickly now. Watch out! A

hint on how they plan on achieving a surplus is found in the Findings:

* Americans want affordable, guaranteed private health coverage

that makes them healthier and can never be taken away

* American health care provides primarily `sick care' and does not

do enough to prevent chronic illnesses like heart disease, stroke and

diabetes. This results in significantly higher health care costs for

all Americans

* Staying as healthy as possible often requires an individual to

change behavior and assume more personal responsibility for his or her

health

* Personal responsibility for one's health should include

purchasing one's own private health care coverage

* Financing this guarantee should be a shared responsibility

between individuals, the Government, and employers.

* The $2,200,000,000, 000 spent annually on American health care

must be spent more effectively in order to meet this guarantee.

* This guarantee must include easier access to understandable

information about the quality, cost, and effectiveness of health care

providers, products, and services.

* The fact that businesses in the United States compete globally

against businesses whose governments pay for health care, coupled with

the aging of the American population and the explosive growth of

preventable health problems, makes the status quo in American health

care unacceptable.

This legislation doesn't address the real problem in health care

- which is that it is a profit-making industry that provides essential

services. Instead, they propose to shift the focus of health care

away from " sick care " towards " wellness care " . It's much cheaper to

treat the healthy. " Diseased people " will be managed and will be

expected to modify their disease-producing behavior. See Section 422.

Chronic Care Education Centers and provisions for " pay for

performance " for providers - financial incentives to " eliminate "

chronic illness. Use your imagination. I'm not joking about this.

In a fascist, corporate controlled government such as we now have,

diseased people and the elderly are an overhead cost and despite all

the language of compassion, the system is being designed to eliminate

the overhead. Read the comments from different legislators on this

program. If it doesn't make your blood run cold, then you are not

understanding it.

Real ID (by another route)

In Ron Wyden's announcement of the legislation, there is one

small paragraph that is the giveaway:

The government, for its part, would make sure that every

American has, and can afford, health insurance insurance.

Every time an individual interacts with local, state or federal

government, they could be required to verify

their enrollment in a private health insurance plan.

It's important to understand that when Al Gore " reinvented "

government, what that meant was that they were redesigning the

computer systems of government as a major element of the redesign.

That means combining computer systems and eliminating redundancies.

The redesign dictates a national ID that is the key to all information

that the government keeps on you in the new systems. That was the

impetus behind the Real ID legislation but since there has been

resistance to that, the HAA Act with mandatory participation and the

requirement for a unique ID by definition will become the Real ID

number - only there won't be a state DMV and a Governor to run

interference to block it. Since it will be private insurers issuing

the cards, they will no doubt meet the Department of Homescam Security

Real ID requirements - meaning RFID and the number assigned will be

the key to your medical records as well as all the other personal

information about you that the government maintains. If they don't

get you one way, they just came at you from a different direction.

Mandatory Participation

The HAA! Act calls for mandatory participation in a nationally defined

health insurance program with subsidies provided on a sliding scale.

The states will provide administrative guidance and rules for private

insurers that will sell the plans. The mandatory plans are called the

`Health Americans Private Insurance' (HAPI) plan.

Without further ado - here's what the HAPI Plan will do for you (I'm

losing it):

" Each adult shall have the responsibility to enroll in a HAPI Plan -

unless you are already covered. " Penalty for failure to purchase a

HAPI Plan - an amount totaling the retroactive payments for the HAPI

Plan as if you had purchased it - plus 15%.

Select a `health home' - meaning a health care provider that will

monitor your health and provide you with brochures on " wellness " .

Coverage will include " wellness checks " - which are trips to the

" health home " where they will determine if you still have a pulse and

if you've been following their orders in terms of weight loss or

whatever - because there are penalties for not following orders.

Provisions applying to Wellness:

The provider at your " health home " will - on the first visit,

" determine a plan to maximize the health of the individual through

wellness and prevention activities " ;

Family planning coverage will be available as a supplemental to the

basic services and it will include abortion services. (Note: I

suspect that the abortion coverage was thrown in to give republican

leaders as a strawman to fight. It is issue for compromise. They

will fight it, they will win and this legislative dog will pass into

law and republicans can say, " See how good we are at family values? " )

The state will determine the premium amount and it can vary only on

geography, tobacco use and family size. So all of you drunks,

druggies and fatties out there can breathe easy, they can only soak

the smokers for penalty premiums. Medicare beneficiaries however, are

subject to premium adjustments depending on cooperation and/or

participation in " healthy behaviors " .

Genetic Testing - prohibits discrimination on genetic testing results;

prohibits the plan from requiring a genetic test; prohibits the

provider from requiring a genetic test; but does not limit a provider

from requesting that the patient undergo a genetic test.

Premium Subsidy - As I read this, if your adjusted income is at the

poverty line, your premium will be 100% subsidized. If your adjusted

income is less then 400% of the poverty line then your premium subsidy

will be on a sliding scale.

School-based Health Centers - Section 212. Grants will be provided to

establish school-based health centers that will provide all services

for children through the schools.

Title IV - Healthier Medicare, Section 401. Authority to Adjust

Amount of Medicare Part B Premium to Reward Positive Health Behavior

(as if behavior has anything to do with aging):

" With respect to the monthly premium amount for months after

December 2008, the Secretary may adjust (under procedures established

by the Secretary) the amount of such premium for an individual based

on whether or not the individual participates in certain healthy

behaviors, such as weight management, exercise, nutrition counseling,

refraining from tobacco use, designation a health home, and other

behaviors determined appropriate by the secretary.

This legislation provides for chronic disease management and chronic

care education centers (Sec 422). (It's hard to see how they are

going to run surpluses after 2014 with all these new centers they are

funding - except by the elimination of " overhead " .

Part D Improvements - giving the HHS Secretary the ability to

negotiate for the cheapest priced drugs (whoopie! Drugs from China

for the elderly - a little Heparin for Granny? It might be

contaminated - but what the heck… it's cheap)

I'm only half way finished reading this legislation. I can't take

anymore today. The point is, Heads Up… this legislation is a

bipartisan monster and the stated objectives are not the real

objectives. So what else is new in Disney's Amerika?

President Bush Delivers State of the Union Address - January 28, 2008

" To build a future of quality health care, we must trust patients

and doctors to make medical decisions and empower them with better

information and better options. We share a common goal: making health

care more affordable and accessible for all Americans. The best way to

achieve that goal is by expanding consumer choice, not government

control. So I have proposed ending the bias in the tax code against

those who do not get their health insurance through their employer.

This one reform would put private coverage within reach for millions,

and I call on the Congress to pass it this year.

The Congress must also expand health savings accounts, create

Association Health Plans for small businesses, promote health

information technology, and confront the epidemic of junk medical

lawsuits. With all these steps, we will help ensure that decisions

about your medical care are made in the privacy of your doctor's

office -- not in the halls of Congress. " -- President

W. Bush

The President is working to improve the adoption of health

information technology. Electronic health records show promise as a

tool to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of medical

treatment. In 2004, the President launched an initiative to make

electronic health records available to most Americans within the next

10 years. Health IT systems can give citizens better access to their

health information, resulting in informed decisions about their care

and a better understanding of the quality of the care they are

receiving. In 2006, the President directed Federal agencies to use

improved health IT systems to facilitate the rapid exchange of health

information.

eHealth Initiative

Vicky - May 2, 2008

" When truth is lost, freedom is lost, because when you do not havetrue

information to base your decisions on, you essentially lose thefreedom

to make your own, effective, decisions. " ~ Dr. Walter Belford

Ammy Senter~ASH Researcher since 2003

www.ashnow.com/goodhealth

" Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world;

Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has " ~Margaret Mead -

Anthropologist